Ed Chamberlin has said he was so hurt by criticism of ITV’s coverage of the deaths of three horses at Cheltenham, he wanted Match of the Day to come calling.
The channel has come under fire this week for its handling of Sunday’s triple tragedy in which Abuffalosoldier collapsed with a suspected cardiovascular issue shortly after winning the Holland Cooper Handicap Chase, Bangers and Cash succumbed to a similar problem in the same race, and Napper Tandy died following a heavy fall in the Unibet Greatwood Hurdle.
An ITN report that evening for the main ITV news about the deaths is said to have provoked fury among racing’s rulers, who, it has been reported, were not approached for comment.
ITV’s Alice Plunkett had been conducting a post-race interview with Abuffalosoldier’s jockey, Sean Bowen, when the horse collapsed before the cameras could cut away.
News of the death was broken to the horse’s owner in the middle of his own interview.
Speaking on the Sporting Life podcast, Chamberlin said: “It’s been a very difficult few days. We were on such a high on Sunday morning and early on the day and then, by 9pm that night, I was hoping the Match of the Day producer might call because I’d have probably taken the job.
“Because all the accusations coming at me of ‘how could you do this?’ and ‘how could ITV Racing do this on the ITN news?’ is so unfair. It was absolutely nothing to do with us.”
He went on: “I’ve had some lovely messages. Other sports presenters have sent lovely messages about the way we covered it. I haven’t had many from racing, if I’m honest.
“But I hope I did racing a good turn because it didn’t make the headlines I was expecting it to the next day. It was really horrible and really hard and nothing like as hard for the horses and the grooms who lost those horses.”
‘Cheltenham was dark, it was silent, it was in shock’
Chamberlin read out a comment from trainer Alan King in his Racing Post Weekender column in which he described the coverage as “appalling”, and said the presenters “went on and on” about the fatalities.
“I found that hard to read,” Chamberlin said. “Of course he is entitled to his opinion and maybe we did go on about it too much.
“But let me put you in my position, that day, that hour, in the middle of the paddock, and put you in my shoes when, after the handicap chase, we knew pretty quickly we’d lost those two horses.
“Around me, we’ve got heartbroken connections, my reporter Alice in floods of tears after what she witnessed out on the track. Cheltenham was dark, it was silent, it was in shock, really.
“My job then suddenly becomes to get the tone right, and that’s hard. It was one of the biggest audience-watching Sunday racing for a long time.
“We’d had two spectacular days, two days that were the best advert for jump racing you could ask for. Then, all of a sudden, I was completely crestfallen by what had happened. I hope we never see it again.”
Chamberlin said he had been “going through the motions a little bit” after the first two deaths when tragedy struck again.
“Then, of course, we lost another horse,” he added. “What can you do? Do you revisit it? I felt we had to. It was just a horrible, horrible hour of broadcasting.”
