''ITV Racing'' is a programme produced by

ITV Sport ITV Sport is a sport producer for ITV. It was formed following the merger between Granada Sport and Central Sport.ITV or

ITV4 ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV network. The channel has a line-up that consists of sports, cult classic ...

in the United Kingdom. The programme is referred to as ''Racing on STV'' in Northern and Central Scotland on STV. In its previous incarnation, the show was an essential part of '' World of Sport''.

History

1969-1985

It started on 4 October 1969 when the programme began to show horse racing from two courses each week rather than one, under the title "They're Off". In the early 1970s it changed to The ITV Seven, reflecting the number of races it showed each week. The ITV Seven was also the title of an accumulator bet where vast sums of money could be won if you correctly predicted the winners of all seven races. The feature was sometimes known (especially in later years) as the ITV Six, the ITV Five or even the ITV Four, if fewer races were being shown. On these occasions, the bet would be on the remaining televised races and would be comparatively simpler to win, however it was still fairly difficult to win with, on just one bet. The weekly live coverage came from racecourses such as

Sandown Park Sandown Park is a horse racing course and leisure venue in Esher, Surrey, England, located in the outer suburbs of London. It hosts 5 Grade One National Hunt races and one Group 1 flat race, the Eclipse Stakes. It regularly has horse rac ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, Newmarket,

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

and Redcar. More minor tracks like

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

, Catterick and

Market Rasen Market Rasen ( ) is a town and civil parish within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The River Rase runs through it east to west, approximately north-east from Lincoln, east from Gainsborough, 14 miles (23 km) west of Lo ...

were also extensively featured, especially during the National Hunt season in the winter, when ITV had the rights to fewer of the big races. Meetings from Goodwood and

Haydock Park Haydock Park Racecourse is a racecourse in Merseyside, North West England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, the racecourse is set in an area of parkland bounded by the towns of Haydock to the west, Ashton-in-Makerfield ...

appeared occasionally, and a meeting from Ascot was shown as a one-off in 1977 when the

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...

were covering the

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap st ...

Aintree Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, north-east of Liverpool city centre, in North West England. I ...

. From January 1980 onwards, meetings from Kempton Park were shown regularly - before that time, Kempton meetings were on the BBC and were featured on '' Grandstand''. When racing was impossible due to the weather, greyhound racing would often be shown instead (those were the days before all-weather horse racing). In the 1980s ITV reduced its racing coverage, and often in the last years of ''World of Sport'' only one meeting would be shown. The last ITV Seven came from Kempton Park and

Thirsk Thirsk is a market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England known for its racecourse; quirky yarnbomber displays, and depiction as local author James Herriot's fictional Darrowby. History Archeological ...

on 7 September 1985, three weeks before the last ''World of Sport'', which only covered one meeting, at Redcar. ITV's midweek racing coverage had already been on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

since 22 March 1984; from 5 October 1985 the Saturday afternoon coverage also moved to the fourth channel, permanently becoming '' Channel 4 Racing'', although it was reduced in scope considerably at the start of 1986, and would not become as extensive as it was in the ITV era until the late 1990s. For a few years ITV did continue to show The Derby, simulcasting Channel 4's coverage, but stopped doing so after the 1988 event.

2017-present

In January 2016, it was announced that ITV had regained horse racing rights from

to take effect from 1 January 2017. 60 days of racing will be shown on

, while 40 days of racing will be shown on ITV. ITV broadcasts big events such as the

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap st ...

Cheltenham Festival The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Ra ...

, Epsom Derby, Royal Ascot,

Glorious Goodwood Goodwood Racecourse is a horse-racing track five miles north of Chichester, West Sussex, in England controlled by the family of the Duke of Richmond, whose seat is nearby Goodwood House. It hosts the annual Glorious Goodwood meeting in late ...

and

British Champions Day British Champions Day is a thoroughbred horse race meeting held at Ascot Racecourse in October each year since 2011, which acts as the end of season highlight fixture of British flat racing. It is the culmination of the British Champions Series an ...

, as well as regular Saturday meetings. ITV4 broadcasts ''The Opening Show'', the morning preview programme similar to The Morning Line on

, and many other Saturday meetings, as well as the occasional weekday and Sunday meeting, at courses all over the UK and Ireland.

Presenters

Over the years, the live coverage was presented by John Rickman (until 1977),

Brough Scott John Brough Scott, MBE (born 12 December 1942) is a British horse racing journalist, radio and television presenter, and former jockey. He is also the grandson and biographer of the noted Great War soldier "Galloper Jack" Seely. Scott was ed ...

, Ken Butler, (until 1980)

Lord Oaksey Geoffrey Lawrence, 3rd Baron Trevethin, 1st Baron Oaksey, (2 December 1880 – 28 August 1971) was the main British judge during the Nuremberg trials after Second World War, and President of the Judicial group. Biography The Lawrence family c ...

(initially known on the programme as John Lawrence, and subsequently becoming John Oaksey after he succeeded to the peerage), and Derek Thompson and Jim McGrath (from 1981-1985). Race commentators were Tony Cooke and Bob Haynes (in the first couple of years), John Penney and Raleigh Gilbert (the main commentators from 1972 to 1980) and Graham Goode (the main commentator from 1981).

On air team

References

External links

''ITV Racing''
on

itv.com itv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 13 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV brand (or the UTV brand in Northern Ireland). The website offers online streaming, ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:ITV Seven, The 1969 British television series debuts 1985 British television series endings 2017 British television series debuts 1960s British sports television series 1970s British sports television series 1980s British sports television series 2010s British sports television series 2020s British sports television series British television series revived after cancellation English-language television shows Horse racing mass media in the United Kingdom ITV (TV network) ITV Sport