Channel 4 has unveiled the trailer that will promote its exclusive coverage of the 2014 Crabbie’s Grand National Festival on April 3-5.
The 90-second TV promo, produced by 4Creative, shows jockeys and horses battling through woods and clearing burning haystacks, recreating the world’s first recorded steeplechase.
Following the success of the broadcaster’s inaugural ‘Original Extreme Sport’ campaign for last year’s meeting, which marked Channel 4’s debut Grand National, the 4Creative team have once again formed another unique promotional trail.
The 2014 version focuses on the first ever recorded steeplechase which is reported to have taken place in 1752 as a result of a wager between Cornelius O’Callaghan and Edmund Blake.
The competitive duo went on to race four miles between the spires of Buttevant Church and St Leger Church, Doneraile, Ireland.
Travelling along the banks of the Awbeg River at breakneck speed clearing stone walls, ditches and hedges in a show of strength, stamina and tremendous skill, the race symbolises the first ever original extreme sport of its day.
Taking five days to shoot and filmed in location sets from Northern Ireland to a UK racecourse scene, the trailer is accompanied by the soundtrack ‘On the Run’ by New York-based punk band Cerebral Ballzy.
One of Northern Ireland’s leading tourist attractions, Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, was elaborately dressed to represent a lively 18th century village at which the action started.
Clandeboye Estate, Bangor provided the backdrop for woodland and field scenes, with Castle Ward in Downpatrick providing the beautiful backdrop for the end of the race.
The Devil’s Horsemen, a Buckinghamshire-based company that specialise in equine stunts for films and commercials, supplied the racing thoroughbreds that expertly raced through villages, fields and woods, jumping over barrels and burning hay stacks.
The two jockeys representing O’Callaghan and Blake were played by Will Willoughby and Richard Hansen, later replaced by the 19-times Champion jump jockey AP McCoy and Richard Johnson for a present day ‘heading out to race’ scene.
Channel 4’s Crabbie’s Grand National Festival 2014 campaign premiered on all Channel 4 networks on Friday, March 21st at 9.00pm, and the trailer will be shown many more times across its channels in the build-up to the event.
It continues the channel’s trend of high-profile advertising campaigns for its major race meetings since it became the UK’s exclusive horse racing broadcaster on free-to-air television in 2013.
Channel 4 recorded strong viewing figures for its debut screening of the Aintree spectacular in 2013, peaking at 8.4 million viewers between 4.15pm and 4.30pm for the race, which was won by 66-1 outsider Auroras Encore.
Last year’s Channel 4 advertising campaign for its debut screening of the world’s greatest steeplechase saw it turn the streets of Liverpool into a racecourse.
James Walker, Channel 4 Head of Marketing says: “The Grand National was a great success for us in 2013 and we want to build on The Original Extreme Sport strategy in 2014.
“Last year we focussed on the ‘extreme’ by showing a street race in Liverpool and this year we are bringing out the ‘original’ in a period drama with a twist.”
Channel 4’s coverage of its second Grand National Festival from Aintree gets underway on Thursday, April 3, concluding on Saturday, April 5 with the main event itself due to set off at 4.15pm.
Clare Balding and Nick Luck present all the action for Channel 4 across the three-day meeting, which includes daily editions of The Morning Line, five live races every day, plus various support programming.
Studio analysis will come from Graham Cunningham and Jim McGrath, reporting out on the course will be Alice Plunkett, Rishi Persad and Mick Fitzgerald, Tanya Stevenson and Brian Gleeson will relay all the betting news, while Simon Holt leads the commentary team alongside Richard Hoiles and Ian Bartlett.
For more information on Channel 4’s racing coverage, visit channel4.com/racing.
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