ITV has announced that it will broadcast live horse racing from Thurles in Ireland on ITV4 this Saturday (21 March).
In light of the suspension of British horse racing due to the coronavirus pandemic, ITV Racing will fill the live sporting void with coverage of five jump races from the County Tipperary course.
Live coverage will be broadcast on ITV4 from 1.30pm to 4pm, presented by Ed Chamberlin from the studio in the UK. He will be joined by ITV Racing regulars Mick Fitzgerald, Luke Harvey and Richard Hoiles.
ITV Racing’s weekly preview programme The Opening Show will not be broadcast, however the live afternoon programme will feature the latest news and information regarding coronavirus and its impact on horse racing, as well as a review of the National Hunt season.
The move to broadcast Irish horse racing follows the decision by the country’s racing authorities to continue staging meetings, albeit behind closed doors and utilising strict protocols, a policy which is under daily review to ensure it does not impact on the Ireland’s strategy to deal with coronavirus.
The feature race on the Thurles card is the grade three Pierce Molony Memorial Novice Chase at 3.10pm, with the first live ITV4 race scheduled to start at 1.40pm.
An ITV statement said:
“ITV Racing will broadcast five races from Thurles on Saturday 21 March, on air from 1.30-4pm on ITV4.
“Ed Chamberlin will present the show, which will be produced in the UK with the smallest possible team.
“As well as racing from Thurles, the team will look back at the recent Cheltenham Festival and the 2019-2020 jumps season. There will be no Opening Show.
“ITV Racing would like to thank Horse Racing Ireland and Racecourse Media Group for making this possible.”
ITV4 had been due to broadcast live racing from Kelso and Newbury before the suspension of all UK horse racing fixtures was confirmed by the BHA.
ITV previously broadcast live Irish horse racing in early 2019, in the wake of an outbreak of equine flu within British racing which forced meetings to be cancelled.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, ITV presenter Ed Chamberlin said he hoped the channel’s coverage from Thurles will provide a “tonic for people” at this difficult time:
“I imagine there will be quite a demand for it because sports fans are starved of any live action. At the same time there are far bigger things going on in the world and we are only doing this because the Irish government and authorities say it is alright to carry go ahead.
“There will be some who are sceptical about it but I can understand why the Irish are going ahead with the way they are working their medical support and the fact their government is in favour of it for their racing industry.
“We will be doing the programme from a studio in the UK with all the appropriate self-distancing and a skeleton staff to make it at safe as we possibly can.”
As well as live TV coverage on ITV4, ITV Racing’s coverage will also be available to watch online via the ITV Hub – itv.com/itv4.
For a full overview of all major UK-televised sporting events that have been postponed, cancelled or rescheduled, as well as those which are still due to be staged, visit SOTB’s dedicated coronavirus webpage – sotb.in/coronavius.
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