ITV RACING presenter Ed Chamberlin admitted he wanted Match Of The Day to come knocking after a ‘horrible, horrible hour’ of broadcasting on ITV Racing.
The 50-year-old anchor had the Sunday from hell last weekend at Cheltenham as three racehorses died on one day.
One of the horses, Abuffalosoldier, collapsed live on TV just after reporter Alice Plunkett had finished doing his post-race winning interview with jockey James Bowen.
The horse began to roll its eyes and look unsteady on its legs before the cameras immediately cut off.
And the devastating heartbreak continued as the owner was in the middle of his winning interview when the news was broken to him.
Despite the racecourse vets attending to him, the horse could not be saved.
The same race also saw the death of Bangers And Cash who suffered a fatal fall.
And then things got worse when Napper Tandy sustained a fatal injury in the Greatwood Hurdle – the big race of the day.
Following the tragedy, ITV News controversially broadcast a segment about the gloomy day at Cheltenham on their Teatime news brief.
Repeated footage of the horses collapsing was shown, with a focus lens magnifying the fatal incidents and a dramatic voiceover.
Viewers were fuming as their living rooms were invaded with such shocking footage, and took to X to vent their frustration.
Chamberlin, who joined ITV from Sky where he was the main football presenter, reflected on the day and how it was dealt with.
He told the Sporting Life Podcast: “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.
“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 that lost those horses.”
Chamberlin went on to read out a comment from trainer Alan King in his Weekender column. The trainer described the coverage as “appalling”, and said the presenters “went on and on” about the fatalities.
Chamberlin said: “I found that hard to read. Of course, he is entitled to his opinion and maybe we did go on about it too much.
“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.”
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