Channel 4 unveils new signing Frankie Dettori

11 June 2014

 

• Three-times champion jockey Frankie Dettori to join Clare Balding and the Channel 4 Racing team for Royal Ascot and the rest of the Flat season
• Gok Wan to lead Channel 4’s Royal Ascot fashion coverage with guests including Philip Treacy
• 30 hours of live coverage across Royal Ascot including all 30 races live on Channel 4

Channel 4 has underlined its commitment to Royal Ascot with a range of major investments in its coverage of one of the world’s greatest racing festivals – including the signing of three-times Champion Jockey Frankie Dettori, who will join the Channel 4 Racing team for the duration of the five-day Royal meeting and on a continuing basis across the Flat season.

Dettori, who has ridden 47 winners at Royal Ascot and famously rode all seven winners at Ascot in 1996, will join Clare Balding, Nick Luck and the rest of the Channel 4 Racing presenting team on The Morning Line and live afternoon racing throughout the week – combining this with his retained jockey role for Sheikh Joaan al Thani.  The new partnership with Channel 4 will also see Frankie be part of the presenting team at a range of other meetings across the Flat season.

He says: “I’m thrilled to be joining the Channel 4 Racing presentation team for the Flat season and look forward to starting work next week at Royal Ascot – the racecourse that catapulted my career back in September 1996 when I won all seven races.

“I’ve been talking to Channel 4 about this opportunity for a while as I have always enjoyed their racing coverage and I am delighted to be able to give viewers an insight into the great thrill of our sport.”

Clare Balding adds: “Frankie is a great communicator and personality and would be an asset to anyone's coverage.  He'll bring energy, insight and enjoyment."

Channel 4 Racing: Royal Ascot presenting team and features

Fashion expert and award-winning presenter, Gok Wan, will join Channel 4 Racing’s 2014 Royal Ascot team as the broadcaster ramps up its fashion coverage live from the prestigious five-day Royal meeting.

As part of Channel 4’s major commitment to Royal Ascot, Gok will lead the broadcaster’s fashion and style coverage from the Royal meeting – famed for its elegant designer outfits and hats.  Presenting from a specially created position on Ascot’s ‘Motivator Lawn’, Gok will be joined by special guests across the week including leading milliners and designers such as Philip Treacy, Jane Taylor, Caroline Charles, Suzannah Crabb, Stewart Parvin and Rachel Trevor-Morgan.  

A number of fashion features have been produced to complement the event’s coverage.  Mad Hatters Philip Treacy, Jane Taylor and Victoria Grant open their doors to Gok ahead of the Royal Meeting where we see supermodel clients being fitted for the occasion.  The fashion team explore Classic verses Contemporary with fashion designers Caroline Charles and Suzannah Crabb.  Dress maker Stewart Parvin and milliner Rachel Trevor-Morgan – both granted a Royal Warrant of Appointment to Her Majesty The Queen – will celebrate the monarch’s distinctive style.  Gok Dressing for Royal Ascot will reveal the stylist being suited and booted for his Royal Meeting debut.

Inside Ascot

Channel 4 will also launch a new feature strand Inside Ascot, broadcast throughout the week’s coverage, presented by Gina Bryce.  Inside Ascot will give viewers exclusive access behind the scenes at Ascot and will lift the lid on the work that goes into making the Royal meeting one of the world’s most famous sporting events. 

All 30 races will be broadcast live, with over 30 hours of live coverage across the week beginning daily at 1.40pm, in addition to daily The Morning Line preview programmes and evening highlights - matching  last year’s greatest ever television commitment to Royal Ascot by a UK terrestrial broadcaster.   Clare Balding will lead Channel 4’s presenting team, which will include Nick Luck, Jim McGrath and Graham Cunningham in the trackside studio.  Principal commentator, Simon Holt, will be supported by Richard Hoiles across the five-day meeting to deliver unrivalled commentary for 30 races that features seven Group One contests – The King’s Stand Stakes, Queen Anne Stakes, St James’s Palace Stakes, Prince of Wales’s Stakes, The Gold Cup, The Coronation Stakes and The Diamond Jubilee Stakes.

Reporters Emma Spencer, Mick Fitzgerald and Rishi Persad will help bring viewers closer to the action with exclusive access to the Ascot stables, jockeys’ changing room and stewards’ room.  Tanya Stevenson will be on-hand to relay the betting markets with Brian Gleeson offering an Irish perspective.

There will be a broad range of racing features to complement the live action.  Emma Spencer visits the training operation of Manor House Stables to meet football icon, racehorse owner and breeder Michael Owen.  Owen reveals his special connection with Brown Panther and gives his tips for the World Cup.  A two-part interview with jockey James Doyle pours light on his career breakthrough and his fresh partnership with HRH Prince Khalid Abdullah.  Gina Bryce visits a number of trainers from Olly Stevens to Mike De Kock to discuss their Royal Ascot fancies, while Nick Luck travels to Chantilly to visit Madame Criquet Head-Maarek to observe four-year-old Treve in action at her French home.  The team also take a nostalgic look back on the day Her Majesty The Queen’s Estimate won The Gold Cup, with Alastair Down supplying additional commentary on traditional archive features.

Charles Barnett, Chief Executive of Ascot Racecourse said: “Channel 4's investment in this year's Royal Meeting is unprecedented, with the usual high standards of racing and event production to be enhanced by a bespoke fashion element fronted by the acclaimed Gok Wan. 

"We really are in a very privileged and sometimes overlooked position in the UK, in that our major meetings and Saturdays are covered so extensively on terrestrial television by Channel 4.  To have all the races on terrestrial television at any meeting is almost unheard of - perhaps just Royal Ascot and The Melbourne Cup Carnival in Australia. 

"We are the envy of the world in terrestrial television terms, including in Australia where they don't get close to the 90 days Channel 4 cover, and this is in no small part down to our broadcast partners who clear the decks to put racing first - the addition of Future Champions Day to this year's calendar of live events being a perfect example."

Channel 4’s Head of Live Events and Special Programmes, Ed Havard, and Commissioning Editor for Sport, Jamie Aitchison have worked together with IMG Sports Media to produce coverage of Royal Ascot 2014.

Commenting on the coverage plans for Royal Ascot, Ed Havard said: “Frankie Dettori is known to millions both inside and outside the sport of Racing and his record as a jockey speaks for itself.  We’re delighted that he’s joining Clare and the Channel 4 Racing team, not just for Royal Ascot, but also across the rest of the Flat Season.

“Royal Ascot is one of the highlights of our year and we are continuing to invest in this incredible event across the channel and across the business to showcase the spectacle of Ascot for our audiences.”

@Channel4Racing Twitter Mirror

The first time ever, @Channel4Racing in partnership with @AscotInsider will utilise a Twitter Mirror for the duration of Royal Ascot.  The team will once again have exclusive on-course access to capture unique images portraying the glamour and sporting status of the prestigious Royal Meeting.  This will be supported by the channel’s traditional racing and social media output.

Channel 4 Racing’s online services will provide a comprehensive service across the meeting to support the viewers’ experience.  Interactive polls, daily reviews and behind-the-scenes diaries, plus specific Royal Ascot features will be available at channel4.com/racing

Channel 4 Racing is sponsored by Dubai.