Channel 4's 2016 Royal Ascot coverage

10 June 2016

 

• Clare Balding, Nick Luck and Sir Anthony McCoy to lead Channel 4’s racing coverage across the five-day Royal Meeting with 30 hours dedicated to the sport
• Gok Wan returns to present Channel 4’s Royal Ascot fashion coverage

Channel 4 continues to deliver the most complete coverage of the Royal Meeting (June 14 – 18) with 30 hours dedicated to Royal Ascot including daily Morning Line programmes, a red button service and highlights of the top class racing and spectacle at the end of each evening.

Channel 4 Racing: Royal Ascot presenting team and features

All 30 Royal Ascot races will be broadcast live, with approximately 30 hours of coverage across the week beginning daily at 8am with The Morning Line, with afternoon racing from 1:40 – 6:00pm plus bespoke evening highlights programmes – mirroring last year’s greatest ever television commitment to Royal Ascot by a UK broadcaster.   

All but two races will be broadcast on Channel 4. On Saturday, June 18th Channel 4’s coverage will start at 9am with a closing Royal Ascot Morning Line.  The Royal Meeting will begin at 1:30pm on More 4, moving across to Channel 4 at 3:20pm for the final four races and climax of the meeting. 

In a busy sporting summer, Channel  4 has reactivated the red button service especially for horseracing fans to provide a swift platform change for viewers in the two hours when Ascot’s Royal Meeting coincides with the Saturday of the F1 European Grand Prix

Steve Lyle, Channel 4’s Commissioning Editor for Sport, said: “Once again, every minute of Royal Ascot will be covered from every angle.  We are proud to broadcast the most spectacular sporting event of the summer and continue to give the festival the lavish coverage it deserves." 

Once again, Clare Balding leads the Channel 4’s presenting team, which will include analysis from Nick Luck, Sir Anthony McCoy, Jim McGrath and Graham Cunningham.  Principal commentator, Simon Holt, will be supported by Richard Hoiles across the five-day meeting to deliver unrivalled commentary for 30 races that features eight 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.

Alice Plunkett steps in to present Channel 4’s ‘Inside Ascot’ – a feature strand broadcast throughout the week with exclusive access behind the scenes from the Royal Racecourse.  There will also be a broad range of racing features to complement the live action. 

Fashion expert and award-winning presenter Gok Wan returns for this third Royal Ascot experience. Presenting from a newly created position next to Ascot’s Parade Ring, Gok will be joined by special guests across the week from celebrities such as Lisa Snowdon, Anna Friel and Olivia Grant to the great and the good of the Fashion World.

Gok will re-join Clare Balding to describe the spectacle and pageantry of the daily Royal procession and as The Queen celebrates her 90th birthday so Channel 4 will tell the story of her deep connection with the sport of racing and love of Royal Ascot.  Across the five days, the duo will be joined by informative guests from Jennie Bond to Ingrid Seward.

A range of features will complement the coverage from international interviews with trainers Wesley Ward and Graham Motion to an insightful focus on former Irish jockey turned trainer, Johnny Murtagh which will be shown across the five days. 

At home interviews with Sir Michael Stoute, Hugo Palmer and Ralph Beckett, to an archive led video sequence on Her Majesty, The Queen and her love of horses voiced over by HRH, The Princess Anne plus Royal Winners Goggle-box specials with Ryan Moore and Frankie Dettori are further additions to Channel 4’s compelling Royal coverage.

Commenting on the coverage plans for Royal Ascot, Steve Lyle said: “Royal Ascot is even more than just great racing.  It’s the greatest combined sporting and social event of the summer, and this is reflected in our comprehensive coverage.”

Camera innovation for the Royal Meeting

Armed with more than 35 cameras including the highly acclaimed wire camera, the high motion super-loupe camera, as well the ever popular Jockeycam,  viewers will be treated to extraordinary angles and images of racing's equine athletes as well as being immersed in the drama.   Royal Ascot 2016 is set to be the most spectacular and visually arresting event on television this summer.

This year, the super-loupe radio frequency camera – one of only two systems in Europe - will be roving to capture incredible images on and off the track.  While, the acclaimed shots from the Wire Camera system is to run parallel to the iconic grandstand, to bring spectacle of the Royal Procession and the afternoon’s thrilling racing action to the screens.

Denise Large, Channel 4 Racing’s Programme Director, said: “Royal Ascot is the most challenging week in horseracing and we hope to capture some of the amazing sights and sounds around the event.

“It's a truly spectacular five days that brings together some of the best sport in the world and with Her Majesty, The Queen in attendance there is nowhere quite like it."

Channel 4 Racing is sponsored by Dubai.