Frankel to launch Channel 4's Royal Ascot coverage

•    Clare Balding and Nick Luck to lead Channel 4’s racing coverage across the five-day Royal Meeting with all 30 races live on Channel 4
•    Gok Wan returns to present Channel 4’s Royal Ascot fashion coverage
•    Live drone cameras have been added to the coverage to make racing the most visually spectacular sport on television

Channel 4 has underlined its commitment to Royal Ascot (June 16th – 20th) with a bespoke documentary entitled: The Trainer and the Racehorse: The Legend of Frankel.

In recognition of the late Sir Henry Cecil, the one-hour documentary - broadcast on Saturday, 13th June at 7pm - tells the story of how Frankel became the ultimate champion racehorse and transformed the last years of charismatic trainer Sir Henry Cecil. .
 
The Trainer and the Racehorse: The Legend of Frankel was commissioned by Channel 4’s David Glover and produced by Oxford Scientific Films - makers of the acclaimed 'How to Win the Grand National 'which was first shown on Channel 4 in 2013.

Channel 4 Racing: Royal Ascot presenting team and features

All 30 Royal Ascot races will be broadcast live, with approximately 30 hours of live 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 – improving on last year’s greatest ever television commitment to Royal Ascot by a UK terrestrial broadcaster.   

Clare Balding returns to lead Channel 4’s presenting team, which will include analysis from Nick Luck, 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.

Gina Harding presents 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, also re-joins Channel 4 Racing’s 2015 Royal Ascot team as the broadcaster continues its enhanced fashion coverage live from the prestigious five-day Royal meeting.  Presenting from a specially created position on Ascot’s ‘Motivator Lawn’, Gok will be joined by special guests across the week from celebrities to the great and the good of the Fashion World

A number of fashion features have been produced to complement the event’s coverage:  Karl Ludwig Rehse, dressmaker to HM The Queen, provides a rare insight into his regal designs by opening his workshop to Royal Ascot viewers. By Royal Appointment offers a glimpse into the making of two of HM The Queen’s most iconic accessories, her handbags and gloves. These are to be complemented by Designing for a Duchess with Anna Valentine and Catherine Walker; Top Hatters featuring Royal favourite Gina Foster and milliner to rock royalty, Victoria Grant plus an exclusive behind the scenes fashion shoot with You Magazine starring high society Lady Alice and Lady Violet Manners.

Channel 4’s Head of Live Events and Special Programmes, Ed Havard, and Commissioning Editor for Sport, Steve Lyle have worked together with IMG to produce coverage of Royal Ascot 2015.

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

New camera innovation for the Royal Meeting

For the first time ever in horseracing and indeed in live sport, a drone camera will be creatively used for the five-day Royal Meeting.

With essential support from Ascot Racecourse and the British Horseracing Authority, the remote-controlled drone camera in the sky will capture 360 degrees fully rotational shots of the course and track live racing action.  The camera, already successfully used in other sporting fields via recorded packages will break new grounds with live racing images.

Channel 4 Racing’s Programme Director, Denise Large, explains: “We have 44 cameras to capture all the action on and off the track at the Royal Meeting.  Some of our feature cameras include a camcat wire camera (which runs the length of the home straight), hi- motion super loupe, jimmy jibs, starting stalls cameras, a tracking camera (following the action) alongside 10 radio frequency hand-held cameras to get to every part of the course.

“The on-board jockey cameras which we have for the first time at the Royal Meeting, enables the jockeys to show off their race riding skills and this innovation really takes the viewer closer to the action.

“I’m delighted that our coverage for the first time, will feature the ground break aerial batcam (drone) - it will be a first for racing when we feature this as part of our live coverage at the Royal Meeting on Channel 4.

"Royal Ascot is an incredible week and is like no other racing event in our calendar to cover - I am relishing the five days ahead."

Channel 4 Racing is sponsored by Dubai.