ITV's Champions: Full Gallop docuseries 'a huge opportunity for the sport' says RMG chief executive

Racecourse Media Group (RMG) chief executive Martin Stevenson described the launch of a new primetime jump racing docuseries as a "huge opportunity for the sport" and is hopeful multiple seasons can be developed.

The six-part Champions: Full Gallop series tells the story of the 2023-24 jumps campaign. It was produced by South Shore with support from Flutter and RMG, with the first episode due to air on ITV1 at 9pm on Friday, July 19.

"It's a huge opportunity for the sport and the question is how can we build on this," said Stevenson, who this month announced he would be standing down from his role. "I hope everybody will love it and we can talk about the next series. The way these things work best is to build them over a number of series and to really draw people into the stories so it becomes one of the ways they enjoy the sport.

"We want people at home to be able to engage with racing and to see it in a different way, to get a glimpse behind the scenes and experience the grit and the glory. We hope to ultimately widen the sport's fanbase. Racing is clearly facing some challenges, but it still has a huge audience and if we can get a decent fraction of the people who enjoy jump racing engaged then we've succeeded."

The series aims to emulate the success of previous programmes that have shone a light on an array of sports, including Formula 1's Drive To Survive, football's All Or Nothing and a Netflix series focused on the Tour de France.

"It's something we've been thinking about for the last two years," said Stevenson. "It's become an important genre as sports docuseries help engage with fans and attract new ones. It's a really effective way to get fans closer to the action, to learn the untold stories and to see the heroes of the sport close up. We look after a large proportion of UK racecourses' media rights so it was natural for us to do something.

"It's easy to say we should get more people interested in racing but it takes a lot of time, effort and money to do that. Taking people behind the scenes is a really good way to get people on that journey. You want more people to become motivated to go to a racecourse, to watch ITV or the specialist channels, and perhaps to enjoy a flutter when they come to understand the sport better."

Martin Stevenson: chief executive of the Racecourse Media Group (RMG)

Dan and Harry Skelton, Sean Bowen, Nicky Henderson and Nico de Boinville are among those showcased in the series, and Stevenson described the engagement from participants as "incredibly positive".

"It's a great opportunity for them to get more exposure and to develop more fans," added Stevenson. "Sport is about the competitors. Being a jump jockey is an incredibly tough discipline and getting the wider public to understand the hard work, effort and risks will hopefully lead to those at home buying into them as sporting stars.

"One of the challenges with racing is that it focuses in on itself quite a bit, but we must remember the fan at home who is not really interested in negative industry stories. This is a celebration of what jump racing is all about and there are some great stories in it, a lot of candid moments, which you need to provide authenticity. I'm hugely grateful to everybody who appears in the series and to everybody in racing who has been enormously welcoming of it."

Read more:

'We could be absolute pariahs after this!' - ITV's new primetime racing docuseries to launch on Friday week 

New docuseries crucial in fighting sport's 'existential crisis' says Racing League founder 

Sunday Review: A comprehensive view into the inner workings of one of Britain's biggest stables 

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