How ITV Racing roared back to life from a Crouch End bedroom
Lee Mottershead watches Paul McNamara direct a most unusual programme
On June's first Friday in 2019 ITV Racing director Paul McNamara was diagnosed with bowel cancer.
On June's first Friday in 2020 he is sat in one of the bedrooms of his family's north London home in Crouch End, readying himself to steer the troops through a live television experience that could be testing even for such a master of the craft.
In front of him are two pairs of spectacles, a keyboard, any number of switches and a huge monitor on which individual screens are showing pictures from Newmarket, Lingfield and four members of the ITV Racing talent team, most of them working from home. McNamara is wearing carpet slippers. Ed Chamberlin and Francesca Cumani may be as well but we never get sufficiently close to their feet to find out.
Read the full story
Read award-winning journalism from the best writers in racing, with exclusive news, interviews, columns, investigations, stable tours and subscriber-only emails.
Subscribe to unlock
- Racing Post digital newspaper (worth over £100 per month)
- Award-winning journalism from the best writers in racing
- Expert tips from the likes of Tom Segal and Paul Kealy
- Replays and results analysis from all UK and Irish racecourses
- Form study tools including the Pro Card and Horse Tracker
- Extensive archive of statistics covering horses, trainers, jockeys, owners, pedigree and sales data
Already a subscriber?Log in
Published on inFeatures
Last updated
Copy- 'We’ve had to work hard this sales season' - Kennet Valley seeking to build on success with biggest string
- Alastair Down's archives: the great writer recalls Coneygree's glorious victory in the 2015 Cheltenham Gold Cup
- Kauto Star: the extraordinary talent who became the benchmark for sheer undiluted quality
- It’s the number-one complaint from punters – so just why are some struggling to get paid out by bookmakers?
- 'The worst day was at the Cheltenham Festival when Ruby Walsh fired in three favourites - we did our bollocks'
- 'We’ve had to work hard this sales season' - Kennet Valley seeking to build on success with biggest string
- Alastair Down's archives: the great writer recalls Coneygree's glorious victory in the 2015 Cheltenham Gold Cup
- Kauto Star: the extraordinary talent who became the benchmark for sheer undiluted quality
- It’s the number-one complaint from punters – so just why are some struggling to get paid out by bookmakers?
- 'The worst day was at the Cheltenham Festival when Ruby Walsh fired in three favourites - we did our bollocks'