Rachael Blackmore made racing 'smile again' says ITV's Ed Chamberlin

Ed Chamberlin has spoken of his relief after his pre-Cheltenham Festival trepidation was replaced by elation, with Rachael Blackmore's illuminating performance "making racing smile again".

ITV Racing's lead presenter admitted to having a sense of dread about the Gordon Elliott controversy overshadowing Cheltenham, but believes the feel-good stories from the four-day festival have helped repair racing's damaged reputation.

Chamberlin said: "The sport was under a dark cloud and before Cheltenham I must have done at least ten interviews for television, radio and the newspapers about last year's meeting or the tough couple of weeks the sport had had.

"To come out of it with Rachael Blackmore all over the front and back pages of the newspapers is fantastic. The sport is smiling again, which is so important.

"Racing has had a lot of knockers in the last few weeks and Sir Anthony McCoy put it better than anyone when he said Rachael has changed the face of the sport single-handedly."

He added: "I was genuinely dreading it. I remember being at Ascot when we were dealing with the fallout from the Gordon Elliott episode and I was thinking 'goodness me' the Cheltenham Festival is ten days away and it was the worst possible timing.

"As it's turned out it was probably the best possible timing as we've shown the love of the horse and the stories the festival has thrown up have been unbelievable, from Tiger Roll to Mick Molloy, the groom of Plate winner The Shunter."

ITV's average audience across the week increased by 23 per cent on last year at 1.14m, with a peak figure at 1.9 million viewers on Friday and the biggest audience peak for the WellChild Gold Cup since the epic Denman and Kauto Star clash in 2008.

WellChild took centre stage as the partner of the Cheltenham Gold CupCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com)

The huge audience witnessed total domination across the week with Ireland winning 23 of the 28 races – six of them ridden by Blackmore – and Chamberlin thinks a calculated review into the state of the British game is required.

"This has been coming for a while and Britain probably overachieved last year," he said. "There are two things on this. Sport goes in cycles – it was only 32 years ago Ireland drew a blank – and it will swing back in Britain's favour, but it could be a long journey.

"This could be a wake-up call for Britain and we all need to get together and have a root and branch discussion on how we can put this right. One thing Covid has taught us is we're much better at getting together and working together."

As ambassador for children's charity WellChild, Chamberlin was humbled by the promotion and fundraising efforts made by all parties.

"What the Jockey Club has done for WellChild is incredible," he said. "When I saw the Irish contingent had raised €25,000 for my charity, I had a proper lump in my throat. What the racing family has done for a small charity in Cheltenham is an example for every other sport and what they can do to help good causes."

Read more on the Cheltenham Festival:

Dan Skelton: we've got to learn from Cheltenham drubbing and make changes (Members' Club)

Where do the problems lie for British jump racing? Professionals have their say (Members' Club)

'The stars aligned' – HRI chief Kavanagh lauds Irish success at Cheltenham (Members' Club)

'They're Denman and Kauto in their style of racing' – Cup 1-2 to be kept apart

How the Cheltenham Festival might have looked if Gordon Elliott had been there

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