TOMORROW HAD BEEN earmarked for a hat-trick attempt, the spotlight placed on a pocket north of Liverpool and all the focus on whether a piece of sporting history could be achieved.
With all the chaos swirling around the world, the Grand National naturally falls down the list of priorities at the moment.
Still there’s cause to debate as to whether 4 April 2020 would have been the day for another triumph in the world’s most famous race to be stitched onto the record of Tiger Roll?
Davy Russell after Tiger Roll's Grand National triumph last April
“It’s a shame because Tiger would have engaged a huge audience,” remarks Ed Chamberlin, the man who would have been front of house as ITV’s coverage was broadcast of the day at Aintree.
“It was such a big story, a huge sports story, not just racing. Des Lynam, who’s my hero, famously said the line that Grand National Day is the day the nation goes racing and he’s right. But of course it’s put in perspective, it’s not sad compared to what’s going on in the world.”
“Look with what’s going on the world, you’ve got no right to feel remotely sorry for yourself over this. There’s two nurses who live on my street who head in to Southampton General Hospital every morning and come back late at night. They’re the people to support at the moment.
“To miss out on the Grand National makes sense in the current climate. Sport at the moment, I’ve used the Hugh McIlvanney quote that it’s ‘a thing of madness and triviality’, which it is in normal times. But there’ll come a time when sport will become important again I think for people’s morale and livelihoods and mental health. Let’s hope we can bring it back in some capacity but as far as this Saturday and the Grand National is concerned, 100% the right decision.”
For the ITV racing crew, there had been plenty of thought and effort gone into planning for tomorrow long before Covid-19 became the buzz phrase to dominate the world.
“We start planning Aintree you could say when the previous one is finished with ideas for features and openers,” says Chamberlin.
“I was going to go have a sitdown interview with Michael O’Leary. We were going to go film down at Christian Williams’ beautiful yard with Potters Corner. Sir Alex Ferguson might have been a story for us as well if he could have won at Liverpool. There was lots going on.
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“I’d always go up on the Tuesday morning and join up with the team in Aintree on the Tuesday night, we’d have dinner and discuss. Then on the Wednesday in the morning I’d always walk the course with Brian Gleeson.
“All those things you look forward to but listen we’ll get another go. This is only one year. It’s only one year but it would have been a very special year because we had the biggest racing story in decades really.
ITV racing presenter Ed Chamberlin. Tim Goode
Tim Goode
Chamberlin’s attachment to the Grand National goes back a long way.
“It was the biggest sporting event for me, not just the biggest racing event. When I was seven, I got the biggest family role, I was in charge of the family sweepstake. My grandfather, who is responsible for getting me into racing, the Grand National was the highlight of his year. I sort of hero worshipped him which made it the favourite moment of my year.
“He was Scottish and ever year he’d back Scottish horses and greys which meant his record in the National was awful. But in ’81 I was allowed my first bet and I backed Spartan Missile each way. I remember thinking John Thorne had given it a terrible ride, having no idea the jockey was 54 years old and in front of him was one of the great sporting comebacks of all time with Aldaniti and Bob Champion. From there the National just grew and grew in my estimation.”
There was a neat symmetry then when he moved from the Monday Night Football man at Sky Sports to the racing presenter at ITV in time for the 2017 triumph of One For Arthur, the second Scottish-trained horse to be first past the post.
“I used to call him Bappa, his name was Jock Burns, very Scottish. It was quite emotional really, he’d have loved the fact that his grandson was presenting the Grand National more than anything else. Having a Scottish winner then was special, it was very poignant from a family point of view.”
The last two years have been defined by the triumvirate of Elliott, Russell and O’Leary combining to deliver the glories of Tiger Roll.
“In December of 2017 when he had what I’d best describe as a sighter round the cross-country [at Cheltenham] and Mick Fitzgerald just put his hand on my elbow and said to me, ‘That horse will win the cross-country [at the Cheltenham Festival] in March’. He’s a very good judge.
“Then he won and I loved the fact that he was little, diminutive and with that massive heart. I tipped him everywhere for the Grand National that year. Then on the run in I remember I had a big lump in my throat, obviously Pleasant Company comes at him and the drama that unfolded then.
“He was the star afterwards, Davy, he really was. He did as good a jockey interview as I’ve ever heard with Alice Plunkett, talking about him as a child building Grand National fences with hedges in his garden and anything he could find. It had always been his dream to win the National and he just spoke beautifully. It was a wonderful story.
“He mentioned Pat Smullen and then last year [paid tribute to Kieran O'Connor], that all just shows the class of Davy Russell. It’s about getting the groom involved and the jockey and the horse, Gordon Elliott and Michael O’Leary were great to us as well so it was a good story.”
Micheal O'Leary, Eddie O'Leary, Davy Russell and Gordon Elliott celebrate Tiger Roll's success.
The prowess of Tiger Roll has elevated the coverage of racing.
“I’m sitting in my study here and I’m surrounded by Tiger Roll and Southampton memorabilia,” says Chamberlin.
“I’ve bought his saddle cloth in auctions, having been told it was the only one but I’ve seen so many, there must be a few of them knocking about, a bit like sort of Usain Bolt’s spikes from the London 2012 Olympics!
“My study is a bit of a shrine to Matt Le Tissier and Tiger Roll. I just love the fact he won for a number of reasons – the nation had taken Tiger Roll to their hearts. We’ve always tried on ITV to make racing accessible to all and to involve people and spread the magic of racing. Tiger Roll has done that for us. It’s not often sport follows the script but in 2019 it did perfectly with Tiger winning like that. It was magic really, it enabled us to talk about Red Rum and we’d visited his yard that morning.”
And while the 2020 plans have been shelved, the hope endures that Tiger Roll will have another attempt in twelve months’ time.
“It’d be fantastic. I think one thing we learned in the build-up to it is that Michael O’Leary is a great sport, he realises just how popular this horse of his is, he’s become public property. I’d imagine if there’s any possibility and he’s in good nick and the horse’s welfare of course is paramount, I’m sure they’ll go for it.
“And I think having got through all of this, I’m sure we’ll appreciate days like that all the more. I think the Grand National in 2021 will be a huge occasion.”
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'There'll come a time when sport will become important again I think for people's morale'
TOMORROW HAD BEEN earmarked for a hat-trick attempt, the spotlight placed on a pocket north of Liverpool and all the focus on whether a piece of sporting history could be achieved.
With all the chaos swirling around the world, the Grand National naturally falls down the list of priorities at the moment.
Still there’s cause to debate as to whether 4 April 2020 would have been the day for another triumph in the world’s most famous race to be stitched onto the record of Tiger Roll?
“It’s a shame because Tiger would have engaged a huge audience,” remarks Ed Chamberlin, the man who would have been front of house as ITV’s coverage was broadcast of the day at Aintree.
“It was such a big story, a huge sports story, not just racing. Des Lynam, who’s my hero, famously said the line that Grand National Day is the day the nation goes racing and he’s right. But of course it’s put in perspective, it’s not sad compared to what’s going on in the world.”
“Look with what’s going on the world, you’ve got no right to feel remotely sorry for yourself over this. There’s two nurses who live on my street who head in to Southampton General Hospital every morning and come back late at night. They’re the people to support at the moment.
“To miss out on the Grand National makes sense in the current climate. Sport at the moment, I’ve used the Hugh McIlvanney quote that it’s ‘a thing of madness and triviality’, which it is in normal times. But there’ll come a time when sport will become important again I think for people’s morale and livelihoods and mental health. Let’s hope we can bring it back in some capacity but as far as this Saturday and the Grand National is concerned, 100% the right decision.”
For the ITV racing crew, there had been plenty of thought and effort gone into planning for tomorrow long before Covid-19 became the buzz phrase to dominate the world.
“We start planning Aintree you could say when the previous one is finished with ideas for features and openers,” says Chamberlin.
“I was going to go have a sitdown interview with Michael O’Leary. We were going to go film down at Christian Williams’ beautiful yard with Potters Corner. Sir Alex Ferguson might have been a story for us as well if he could have won at Liverpool. There was lots going on.
“I’d always go up on the Tuesday morning and join up with the team in Aintree on the Tuesday night, we’d have dinner and discuss. Then on the Wednesday in the morning I’d always walk the course with Brian Gleeson.
“All those things you look forward to but listen we’ll get another go. This is only one year. It’s only one year but it would have been a very special year because we had the biggest racing story in decades really.
Chamberlin’s attachment to the Grand National goes back a long way.
“It was the biggest sporting event for me, not just the biggest racing event. When I was seven, I got the biggest family role, I was in charge of the family sweepstake. My grandfather, who is responsible for getting me into racing, the Grand National was the highlight of his year. I sort of hero worshipped him which made it the favourite moment of my year.
“He was Scottish and ever year he’d back Scottish horses and greys which meant his record in the National was awful. But in ’81 I was allowed my first bet and I backed Spartan Missile each way. I remember thinking John Thorne had given it a terrible ride, having no idea the jockey was 54 years old and in front of him was one of the great sporting comebacks of all time with Aldaniti and Bob Champion. From there the National just grew and grew in my estimation.”
There was a neat symmetry then when he moved from the Monday Night Football man at Sky Sports to the racing presenter at ITV in time for the 2017 triumph of One For Arthur, the second Scottish-trained horse to be first past the post.
“I used to call him Bappa, his name was Jock Burns, very Scottish. It was quite emotional really, he’d have loved the fact that his grandson was presenting the Grand National more than anything else. Having a Scottish winner then was special, it was very poignant from a family point of view.”
The last two years have been defined by the triumvirate of Elliott, Russell and O’Leary combining to deliver the glories of Tiger Roll.
“In December of 2017 when he had what I’d best describe as a sighter round the cross-country [at Cheltenham] and Mick Fitzgerald just put his hand on my elbow and said to me, ‘That horse will win the cross-country [at the Cheltenham Festival] in March’. He’s a very good judge.
“Then he won and I loved the fact that he was little, diminutive and with that massive heart. I tipped him everywhere for the Grand National that year. Then on the run in I remember I had a big lump in my throat, obviously Pleasant Company comes at him and the drama that unfolded then.
“He was the star afterwards, Davy, he really was. He did as good a jockey interview as I’ve ever heard with Alice Plunkett, talking about him as a child building Grand National fences with hedges in his garden and anything he could find. It had always been his dream to win the National and he just spoke beautifully. It was a wonderful story.
“He mentioned Pat Smullen and then last year [paid tribute to Kieran O'Connor], that all just shows the class of Davy Russell. It’s about getting the groom involved and the jockey and the horse, Gordon Elliott and Michael O’Leary were great to us as well so it was a good story.”
The prowess of Tiger Roll has elevated the coverage of racing.
“I’m sitting in my study here and I’m surrounded by Tiger Roll and Southampton memorabilia,” says Chamberlin.
“I’ve bought his saddle cloth in auctions, having been told it was the only one but I’ve seen so many, there must be a few of them knocking about, a bit like sort of Usain Bolt’s spikes from the London 2012 Olympics!
“My study is a bit of a shrine to Matt Le Tissier and Tiger Roll. I just love the fact he won for a number of reasons – the nation had taken Tiger Roll to their hearts. We’ve always tried on ITV to make racing accessible to all and to involve people and spread the magic of racing. Tiger Roll has done that for us. It’s not often sport follows the script but in 2019 it did perfectly with Tiger winning like that. It was magic really, it enabled us to talk about Red Rum and we’d visited his yard that morning.”
And while the 2020 plans have been shelved, the hope endures that Tiger Roll will have another attempt in twelve months’ time.
“It’d be fantastic. I think one thing we learned in the build-up to it is that Michael O’Leary is a great sport, he realises just how popular this horse of his is, he’s become public property. I’d imagine if there’s any possibility and he’s in good nick and the horse’s welfare of course is paramount, I’m sure they’ll go for it.
“And I think having got through all of this, I’m sure we’ll appreciate days like that all the more. I think the Grand National in 2021 will be a huge occasion.”
– First published 19.07, 3 April
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