It’s been another busy year jammed packed with racing, rugby league, show jumping, eventing and Ramblings. Considering it was meant to be a ‘quiet’ year with no Olympics, Winter Olympics or Commonwealth Games, it hasn’t felt like it and has been flying by.
January 2008 will mark my 10-year anniversary presenting the BBC’s racing coverage, which is a scary thought. It seems as if I only started doing it yesterday and there is still so much to learn. I think we’ve had a pretty good year – Willie Carson has been great fun to work with, as ever, and on the button with his comments and views.
The Derby – or Frankie’s Derby as we should refer to it – was the high spot of the season. I will never forget the surge that Authorized produced to hit the front. It took my breath away and it is that power and beauty that makes racing such a beautiful sport. Frankie was fabulous with the press both before and after the race. He is such an asset to the sport and I just wish more people within racing realised how lucky we are to have him.
I had a great time up at Aintree with Sue Barker. We got up there on the day before the meeting started to film our opening for the Grand National programme, which was shot all around Liverpool. It gave us the chance to go into the Liver Building, take a trip on the Mersey ferry and visit Crosby Beach where the Antony Gormley iron men statues stand tall in the waves and on the sand.
We had written our opening script to capture the flavour of Liverpool as a place and to connect it to the biggest race in the country and I was really pleased with the outcome. It looked and sounded great and set up the day.
The big innovation at last season’s Grand National meeting was the John Smith’s People’s Race and I’m thrilled that they are continuing it this year and expanding the time allowance for entries. To my mind, it is akin to being able to play a tennis match on Centre Court at Wimbledon before the Men’s Final or to drive round Silverstone in a Formula One car before the British Grand Prix or play a round of golf at Carnoustie hours before the pros tee off in the Open.
It is a unique opportunity in sport and really good for racing.
Royal Ascot is always a long week of work but I enjoy it and once I have the outfits and hats sorted out, I can relax about that side of things and concentrate on the horses. I had some very nice comments about my clothes this year so all thanks to Laura B and John Boyd hats for their contribution on that front. I cannot claim any particular credit for myself. All I do is wear them!
The best part of Royal Ascot was our very last televised race of the week – the Wokingham, which was won by Dark Missile a filly trained by my brother Andrew. It was his first Royal Ascot meeting and I was chuffed to bits for him. It is a very special achievement and was fully deserved.
The King George and the Arc were my other highlights, both won by Dylan Thomas who is my horse of the year. That sort of consistency demands an outstanding physical and mental make-up and I am sure he will be much in demand at stud.
In the world of 3-day-eventing, I presented Badminton and Burghley and had the terrifying experience of commentating for the first time on TV at the European Championships in Italy in September. Mike Tucker, our regular commentator, was the technical delegate for the Games and therefore preoccupied so the BBC thought they would give me a go.
Foolishly, I said yes. I have always thought that you need to push yourself out of your comfort zone to improve so I could hardly turn it down. It was seriously out of my comfort zone and incredibly hard work mugging up on all the riders from Russia, Poland, Italy who I had never seen before. Thank God I had Tina Cook alongside me who has ridden (and hopefully still will ride) in British teams at various European and World Championships and knows the game inside out. She was brilliant and stopped me from sounding too much of a dodo. Great Britain won the team gold medal for a 7th successive time, which was an amazing achievement but a bit lucky because the French selected the wrong people for their team and would’ve won if they’d chosen differently.
Poor old Zara Phillips had a nightmare in the show-jumping when Toytown stopped with her and had fences down. I really felt for her and when I saw her afterwards in tears I realised, probably for the first time, just how much it matters to her. Always in the past, success seems to have come quite easily and she’s been so cool about it that I wondered how much she cared. Now I know. It was a horrid experience for her but will stand her in good stead at the Olympics in Hong Kong. Better to lose a silver medal at the Europeans where the team gold was safe than lose a gold at the Olympics.
The spring and summer were punctuated by the various rounds of the Challenge Cup, which was won once again by St Helens. They were so dominant throughout that it was no surprise. I was pleased we had a French side in the final for the first time so there was an element of history and of course the final was back at Wembley. I had never been to a Wembley Challenge Cup final so it was a big moment. Funnily enough I thought the players and the crowd were a bit over-awed by the size of the place and the match was not the best.
One of my highlights of the year was presenting Crufts back in March. I absolutely loved it and was really pleased when the BBC asked me to do it again next March. My Tibetan Terrier Archie was a scene-stealer and made lots of people laugh with his antics (not wanting to sit on the sofa for more than two minutes at a time) but I was really proud of him. It was hot under the lights and the sofa was slippery so I didn’t blame him for wanting to get off. He came good when he had to do agility in the studio. I think everyone was prepared for complete anarchy but he was brilliant. There is no end to the things he will do for a tasty bit of sausage!
I have a few plans afoot for projects involving Archie so hopefully it won’t be his last appearance on camera.
I worked with the superb 5 Live sports team on three huge events this year – the Cheltenham Festival, Wimbledon and the Open Golf, where I commentated on golf for the first time. Being allowed to walk inside the ropes following the eventual winner Padraig Harrington and Colin Montgomerie on the first two days was one of the biggest thrills of my life. I had to pinch myself to believe I was there. I loved it.
I’ve recorded another three series of Ramblings this year and have gone sailing past the 100 programme mark. The new series starts on Radio 4 on November 23rd so listen out for that. There are plans for a book in the next couple of years, which will be interesting to write. I hope to try to capture the essence of the programme as well as encourage people to get out into our countryside and feel its beauty. I think the best walks are about more than great weather or spectacular views (although they sure do help).
Lots of other stuff is going on, including a secret mission for Sport Relief that you’ll see in the spring. With apologies for taking so long to produce an update and thanks for bothering to read it…
Best wishes,
Clare
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One of the BBC’s main sports presenters, Clare fronts all its live racing coverage, including the Grand National, Royal Ascot, the Derby and l’Arc de Triomphe...