Broadcaster of the Year

THE NOMINATIONS

BY LEE MOTTERSHEAD

LYDIA HISLOP

The jumps season really is not all about the Cheltenham Festival. It’s also about the road to Cheltenham, an essential part of which is watching the Road to Cheltenham, whose joint-presenter Lydia Hislop is now bidding to win an award she first claimed in 2019.

Racing TV linchpin Hislop has helped to create one of racing’s very best double acts alongside Ruby Walsh and together they have brought us a must-watch racing programme, one that marries perfectly with the regular column Hislop writes through winter into spring.

“I’m delighted with how the Road to Cheltenham has taken off because it was a long time both getting it to screen and getting the concept understood,” she says. “Now we have some impetus behind the programme and it’s working really well. It is nice to have worked closely with Ruby and it’s great the two of us have had so much influence in terms of the production.”

It’s not only on Road to Cheltenham nights that Hislop excels. As a racecourse presenter her passion for the sport shines through, while her in-depth interviews are so absorbing and illuminating that one wishes she could have a crack at some of our politicians. A legitimate question has not yet been invented that Hislop would be afraid to ask.

“I really like the opportunity to talk to people in depth, which is something I think Racing TV does particularly well,” adds Hislop. “We are broadcasting to very knowledgeable fans, so we can often go into great detail, particularly on Racing TV Extra, which allows us the space and time to delve deeper into things.”

JOHN HUNT

John Hunt, crowned broadcaster of the year on the day he turned 50 in 2015, is hoping the date of this year’s Derby Awards might signal another happy outcome.

“I should send a warning to anyone taking 1-6 about Nick Luck winning again,” says Hunt. “When I won this six years ago it was my birthday - and the lunch is taking place on my birthday again this year.”

HWPA stats gurus can offer greater insight regarding the extent to which Hunt’s chances have been boosted but there can be no

doubt he deserves his place in the final field, having once again dazzled in his work as 5 live’s racing commentator, as a regular racecourse caller and as a presenter for Sky Sports Racing.

That’s not all. Hunt - who can also be heard describing numerous French races for Equidia - was a key part of BBC Radio’s Olympics team, adding his voice to the swimming and diving competitions and therefore to the gold medals won by the likes of Tom Daley and Adam Peaty.

“Having to do the Olympics remotely from Salford took a bit of getting used to but it was also great fun and I’m just pleased our swimmers and divers won so many medals,” says Hunt.

“Rachael Blackmore’s Grand National was the big racing highlight for me, both in terms of trying to find the words to match that great achievement and also because of the odd backdrop of a neardeserted Aintree. Since then, being able to work among crowds again has been fantastically uplifting, while for the second year running we only missed one British Flat Group 1 at 5 live, which I don’t think is bad at all.”

NICK LUCK

It now seems almost inconceivable Nick Luck would not be nominated for the Broadcaster of the Year award - and having already lifted the trophy on eight occasions there’s a fair chance he will again go home with something extra to dust.

In what has been a typically busy and brilliant year for the master of his craft, Luck has delivered coverage of the biggest racing events in Britain for Racing TV and in America as part of the acclaimed NBC crew.

Yet that is far from all. His eponymous Sunday morning interview show on RTV and the weekday morning Nick Luck Daily Podcast have continued to be devoured by racing professionals and fans, while, like John Hunt and Rishi Persad, Luck was part of the BBC’s Tokyo Olympics coverage, providing television commentary from Salford on equestrian events that yielded two British gold medals.

“I’ve been doing this job for about 20 years now and I do think it’s important to keep making subtle adjustments and freshening things up to prevent you from becoming stale,” says Luck. “I also always feel you have to work for the HWPA nomination because you know your friends and colleagues in the press room are a very discerning bunch - or at least I like to think they are!”

The podcast - to which fellow nominees Hislop and Persad are regular contributors - currently receives between 50,000 and 60,000 plays a week, prompting Luck to add: “It has grown quite significantly but with that obviously comes a greater responsibility to the listeners. We can now meet them on racecourses and get direct feedback, which for a long time wasn’t possible.”

RISHI PERSAD

Imagine what it must have been like to be Rishi Persad in 2021.

He was on the ground in Tokyo as part of the BBC’s Olympics team. He was in the United States, first to work at the Ryder Cup for the Beeb and then as part of the squad delivering the Breeders’ Cup to those watching on Racing TV and TVG. He worked for the BBC at Wimbledon and the Open Championship, prior to both of which he was selected by Channel 4 to front the network’s return to test cricket. On top of all that there was racing - and plenty of it.

“Career-wise, this has been the best year I’ve ever had in terms of events I’ve attended, especially considering the Covid constraints within which we’ve been operating,” says Persad. “To think I’ve enjoyed the sort of year I’ve had is almost unbelievable. Inside me there has been a little sports fan enjoying every moment. I’m very grateful.”

The now grown-up sports fan was handed a Willy Wonka-esque golden ticket to all those gigs for a reason. Persad is the safest of safe pair of hands, yet he also broadcasts with a warmth that was again apparent during ITV’s coverage of the Grand National, Derby and Royal Ascot, at all of which he was maintaining an involvement in the mainstream televising of racing that stretches back to Channel 4 and before that the BBC.

“Racing is my home game, so to be nominated for this award is a huge honour,” adds Persad. “I work alongside colleagues who have won this award, and I know how good they are, so it’s a privilege to be thought of in the same context.”

SIS is pleased to support the SIS is pleased to support the Horserace Writers and Horserace Writers and Photographers Association PhotographersAssociation Aw Awards 2021 ards 2021