GRAND NATIONAL 2025: ITV COVERAGE PLANS, PROGRAMMING AND PRESENTERS

Presented by Ed Chamberlin, ITV Racing will broadcast five races a day of top class racing across the three-day Festival, with an extended show on Grand National Day.

ITV’s BAFTA-winning team include pundits and Grand-National winning jockeys, Sir Anthony McCoy, Ruby Walsh and Alice Plunkett. Joining them covering all the action will be former Olympian and presenter Sam Quek.

Speaking on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast, she said: "I can’t wait to get to Aintree, although I think I just need to temper expectations as well. I don’t know whether people think I’m going to be replacing AP [McCoy] or Ruby [Walsh] or Alice [Plunkett] - absolutely not. I’m going to let them do the talking and the analysis as usual."

Oli Bell will interact with viewers at home and look at stats in the ‘social stable’ and the three big race commentators will be Richard Hoiles, Mark Johnson and Stewart Machin. On Saturday, Ruby Walsh will also be alongside Oli Bell for a fence-by-fence review analysing how the action unfolded and how your horse got on.

The Opening Show will be on ITV4 each day and ITV1 on Saturday. Oli Bell will host a preview all the big races and take in the morning action around the course. He will have guests with him each day and a big race line up on Saturday including Sir Anthony McCoy and Ruby Walsh.

This year is part of a previously agreed three year deal by ITV to show exclusive, free to air coverage of UK horse racing until the end of 2026. Well over 100 days of live coverage will be shown across ITV1 and ITV4 each year - all simulcast on ITVX - along with morning racing programme The Opening Show.

The new contract extends ITV’s current racing coverage, which began in 2017 and has seen viewing increase across the board, including for major events with average audiences for the Cheltenham Festival climbing by more than a third overall and more than 50 per cent for young viewers compared with the previous broadcaster and record figures for individual days regularly registered.

Niall Sloane, ITV Director of Sport, said: “This deal will take us to a decade of racing on ITV and we’re delighted to be able to continue to bring to viewers well over 100 days of live coverage of this wonderful sport, including some of the most enjoyable, storied and thrilling events of each year...

"We look forward to continuing to work with Racecourse Media Group and our other partners within racing to bring audiences the very best racing has to offer in the coming years.”

The Grand National airs Saturday 5th April on ITV1.