TV racing favourite dies week after opening Cheltenham press room named after him

One of racing’s most popular TV presenters has died after a short illness.

Alastair Down, 68, was the face of Channel 4 Racing for many years as well as an award-winning writer as a journalist for the Racing Post and Sporting Life.

The news was announced just seven days after Down had attended a ceremony at his beloved Cheltenham racecourse where the Press Room was renamed in honour of him.

To mark the occasion Cheltenham also named one of its races on the opening card of the new jumps season at the track, the Alastair Down Press Room Novices’ Hurdle.

Many family, friends and colleagues were at Cheltenham to celebrate with Down who was interviewed by ITV Racing on the day.

Alice Plunkett, who also worked on Channel 4, introduced Down as “one of my oldest friends, greatest mentors and one the people I respect the most in this sport.”

Down said: “Emotional is a cliched way to put it. It’s very moving I can tell you. By the end of the day, I may have had a cup of coffee, and a glass of champagne and may even shed a tear or two.”

Cheltenham was a favourite venue of Down’s who had attended every Cheltenham Festival since the age of 19.

Many of the best of his legendary writings were accounts from the famous race meeting. He explained: “From first seeing it on television in black and white, that Peter O’Sullevan soundtrack, I was smitten by it somehow.

“I’m incredibly lucky to have been able to write from a slightly different angle. Some people can run four minute miles. I can’t do that. I can drive a four minute mile.

“What I can do is bring events alive and say this is what it felt like to watch it, what it sounded like. The noise here, it’s the greatest symphony in sport.

“This is the heart of jumping. This is why people come year after year, making this mad and expensive pilgrimage to be shoved in a couple of sardine cans for four days, but they wouldn’t miss it for the world.

“On many a mantlepiece in Ireland there is a pot that money goes in to blitz it in four days over here.”

Down was named Racing Writer of the Year at the Horserace Writers and Photographers Association (HWPA) awards five times, making him the most successful journalist in the category.

Last year he received the President's Award for his contribution to racing journalism.