LEAD presenter Nick Luck thanked viewers for sticking with Channel 4 Racing “through thick and thin” as the broadcaster’s coverage came to an emotional end after 32 years at Kempton on Tuesday.

In that time other familiar presenters such as Lord Oaksey, John Francome, John McCririck, Derek Thompson and Clare Balding have graced our screens, and Tom George’s Double Shuffle will go down as the last winner shown on Channel 4 after he took the 32Red.com Handicap Chase.

The final words were spoken by Luck, who signed off for the team with: “For all it’s been a real pleasure, a real treat, a real joy, a real privilege for us, you (the viewers) have been our stars.

“You have stuck with us through 32 years, thick and thin, because you love this wonderful, glorious sport and you will agree with us that the real stars are the horses, men and women who have made it so special.

“From us all, bye, bye.”

ITV takes over on New Year’s Day with a new line-up in a bid to attract a new audience as much as winning back viewers.

It was Thursday March 22nd, 1984 when Channel 4 began its racing coverage when showing the opening day of the flat season at Doncaster as it took over midweek coverage which had previously been on ITV.

The race was the Brocklesby Stakes, then the first two-year-old contest of the year in the days before all-weather tracks came in.

The result could not have been a better one for racing’s new broadcasters as it went the way of Provideo who went on to win 16 times from 24 starts. In doing so, he equalled The Bard’s 90-year-old record for the numbers of wins set by a juvenile.

It was over 18 months later, on October 5th 1985, that Channel 4 took over ITV’s Saturday afternoon coverage, featuring the popular ITV Seven, when World of Sport finished.

Channel 4 upped its coverage and not only showed most of the top races and meetings in the UK but also internationally with the Breeders’ Cup, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in France and the Dubai World Cup in the UAE all being featured.

And it had the field to itself from the end of 2012 when the BBC ended its racing coverage. However, on January 1st, 2016, it emerged Channel 4 had lost the horse racing rights to ITV, a move officially confirmed 24 hours later.