The future IS orange as At The Races brings back presenter Matt Chapman

Posted by Axegrinder on 15 December 2008 at 16:06
Tags: At The Races, Matt Chapman, Racing Post, Rob Dakin, Uncategorized

Irrepressible, orange-faced journalist Matt Chapman is set to return to the At The Races channel on Monday night, a move that is being hailed by some as a victory for punter power.

As regular readers of this blog will know, Chapman – a former reporter for the Racing Post newspaper – has not been seen on ATR since November 12 when he read out an apology to an Irish jockey for comments he had made 10 days before. Sadly for Chapman, the jockey on whom he failed to heap praise happened to be a solicitor when not in the saddle.

The news of Chapman’s return to the channel was broken this morning by Graham Green on the Racing Post website. ATR has always denied claims Chapman was being disciplined, and today’s Post story carries this quote from executive producer, Rob Dakin: “Matt is back on ATR tonight and is presenting Get On this Wednesday and Thursday. He will then be working for the rest of the month, and although we haven’t yet issued the January rota, Matt will be on it.

“As I have said before, Matt was just taking a break from the channel, it was never going to be permanent, and he starts back today.”

When Chapman disappeared from TV screens, an online petition was started at the forum of Betfair, the betting website. It is thought as many as a thousand Betfair punters signed up and emailed ATR bosses urging them to bring back the so-called Tango Kid.

Comments on the forum included: “He’s astute and on the punter’s side when it counts and not BORINGLY GREY like the rest of them” (Schweppes); “Whether you like Matt Chapman or not you can’t sack a guy for having an opinion. 99% of people in racing are self-interested sychophants” (Avidboyd); “Matt’s a legend, A very funny man, racing needs characthers. The future is bright, the future is orange (Thai Tiger); “Free the orange one” (the lord bush).

Another Betfair forumite helpfully provided links to tasteful pictures of Chapman in well-deserved periods of relaxation. Axegrinder is happy to point you in the direction of not one, two, but three of these charming images.

At The Races presenter Chapman falls foul of jump jockey lawyer

Posted by Axegrinder on 24 November 2008 at 17:04
Tags: At The Races, Matt Chapman, Racing Post

When excitable, orange-faced Matt Chapman vanished from TV channel At The Races recently, many of his fans – the newspaper journalist turned broadcaster has his own fan club – were convinced he was set to join the cast of I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here.

The rumour gathered steam on many online racing forums but, alas, Chapman was not bound for the Australian jungle.

In fact, his sudden absence from TV screens may be not unconnected to less-than-flattering comments he made live on air about the performance of an Irish jump jockey, Keith Clarke, whose horse, a well-backed 9-2 second favourite, could manage only 19th out of 20 finishers in a hurdle race at Cork on November 2.

Chapman is usually very well informed but on this occasion he had overlooked one key detail in Mr Clarke’s CV: when not competing as a jockey he is a … solicitor.

Ten days later, Chapman read out an apology to Clarke on At The Races … and has not been seen on the channel since.

In his apology, Chapman said he accepted “that my criticisms of him were unfounded and I should not have made them” and that “I had no reason to question Mr Clarke’s commitment during the course of his ride”.

The sport’s trade paper, the Racing Post, has since quoted the boss of At The Races as saying Chapman was “simply taking a break, having exceeded the number of days he should have worked” and “will be back in two or three weeks’ time”.

For those viewers missing their daily fix of the Tango Kid, Axegrinder is happy to direct you to pictures – posted by a fan on the Betfair forum – of our hero looking suitably, er, bronzed, one of him looking relaxed and another of him very relaxed indeed.