Derek Thompson keeping tight grip on racing’s commentary reins at 70

IT is approaching 8.30pm and the ever enthusiastic Derek Thompson is casting his eye over his personalised racecard as he prepares to ‘call’ the last of nine races from Southwell.
Derek Thompson: Remains one of the public faces of racing as he turns 70. Picture: PADerek Thompson: Remains one of the public faces of racing as he turns 70. Picture: PA
Derek Thompson: Remains one of the public faces of racing as he turns 70. Picture: PA

“Good old Tommo,” says Sky Sport Racing’s on-course reporter Robert Cooper as he hands over to the commentator at end of a long stint.

“Less of the old,” replies the evergreen Thompson before that trademark chuckle.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He means it as he prepares to reflect on his lifetime in racing – and hopes for the future – after celebrating his landmark 70th birthday with a renewed zest for the sport that made him and charitable causes.

Derek Thompson (second right) was synonymous with racing coverage on, first, ITV with the likes of the late John McCririck (far right) and then Channel Four Racing.Derek Thompson (second right) was synonymous with racing coverage on, first, ITV with the likes of the late John McCririck (far right) and then Channel Four Racing.
Derek Thompson (second right) was synonymous with racing coverage on, first, ITV with the likes of the late John McCririck (far right) and then Channel Four Racing.

The Covid-19 lockdown, he tells The Yorkshire Post, has convinced him that he is too young to hang up his microphone. He has spent lockdown launching The Morning Line Reborn – a name derived from Channel Four’s past racing coverage – with his great friend, and fellow cancer conqueror Bob Champion.

Over 20,000 people watched their recent broadcast from the Middleham stables of record-breaking trainer Mark Johnston.

Thompson and Champion, who won an emotional 1981 Grand National on Aldaniti, both walked 1,000 miles during the lockdown at Newmarket where they live.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Now they are planning to climb the equivalent of Mount Everest by walking up Roseberry Topping, a landmark overlooking their childhood homes, 28 times, to raise vital funds for the Bob Champion Cancer Trust. They are planning a trial run tomorrow with Brian Hughes, National Hunt’s champion jump jockey.

Derek Thompson missed his great friend Bob Champion's tear-jerking 1981 Grand National win on Aldaniti.Derek Thompson missed his great friend Bob Champion's tear-jerking 1981 Grand National win on Aldaniti.
Derek Thompson missed his great friend Bob Champion's tear-jerking 1981 Grand National win on Aldaniti.

Thompson has also developed a political passion for struggling town centres – he is helping set up a meeting in Newmarket to see what more can be done to help them.

He is animated by this newspaper’s series on market towns. All this while travelling the length of the country commentating at race meetings. Even with no crowds present, the Thompson ‘verve’ is there for watching TV viewers and each race still requires copious homework and research.

On a sheet of paper, he draws the colours of each runner and then adds other relevant details, to avoid having to check a racecard mid-race. It all takes time.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I still love it. If you don’t get up in the morning, you’re not earning – the lockdown taught me that. I got back from Southwell at 11pm and then was up at 5.30am to broadcast a Morning Line Reborn from a Norfolk bakery where the owner, Mervyn Ayers, bred Chiefofchiefs who won at Royal Ascot.

“He starts baking at 2am in his shop and it is incredible. When we went to Mark Johnston’s, he found the time to talk to us and his wife Deirdre sang Flower of Scotland. We did The Morning Line for all those years on Channel Four from a studio but why didn’t we bring it to a stable with horses in the background so the viewers could see all the work that goes on in yards?”

Thompson has not looked back since the formative afternoon at Cleveland Point-to-Point where his father Stanley was the commentator. They were on the gantry. “It was about halfway into the three-mile contest when Dad paused in the commentary, turned to me and whispered ‘I can’t see them any more’. Dad would increasingly have trouble with his eyesight. ‘Will you do it for me?’ he asked. I could hardly have turned him down.”

His proudest moment, after an apprenticeship with Radio Teesside, was being part of Sport on 2’s commentary team for the 1973 National when Red Rum overhauled a leg-weary Crisp alongside Peter Bromley, Michael Seth-Smith and Peter Bromley.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The only survivor, Thompson is proud of his continuing place in history as the youngest person to call the great Aintree race.

His biggest regret was having to cover Stockton’s races for ITV’s World of Sport when Champion won the 1981 National.

“Within 15 minutes of Aldaniti winning, he rang me from the Aintree weighing room and said that ‘I was watching you and you’ve got to get a bit better if you’re to make it as a TV presenter’. I didn’t even have time to tell him ‘well done’ because Bob said they were waiting to present the trophy. Amazing.”

Some friendship, it was also advice that was well-received as the ageless Thompson continues to prove in a racing life like no other.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.