ITV Racing Presenter Oli Bell on Horse Racing, Presenting and the Power of Authenticity

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Arthur: [00:00:00] Ollie Bell while I'm talking to a pro presenter today. Ollie, you are incredibly well known, one of the leading presenters in not only horse racing presenting for the likes of Royal Alaska for the Grand National. You are a leading voice in the, particularly the horse racing community, but also you've covered things like darts football.

What do you get from presenting?

Oli: that's a really

question. I get a buzz

first and foremost. It's quite an adrenaline. Fueled job.

It's not sat behind a desk doing accounts. No disrespect to any accountants that are listening to this, like when you are just about to go live.

You

mentioned the Grand National. There's

lots of people watching it. Undoubtedly that gives

you a

few butterflies in the stomach. So there's a sort of a great kind of

adrenaline level to the job

and the excitements that come with it. And then also as well, it's very fulfilling, from a career point

of view.[00:01:00]

It is quite

a

good job to see a,

an

obvious trajectory, I started as a runner and now as you mentioned, presenting for ITV, which is, I'm very privileged to be in that position, but I've been able to see growth

throughout my

career as well. So I suppose that I've been rewarded for hard work and seen the rewards for that and things like that.

On every level, I feel like

it is a very rewarding job. I will always acknowledge that I'm in an incredibly fortunate position and I'm one of the lucky ones that, get

to present

horse racing on terrestrial television. There's not many of us, but ultimately it's a rewarding job and

fundamentally it's, I don't

ever feel like it's a job as well.

And

I think that at its

core is probably the most important thing for me is that

I do something I genuinely really love

and am passionate about and enjoy. So going to work never feels like going to work.

Arthur: I mean your your awareness of how lucky you are. I think that carries through to a lot of people who seem to be really in sync with [00:02:00] doing something that they love, but something they're also very good at. And clearly puts you in a position where you are you are, you connect with people.

When you are doing it, when you are presenting, what's your, what's, what's going through your mind? What to you. There's this concept of a North Star for businesses. For Airbnb, I think it's like number of nights book. What to you is your North Star? When you are presenting, what do you most want to give people?

Oli: I

think you've touched on it there. What's really important is authenticity. And actually

how I find this out is not necessarily.

Excuse me.

On the shows that I present

and

In work, I find this out more outside of work. I've got a bug in my throat, not great for

presenter.

But when people see me away from work and they say, you are very similar to,

to, to how you are when you present.

That to

me is the,

sort of

the golden

really,

[00:03:00] because I don't want to present. Like a caricature of a TV presenter. I want to be me going into people's living rooms on a Saturday morning when I'm doing the opening show or what have you, and I want them afterwards to go,

oh yeah,

he's just the same. He's not trying to be anything. He's not. He's, a bit of an idiot. He's quite charming sometimes. He's funny, polite, whatever it is, right? But ultimately, I don't want to deviate from who I am because I think one, the audience can see through that.

And two, it's just very hard to like. Maintain the mask. When you are

are. Presenting a

program, right? If you present once every six months, you can probably get away with it but ultimately when you're on as regularly as we are, you, it is just impossible to be anything other than yourself over,

10 year

or whatever it is

we've done.

To me that's the

real kind of sweet spot. And

I know that

some people will have a very different way of working, but like I don't go into work. Obviously I know what I'm

talking about, but

I like to let things happen [00:04:00] organically. I think anything that's like overly prepared comes across as that.

And so

The more relaxed off the cuff kind of authentic it is, the more enjoyable it is for the audience. They like

mistakes when they go

wrong. We all go, oh my God, this

a disaster. But actually

quite entertaining, as long as you're quick and sharp and on it.

Nothing's. It's only

talking about horses

running around the field, like nothing's gonna be really that bad. So I think those are the keys to me

Arthur: And are there some things you are thinking about when, if you are covering an event, is it about, plucking out the story? What do you feel is the role of a presenter?

Oli: I think it's twofold.

I think it's always having an awareness journalistically of the story. I think that's very important. And I think it's to maximize the pundits as well. So I think you've got to. Get

best out of your experts that are alongside you. In most

most sports that people would watch they would have

ex-professional

as the [00:05:00] pundits.

On ITV for example, we have Ruby Walsh. He's brilliant. Luke Harvey, MC Fitzgerald, AP McCoy. These are former jockeys. So they've lived and breathed what we are talking

about in many ways. And so I think my role as

the presenter is

to try and. Tap into the

questions that the audience might want to know from

a from a sort of bird's eye

view point of view.

But ultimately I think when we cover an event and the Grand

National is

obviously a big example, probably the main example,

There are lots of people watching racing that wouldn't ordinarily

on that day,

and it is. Occasionally

quite a jarring race

to watch you

have to have an

awareness of what you are talking about and who you're talking to.

And

Therefore

you can't

be flippant in anything. You can't be dismissive 'cause we're in a little racing bubble. You have to be fully aware of

society.

And I know that sounds quite profound.

I think it's very true. We broadcast to a wide [00:06:00] spectrum of people with differing views, differing beliefs, differing religions, et

When you are broadcasting on a national

broadcaster, you

have to be aware of the nation that you are broadcasting to. And there's like obviously

focus on the grand

National, but if you have that mentality throughout, then.

You'll always have, hopefully that sort of broad church mentality, which is

again,

what I would hope to achieve when I'm broadcasting that you connect with

As many people as possible.

Arthur: and really that can only come from a product of being grounded and self-aware. So clearly serves you in lots of ways being human, part of being human is, you're not gonna feel the same every day. So sometimes that can be a good thing.

'cause sometimes we can feel unbelievable for reasons that, you know, that we will let the listeners have an idea of what that, those reasons might be. But for the re, for the days that. Are actually maybe you've got a cold or something, something's happened in your personal life [00:07:00] or a worry has just got your attention.

You're about to go on air. How do you just refocus and just look down one lane.

Oli: oh

That

probably comes into a slightly different like point for me because As a general rule, I don't get I'm fairly level

throughout, do you know what I mean?

If I've got a cold, then I've just got a sort of, I sound a bit coldy and like just get on with it. But in terms of deviating and being quite volatile, not that's what you're implying, but I guess

being up and down and carrying that to work and then

Portraying that on screen. Rarely, and I'm obviously bing myself here 'cause something disastrous is gonna happen. But rarely do I have I woken up and been like, this is all too much. I don't know. I've distracted

by this. Everything

has been.

I don't

wanna sound arrogant in the sense, but everything's been pretty easy in terms

of my life

is not

that stressful.

There

are real stresses out there.

There are real problems and you know what's [00:08:00] really the worst thing that's happening to me at the moment is like picking. Paint colors for

my mom's

house and

her being stressed about it. Do you know what I mean? That I'm not gonna carry that

to

work.

And so I've always been quite, and I hope that doesn't come across as up my own arse, but like ultimately nothing really gets to me because I'm all,

I

hopefully have a good sense

of reality basically. Nothing's too bad and nothing's too good. Ultimately

Arthur: Yeah. But also, experience accounts for a lot and yeah. We'll keep you. Keep the motions going forward. Different presenters and people take different parts of the sport and really relish in different sides to, to that. How do you feel you, what part of, let's say, racing do you feel that you are particularly interested in or you want to really voice in a way that perhaps is different to other people in that world?

Oli: necessarily.

I.

Captured me about

racing was the. [00:09:00] suppose the at its core

was, it's

Linked to family. My granddad got me into racing. My uncle's a trainer.

my dad

broadcasts in racing. So to me it's quite a unifying thing for a family sat around the sofa. Watching the racing

on a Saturday afternoon is quite an nostalgic

Area for me. And therefore I see that when I'm at the races. You

a lot of families going racing. Dads with

their kids or families enjoying a day at the races. And that kind of continuation is quite obvious to see a

lot. So I think

for me, that element of things is important to portray as well.

It's very much,

I think, quite a bonding sport really for families. I think it's something that everyone can get behind, but, someone might love the horses. Someone might love the colors. Someone might love studying the form. Someone

like might love punting, right? Betting

but ultimately, you're all

all

f.

Liking the same thing really. And that is horse racing.

Someone like might like a day out,

someone like, might [00:10:00] like getting dressed

up or whatever

it is, right? But

ultimately everyone can

Enjoy it for different reasons. So that's very important. And I do think one thing

that actually I

have always been

Fond of and done

and practiced

Enjoyed is the betting side of things.

I wasn't a rider, so I wasn't gonna be a jockey for all that. I briefly thought about it before I grew, but like what?

When I've started out in the

sport, bettings always been quite a big part of my life. And I don't mean that in a sort of problem gambler way, but ultimately

They are intrinsically linked, and I think

that we should have a bit more confidence around the fact that betting

and racing are intrinsically linked.

Nowadays.

It's a bit of a dirty word.

There's a

lot of focus on government on it and things like that. So I think that for someone who's

quite

proud to bet

who's had success playing poker, for example, I don't see it as a

negative connotation necessarily. Obviously there are.

A small percentage of people who have issues with it,

[00:11:00] People like

a glass of wine, but.

there are alcoholics out there, people

can like a bet

without having a problem. And I think we should be a

bit prouder

of that.

And that's

something I want to maintain throughout that sort of the fact that

they are,

they go hand in hand and we shouldn't be embarrassed about that.

that.

Arthur: And poker, so some people listening won't know. Ollie's an exceptional poker player. Truly passionate and. You're a professional player. Is that, would that be correct in,

Oli: yeah. Yeah, I have a job, but I probably, yeah, I guess

play to a professional standard, if

Arthur: what? What do you feel? It's I speak as a, yeah, someone who can barely navigate Texas, Holden what do what has poker taught you around around how to deal with other things in life? Maybe there's something around patience or I.

Oli: Yeah, poker

has taught me so much and so much that I've brought into both my professional and personal life. I would [00:12:00] say on a professional sense, I think you have to, when you sit down on a poker table in a casino live and you're trying to suss out the sort of competition if you like, you

have to very

quickly read the room and read the personalities in the room.

And

obviously when you're interviewing someone to a certain

extent, that's what

you're doing in a very quick way. You are like

working out

when to press

an answer,

when to ease off, when

to,

Deliver a question that

might

have up,

you say whatever it is that sounds

quite calculating, but ultimately you, you have to judge someone and judge the situation very quickly when you are broadcasting.

And. That is something that benefits a poker player. Being able to work at each individual as quickly as possible obviously gives you a, an edge

if you are right so that.

Arthur: it seems like reading people seems like a bit of an art in that you can't really fully. To, to an extent explain. There's some things about reading people that [00:13:00] just can't really be put into words. It's like a sense, I imagine.

Oli: agree. Yeah, that's so true. And actually when I've

tried to explain. What makes a good poker player from a bad poker player? In the

past, I've

never really been able to articulate it because I don't think I have

the answer

as to like why I felt in that spot or in that situation. That what? What did I what?

There's no black

and white answer. What did that person do in that moment that displayed weakness? But there are. There are signs, there

are

little cues basically, whether it's he took slightly longer to bet or he gulped, like little things that actually might be meaningless really.

And it might just be total coincidence, but just having an instinct for it I think is what

I have. And I

don't really know. As I said, no one's taught

me it, no one's

trained me to do that. But I also think, and this again, I don't want this

to sound bigheaded, but I think I'm.

Quite good at reading a room, because of [00:14:00] it.

And

maybe that came before the poker and

then I was

able to be good at poker because

I had

that

skill or that

has been given to me through playing lots of hands of poker and things like that. I dunno what came first. It might be chicken

and egg, but but definitely, yeah, and I think there is this, there, there's this just kind of instinct for it that

can't really be

taught.

And then as,

as well

as that you do play with people from all different. Walks

of life, right? It's, you're sat down with

men, women, all ages, all religions, all whatever, all countries. So

yeah, you just have to have a kind

of awareness of a lot of things when you play poker. And then obviously there's probably an element of like fearlessness and whatever, right?

There's lots of like fundamental things that I probably

but

the things that it taught me

are.

Respecting everyone, hopefully, and also

reading the

room quickly. And , once you

have those

skills, then do anything

Arthur: Speaking of people, there must be so many characters you've met. Let's [00:15:00] start with poker. Can you think of some unusual stories you've heard about in, in the poker realm that kind of unlock this sort of, create a bit of mystery

Oli: I dunno how much mystery it creates.

I think it

has been documented, but there was a very famous incident where at a poker tournament there, there's things called like prop bets. So like side bets

that

are always happening on a poker table.

Like when you get to the high rollers,

they'll go out for a game of golf, for example, and there would be lots of money bet.

And

then when they're playing poker,

someone might say, look.

A hundred grand.

This is, I dunno whether this happened. I'll tell you about the example

I know,

or two examples I know, which are quite entertaining. But it might

be like,

only salt and vinegar crisps for the next week. I'll give you a hundred grand if you do.

And then someone will go, yeah I'll take that. Someone will go, no, I'll do it for 200. And then someone will lay the 200, whatever. So that happens quite a lot in high stakes poker. Just 'cause these guys want a

bit of action, as if their

life

Is not exciting enough, they need a bit [00:16:00] more.

But there was one incident where a guy got bet I think

it was like a million quid to get fake boobs put in for six months I think. So he got. Paid or bet to have breast implants. And I think he ended up have keeping them in for an extra six months for some reason. I dunno why. And then there was another one where and that you can Google that did actually

happen.

And then,

Both of these

happened.

And then

there was another one, which

is actually

harder I think, although I haven't given it loads of thought. Someone got bet to live in a bath for, I think it was something

like six months or eight

months, not

in a.

I think it was watered anyway, there was something around living in a bath for a long time and the money that was offered was astronomical.

And he

tried to do it and then gave up

because it, it was like torture basically. So these things happen

a lot. And then you get some real colorful characters. You

get the big names,

It's

not quite as glamorous

as it looks, but when it's good, it's very good. 'cause the money's

obviously very lucrative and

It's exciting.

Arthur: [00:17:00] Have a and are there any characters you've come across that just live very different, unique lives? Perhaps they only go out to, to play poker,

Oli: , you are bang on,

it

is

isolating. A

lot of people go from casino to

casino around the

UK sort

living

in Airbnbs on their own right. When I played in Nottingham, I did quite well in a tournament

earlier

this year and I was living, I live living, I stayed in

hotel on my own.

Didn't have any outdoor space in the hotel, so I had to just walk around like a

little

car park every morning just to get some

fresh air. And

then go to the casino, spend 12 hours in

the casino. I didn't

really know anyone,

so

I was on my own. And then it was, play for 12

hours.

Go back, rinse, and repeat. For six days, I

think, five or six days, I think I did that. After a while it's pretty soul destroying. Obviously you're playing for big money and that's quite exciting, but it's pretty

relentless, basically. Yeah, it can be pretty grim, the whole thing, but obviously when it comes off it's great.

Arthur: and you've talked [00:18:00] how it really brings you to this place of just really switching off and you find it really relaxing, which in some ways feels yeah. Surprising. Given the nature of the game. Give us an idea around, the horse racing world. Obviously there's so many different.

Stakeholders and bettings a fascinating area. One thing I'm interested in is just the nature of horse buying. Has that become easier for people to have a have a foot in the game? And this whole betting thing is that becoming more exciting and more imaginative.

The these prop bets, these side bets that you talked about in poker, sound incredibly entertaining. I know that in the tech space, some of these communities, the way you can you can do unusual bets are, very very popular platforms. I dunno if that's an evolving world.

Within horse racing.

Oli: I don't think the breast implants bets will be evolving too much.

First point about the get entry into the horse world as such that has become [00:19:00] easier because there's been a growth

in,

Micro share syndicates. So small syndicates where you can en enter in at 50 quid, buy-in levels.

So that makes it more accessible. Gone are the days of having to pay. Thousands of pounds. Obviously that still happens, but thousands of

pounds to, to buy your own horse. Now you can get in with a, an ownership group and what have you. Entry into racing yes, it is a bit more accessible, which is good news.

But ultimately, like if you want to compete at the top level, it's

gonna cost

a lot of money.

I think that

has got better and I

it's needed to get better as well, because

ultimately.

We need

to reach out

to as many people as possible. And from

a betting

point of view, I mean what's

interesting is

what's happening in America really, because like the gambling laws are changing in America

rapidly.

And when that happens,

I dunno how many states

now allow betting, but

like way more than. Than before.

When that

changes fully, what

you'll get is you

will get a the space will, it [00:20:00] goes

without

saying, but once America's in on board, it's gonna be mega, basically. So that's when you will see a really a

real growth

In that space.

You'll see lots of of prop bets if you like. You'll see lots of different markets, different ways to bet. DraftKings has become very popular, which is a bit of a fantasy

game.

That's massive in America. There's lots of things happening, but America will drive that, I think, and Asia.

But with the change in the laws, I think America will take that to a new place. And then obviously those things will be implemented over here.

Arthur: And when when you look at sport, we've seen an explosion. I'm probably the least informed person in Britain around football. But you've seen the explosion in money involved which is, some people can ride that way pretty hard. Other clubs less say other people less but when you look at media and the drive to survive Netflix production and its impact on Formula One. There seems to be so much around horse racing that is it, it was referred to as, the other day in a [00:21:00] conversation that, you can, how, however much money you've got the, it doesn't you can't control the outcome.

And but then in the horse racing world, there's so many components to it. What to you is really under kind of shown and if you were to be leading a production of a Netflix. Production in, within the ING world, what to you would be the kind of the big the biggest parts that could , pull people in

Oli: I made a documentary a few years ago

not

quite drive to survive level. But funny enough,

it's actually being turned

into a feature film, which is great. So might have to speak to a couple of your family members about

potential roles

in

it or directing

it or whatever.

Anyway the. The point I was gonna make is after I did the Riding a Dream documentary, I then put forward an another idea, which was a bit of a, I dunno whether you remember a program called 15 by Jamie Oliver, where he took people from Care Homes and Homeless Shelters, trained them [00:22:00]up to be

chefs,

and then in turn opened a chain of restaurants on the back of it.

And I did very well. The show was really interesting because ultimately the human interest stories within that was, what was appealing, that was what was appealing. And I want to do something similar to that in racing.

And

the powers

beef

or whatever. I

think COVID

happened.

It didn't take off. Anyway. I'm waffling around the point really. I think, and ITV have done a series called Champions for Gallup.

I think what

is. So important about racing is there are so many components involved, but

at its core there are these incredible animals and.

Because the amount of people involved in the sport, there are so many human interest stories in within horse racing, right?

So everywhere

you go, you will get an emotional story. There will be something that has happened to someone that means that you know of Charlie McCarthy, right? Who's who owned the Supreme winner. He just recovered from cancer.

Two months before his horse went

him and his family were over, he

was at, given the all clear and [00:23:00] the tears of joy were just so obvious.

I would really tap into that side of the sport. Obviously

animals

are the

stars, right? They are incredible horses as

we know, but if you want to engage with people. Then I think you need to tell them those stories and then

they will

root for that person and their horse.

Old Dan, go back into the late eighties.

Bob Champion

had cancer. The horse was basically gonna retire 'cause of an injury. They came back and won the Grand National. There was a feature film made. Bob

Champion Cancer Trust is raised

like. 25 million for

cancer since

then. But everyone, most people still know about Bob Champion and Alden because of this

emotive

story around it.

And I think racing provides that literally daily. Whether it's a groom, whether it's a jockey, whether it's a trainer, owner whatever it may be, it's there in front of us. We just, I don't think we quite tap into it as well as we could at the moment.

Arthur: there, there are [00:24:00] so many wonderful parts of the horse racing world. Hard work , there's so many different people involved it's popular across the globe. But also, there are stories of. Things not working out, but the most remarkable stories where things do work out.

I heard a betting story, which if I'm, if it's okay, I'm gonna pass you the bathroom to tell, I'm hoping you know it around someone working in stables in lamborn and winning some huge bet on an accumulator. Do you mind just telling us about that story?

Oli: sure. So he was a stable lab, so he was working at Nikki Henderson's Yard. He

was working

in Seven Barrows, so Nikki Henderson, he is one of the best trainers, champion trainer in the past. Anyway, he had a load of good horses and they were all gonna run at the C channel on festival and

at the

start of the season.

So the

channel festival is in March, the season starts in October. He put on an accumulator bet. For all seven to win the magnificent seven. They ended up calling it.

[00:25:00] Now the prices at the

time were

like, ma,

massive prices compared to what they went off on the day, a few were favorites. Some were

10

to one.

I don't

think he had to put much on, I think he may be put say 10 pounds each way, accumulator on the seven or something like

that. I won't get the

numbers exactly right.

I do know how

he won

though. He won a million quid because all seven ended up winning.

From

stable. So the bet he put on the horses, he looked after, he rode out, he ended up winning a million quid from it and and now set up as a trainer in America. So without that bet he would never have he would never have been able to

do

that.

Yeah, it's extraordinary and fair play to him. And those are the stories that you want to hear basically.

Arthur: so extraordinary and, 'cause you know what? What does it involve working at Stable?

Oli: it is proper graph that, you're up at 4 30, 5 o'clock in the

freezing cold in

the winter. You're riding

a horse out

four times in the morning, as in four different lots say, so you do four [00:26:00] horses.

Sometimes it can be below freezing You then. Have to get your horse ready to, the races sometimes have to go racing, and then you come back and you have to feed the horse, give them evening stables and look after them in the evening.

So it's kind

of 24 7 care for these horses. If you're working in a national hunt yard, it's in kind of Baltic conditions. Long days.

Late nights

For not much reward in terms of there's, it's not hugely financially rewarding, but ultimately you are being with

an animal

you love,

you are outside,

there's a community.

Within racing, but also within the yards you work at. So there are huge benefits to it. But at times it can be very tough and when

goes really wrong and sadly it does

occasionally happen in racing. I don't think you'll find a more, I'm

sure you could list a few,

but it's a very emotional job as well.

And, there's

such highs

in the sport. And then

There's the ultimate highs

then there's

The ultimate lows as well in,

racing. And I think.[00:27:00]

staff

who care for these horses who get up every morning to

give 'em the

carrot and ride them out and spend 24 7 with these horses, they're who I really empathize with in sport.

And actually, to go back to your last question, I think showcasing them would be a good way of showcasing the love and the welfare and all

stuff around the

sport. They're brilliant people and they don't any get anywhere near the recognition they deserve.

Arthur: and jockeys.. What is the average height of a jockey?

five in the five

Oli: six or something,

Arthur: Yeah. But the devotion tell us about the devotion. Are there any facts, around the devotion of a jockey?

Oli: no, I don't know any facts necessarily, but ultimately they are putting their bodies on the line all the time. They have to sweat to make weight for races, grim. So a lot of the time before they, so a lot of the time a jockey will. Go to the work

at Ride horses out in the morning.

So he'll do the morning's work, exercise, then sweat in the bath for [00:28:00] two hours, maybe to lose six

pounds, make themselves six pounds lighter.

Sometimes it can be more. I'm probably underselling it there, not eat. All day, perhaps the day before. If you've gotta do really light to have a chance of winning a race so then you are like massively dehydrated.

You're obviously

starving, you're knackered 'cause you've been up early and you've gotta go and compete

with,

The best jockies out there to try and win a race. And if

you ride

a bad race, you get slagged off by every punter there is. You probably lose the ride from the

owner.

Your

primary sort of.

Thing that you experience at work is defeat. It's

just relentless

right now. Obviously when you get to

the top,

you have great moments and you ride the best horses, but

it's

a very volatile and quite fickle existence as well because you can be in favor one day and then out favor the next, and you have to start again.

If you don't turn up at a race course, [00:29:00] you might lose the ride, which means you might not get a ride on another horse. So a lot of the time, and they're self-employed, so a lot of the time the jockeys will be driving from say, new market to GLA, to Hamilton in Glasgow

for one ride,

which they'll get 120 quid from.

But you think about the petrol and the travel and things,

know you're

going there for a loss, but just so you don't lose rides in the future. So you've gotta play the game. You've gotta be good with owners, you've gotta be physically in good shape. You've gotta be mentally so resilient. I really do have huge admiration for jockeys because what they put their bodies through is relentless.

And we only see them riding in the race with our bets on them and, hoping

they do a good job. But yeah, if a jockey rode a bad race, I'd be pretty forgiving of them.

Arthur: and looking at that whole racing world, how do you want it to evolve in the next 10 years? Where is the sort of mecca for you in that sense?

Oli: I think what's important for me is

[00:30:00] that. The next generation

have an appreciation

for racing. I feel

like

students are really connecting with racing. Again. I've seen a lot of students going racing recently and a lot of young people talking about it again, which is good. Really good. I think there was a sort of middle period, probably my generation really, maybe a slight few years older than me, where they just

Dismissed racing a bit or

weren't interested in it.

So I think

we've got this kind of block of five to 10 years of people that you know, who might be owners now or who racing would've hoped to have been owners.

Not really that en engaged in the spot. So capturing them again is really important because if this is to continue to thrive or. Reemerge, it's gonna need the next generation on board with it in lots of ways. I think that it pulls back a bit

to

the documentary I made

and the outcome of that,

but I think racing needs to be much more diverse and,

and [00:31:00] multicultural.

Because I think a hundred years ago you could get away with being quite an

elite

white person

sport,

but I definitely don't think you can now, and I don't think

you should want

to either, to be honest. So I think we need to tap into areas and communities we haven't tapped in before. Otherwise we'll get a bit lost by other things that engage well with different communities, different areas of society.

So I think that's important. And ultimately it's about

growth, right? All these points are about how does racing maintain

its position as

a national sport because. I think it's always been considered a

sport, but I just get the sense that it's slightly

losing that tag. It's always been a bit niche, but ultimately it's always been in existence and I think that for racing to really stay there, it's going to need to connect with the next generation and kind of all walks of society basically.

Because if we don't, we will get lapped and we might slightly

be being lapped

already. [00:32:00] Will get lost and forgotten.

about and show Jumping's A

good example show jumping was on terrestrial television in the, I want to say late eighties.

It might have been

seventies,

but it

was massive,

like everyone in the country knew, show jumpers and it fell off terrestrial television and now show jumping still exists. It's a very wealthy

sport.

Still is quite popular,

If you walk down the high street and said, name me a showjumper to someone in the street, they literally would not be able to name me one showjumper other than like in an Olympic year probably.

And I really don't want that to be

the case for racing, and I feel slightly that it might just be going that way. So I think we need to do everything we can to keep people engaged in it on a national level.

Arthur: yeah, absolutely. Horses, people have this amazing connection with horses. This is why I'm not gonna tell you I'm actually allergic, but we'll move on. I heard a really moving story where someone suffered a huge anxiety and they were nothing was really working over three year, [00:33:00] this woman's life was really in dire straits.

And then she was tasked with living with a horse and looking after the horse for a few weeks and just completely flipped. Whole sense of trusting, something external. People do talk about having these remarkable relationships with horses.

Tell us a bit about that.

Oli: there are lots of

 Lots of

centers if you like, that have been set up riding for the disabled, riding for autism,

Lots

of. Sense if anyone's listening to this and they're in, are interested by that, I mean you

simple

Google of that will tell you one horses have this incredible

knack

of kind of knowing, like this almost sixth sense of knowing what mood

humane

is in and what they need to do to cheer

them up, basically uplift

them. And they're also

a horse can spot nervousness as well,

but they can also, they're very gentle. So

I've

seen firsthand,

we we've taken, I say we the sport of horse racing has taken horses to hospitals, to [00:34:00] elderly homes

care homes and

things like that.

And when there is someone who is fragile or delicate, a horse.

Very much

acts accordingly. And to see that is just the most beautiful thing. It really is. You you can't help

but be caught up in the emotion of that. And in Australia, actually, I lived there for a few years and there was this gray horse whose name escapes, which I'm really annoyed about because he's a legend.

But this

of

stunning, the a champion.

A

champion horse. He won like multiple group one. So he was a very famous and successful race horse and he was great. So he

was like

the equivalent of desert orchid, but back in Australia. Anyway, what he did in retirement was became, 'cause he was so gentle and so such a

beautiful character,

he became a horse that kind of was taken around the country to

hospitals

to, as I said,

care homes special needs schools and things

like that.

Was this kind of national, on this horse because of [00:35:00] the work that he did in just enhancing humans' lives.

And they're

extraordinary animals like I. I can't stress enough if people haven't, obviously not you 'cause you're allergic to

them, but if you can go round

horses just to be in

their presence,

just walk around as stables.

It is just amazing. They all have different personalities,

Don't get me

wrong. Some bite

and some are feral, but only a small ham of them.

But that's the same

for humans as well. That's probably why prisons exist. But, look on the

whole

they're life-changing animals. I really do mean that.

I've seen it firsthand. I'll die on my soul on

one. They're, they are

the greatest animals that walk the earth. I think they're just beautiful.

Arthur: Amazing. We're gonna move on to the quickfire questions. The first one is maybe a bit tricky. Can you give us one observation that you have from your unique experience of being a presenter? Around people.

Oli: I think

anyone with an [00:36:00] ego is invariably a massive asshole.

Sorry,

that's probably not the answer you

Arthur: no.

Oli: I think

in,

I

think it

Pulls

back to everything

I'm saying. TV is quite a. Tv, film, whatever, right? Like you're dealing with inverted commas,

stars, right? That's

the pedestal they're put on

and

Brainwashed into believing

and.

I think I've seen and heard

a lot of stories where I've just thought of gone, like people have slightly

lost sight

of who they are. Like really at our core, we just want to be like, this sounds really cheesy and wishy-washy,

but our

core as human beings, we want to be nice to everyone and we want everyone to be nice to us, right?

That's just the kind of

simplicity

to life. Be

polite,

be nice, look

after everyone

and hopefully everything will be okay. And when you start treating people who are perceptually below you differently when you start [00:37:00] talking down whatever, right? Just when you start believing your own bullshit, you lose sight of who you are.

So I think it's really important no matter whether you are in tv, whether you're a hugely successful business person.

Whether you are just starting out to

That sounds really

Again,

wishy-washy, but be

nice to everyone.

Treat everyone with respect. Treat everyone kindly. You were in their shoes once.

They might be in your shoes one day. And I've seen, in my experience as a presenter, people treat me differently, right? Because I'm the presenter. They treat me differently to how they treat

the runner.

And I think that's. Fucking shit, to be honest with you. We're all the same. We breathe the same air, we circle the same earth, whatever, right?

It's just

I think never lose sight

of the fact we're all on the A level playing field. Really. And if you have that attitude, then you'll be hopefully looked

after

I.

Arthur: Yeah. It's it's always, it knocks the air outta me a bit sometimes when you meet two people who have achieved the same success in an area. But just with [00:38:00] vastly different attitudes to how they treat people.

 and it's, it is really probably the largely a product of just how happy, unhappy they are.

But I guess, that just shows how important it is for people to be reminded of, those that achieve great success but are incredibly humble and grounded and great role models. Three things you get joy from.

Oli: Not to do with work or just in general?

Arthur: it can be anything. The more quirky, the better.

Oli: p poker, this is

is

probably backgammon. I love playing backgammon. I play a lot of background. I watch backgammon videos on YouTube. I'm very sad. Really? They're all like degenerate

gambling related games, poker,

backgammon. And to be honest, I know

there is, and sport, sport is basically the defining sort of constant in my life.

So any sport i

adore sport, whether it's watching it, talking about it, playing it I, I owe sport everything really.

Arthur: A favorite [00:39:00] book, film or artist that isn't obvious

Oli: I'll give

you Han Williams as a singer. I really like his music. He's

chilled, but I don't

think many people would know his name. Matthew Small is an artist I really like. I got some stuff of his from Nelly Duff in Columbia Road Art Gallery.

And

he does his very sort of striking images of people. But he's someone I like film. Anything directed by Leon Ora Lonsdale, I probably should say

Arthur: Shout out. Yeah. She's got,

Oli: or appearing Esmi

Lonsdale.

Arthur: yeah, exactly.

Oli: She's got the she's got the Jack White thing coming out, doesn't she?

Malice,

Arthur: Yeah. Which which yeah. It's received some fantastic

Oli: yeah,

I've read the

reviews.

Arthur: it's, it is top of the list for lots of people to, to check out. And one thing you can add to your bucket list today.

Oli: I would love

to go to the Paleo in Sienna. I watched a documentary about it the other day and I've never been, it's quite, it's you're basically traveling back [00:40:00] in time to watch this kind of horse race in Sienna Square and yeah, I'd love to go to

that.

Arthur: Ollie. It's been such a pleasure to have you on you've given us such a. A privilege insight into so much the world of presenting horse racing. And what's so clear is just how much pleasure it gives you, but also how much pleasure it gives other people. But how a lot of it's not really under the scope yet and a lot of it's hidden.

Which may be, which is obviously you are gonna be changing that over time more and more.

Oli: Yeah. Fingers

crossed, thanks so

much for having me on.