Tag Archive for: Derek Thompson

Derek Thompson signs off at Wolverhampton

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Even though there was a clear winner, a trademark shout of “photo!” from Derek Thompson was an appropriate way of bringing the curtain down on his 60-year commentary career at Wolverhampton.

Thompson announced late last year he would retire from commentating in 2025 and subsequently identified Tuesday night’s six-race fixture at Dunstall Park as his last ahead of his upcoming 75th birthday.

With well wishers aplenty on track, ‘Tommo’ called home the first three winners on the card, his final race being the appropriately named It’s A Photo – Big Fella EBF Restricted Maiden Fillies’ Stakes.

The Marco Botti-trained Space Bear (100-30) was a decisive two-length winner in the hands of Luke Morris, but that did not stop Thompson having some fun inside the final furlong, as he said: “Space Bear now takes it up, from Jowalla, coming from a long way back is Lyra Lea, but it’s Space Bear whose going to win the It’s A Photo – Big Fella European Breeders Fund Maiden Stakes!”

Ian Bartlett commentated on the final three races, but Thompson remained in the thick of the action and was on hand to present the connections of Ballsgrove Boy with their winner’s prize following his success in the concluding Thanks For Everything Tommo – Happy Retirement Handicap.

Thompson told Sky Sports Racing: “It has been absolutely incredible, I’m nearly shedding a tear. It’s a ridiculous as I’m a tough cookie, but this is marvellous tonight.

“I’ve enjoyed it and people have come from all over to be here tonight. Normally after the last race people are rushing off to their cars but we’d had thousands here, it’s superb.”

On his final call, he added: “I’ll never ever forget it. I’m quite moved and it’s difficult to concentrate as I’m not working any more – I’m talking into the microphone, but I’m not holding it.”

Thompson remains one of the most recognisable figures in the racing industry having spent time commentating on-course and for BBC radio, while also presenting for ITV, Channel 4, At The Races and Sky Sports Racing during a nearly 60-year broadcasting career.

He was even part of a three-strong party alongside Lord Oaksey and The Sun’s Peter Campling that attempted to negotiate the release of Shergar after the 1981 Derby winner was kidnapped.

And while his long spell commentating in Britain has come to an end, Thompson has no intention of hanging up his microphone entirely, with several racecourses continuing to use him as a raceday presenter, while he will also continue his association with racing in Jersey.

Derek Thompson at York last year
Derek Thompson at York last year (Mike Egerton/PA)

He said: “I’ve got Ascot at lunchtime on Friday and then York on Friday evening, Ascot on Saturday and then go to Jersey on Saturday night/Sunday.

“I am going to settle down a bit and enjoy. I am going to miss the commentary because the commentary box is the best view and the best seat in the house.”

Speaking to Sky Sports Racing presenter Simon Mapletoft, Thompson signed off perfectly with: “I’ve had a great career. Thanks big fella and by the way, it’s a photo!”

Tommo – ‘Are you well? I thought you were!’, and so much more

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Derek Thompson will commentate on a race for the final time on Tuesday evening at Wolverhampton. Here, we look at ‘Tommo’s’ take on his near 60-year career in broadcasting.

On where it all started

Derek Thompson first commentated as a 15-year-old
Derek Thompson first commentated as a 15-year-old (George Selwyn/PA)

My dad, the late Stanley Thompson, he started commentaries in point-to-points and I think it was 1965 and halfway round at Great Ayton he turned the microphone off and said ‘I can’t see them anymore you take over’. I picked up the microphone and switched on and said ‘they go towards the next on the far side’ and that’s how it started.

On becoming involved in the Shergar mystery as a negotiator with the kidnappers

Shergar won the Derby in 1981
Shergar won the Derby in 1981 (PA)

I never want to go through that again. That was absolutely horrible. It is something I can still remember vividly to this day and it was just awful. Going to Belfast in the height of The Troubles, going into the (Europa) hotel. As soon as I walked in it was ‘would Mr Thompson pick up the hotel phone?’. And that’s where a voice said ‘I’m watching you from the other side of street’ and you think ‘what?’ and do this and do that. We tried to get the horse back, it was just absolutely an incredible time and I talked to the supposed kidnappers of Shergar. I think there were about eight or nine phone calls and it was the last one at half past midnight where I kept him talking for a minute and a half. If I kept him talking for that long they could trace the call, and I said to the policeman who was sitting next to me with the earphones on ‘did we trace the call’ and he said ‘no, I’m sorry the man who traces the call went off shift at midnight’. We never found the horse.

On his now famous line of ‘Are you well? I thought you were!’

I was doing a promotion for a hotel in Bawtry quite a few years ago and I’d done a piece outside the hotel – ‘this is the Crown Hotel in Bawtry, let’s see what it’s like and go inside, blah blah blah’ – and walked inside and there were the girls at the bar, they were the people who worked there. They were looking like they were having a drink at the bar and I walked up and I don’t know why I said it ‘hello, are you well? I thought you were!’. Why on earth would anyone say that? It just went from there, Greg James from Radio One rang me one day and said ‘Tommo, it’s Greg James here’. ‘Greg James? You’re Radio One’. He said ‘yeah, Tommo I want to ask, are you well? I thought you were’ on the radio and it just went on from there.

On the equally famous ‘It’s a man actually, Derek’

When I handed over from the studio to Bob (Robert Cooper, on At The Races) at Hereford, I just looked at my screen in front of me and I just saw the blonde hair, so I said ‘oh, you’re with a beautiful woman’, he said ‘it’s a man actually, Derek’ and that got to Glastonbury. On the stage in the background were signs in bright letters ‘it’s a man actually, Derek’ – I mean what is that? Greg James was there and he sent me a photo and said ‘you’re on the stage at Glastonbury’. Crazy.

On owning horses with his wife, Caroline

Cheerleader won at Redcar and Catterick. It was my wife Caroline who bought the horse because she wanted to ride and so we put the horse out in the field. She (Cheerleader) just flourished and it was Tina (Jackson), my brother’s partner who trains near Whitby, who said ‘I think you could race her again, I think she could win’. We weren’t going to because we were just going to retire her. Caroline said ‘come on, shall we do it’ and the horse has won twice. We are so lucky and we’ve got a few other shares with My Future Champion who are great syndicate guys, so it’s lovely to be involved that way as well. We’re very lucky, but it’s all Caroline’s fault! She was the one who said we’re going to have this horse. Another time I tried to talk her out of it but she was absolutely spot on, so well done Caroline.”

On his greatest memory from racing

Dubai Millennium winning the Prince of Wales’s Stakes
Dubai Millennium winning the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Sean Dempsey/PA)

Dubai Millennium. I started commentaries in Dubai with Sheikh Mohammed. Henry Cecil had got me over there and my greatest memory was Dubai Millennium winning the 2000 Dubai World Cup by 10 lengths. I still miss him to this day (Dubai Millennium died aged five due to grass sickness) and whenever I go to Newmarket, I always try to go to where he’s buried and I always pay my respects to him.

On working with John McCririck and Alastair Down on Channel 4

Derek Thompson (second right) and John McCririck (right) with their ITV colleagues
Derek Thompson (second right) and John McCririck (right) with their ITV colleagues (PA)

They were the ultimate professionals. People didn’t see the work they did behind the scenes, but I did. It was just a joy to watch. I always remember that Big Mac used to wear two watches and I said ‘Mac, I’ve got to ask you after all these years, why do you wear two watches, one on each wrist?’. He looked at me and said ‘well, in case one stops’. I suppose it’s right because you’ve got to know exactly what time it is. He was a great journalist and a great broadcaster. He brought something to The Morning Line which you couldn’t buy. It was just incredible. I thought he was superb. Alastair Down was a great journalist. He had a way of putting things into words that nobody else could do. Every time I used to read him, I marvelled at the way he expressed himself and it was so good for racing. It attracted a lot of people into racing who were watching it on TV or reading it in print.

Derek Thompson bringing the curtain down on his commentary career

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Derek Thompson felt the time was right to end his commentary career, as he prepares to pick up the microphone for the final time at Wolverhampton on Tuesday night.

Thompson is one of the most recognisable figures in the racing industry having spent time commentating on-course and for BBC radio, while also presenting for ITV, Channel 4, At The Races and Sky Sports Racing during a nearly 60-year broadcasting career.

The 74-year-old was even part of a three-strong party alongside Lord Oaksey and The Sun’s Peter Campling that attempted to negotiate the release of Shergar after the 1981 Derby winner was kidnapped.

He also enjoyed time in the spotlight when what became his famous catchphrase, “Are you well? I thought you were”, appeared on Radio One courtesy of Greg James before going viral, as did an At The Races clip of him when he mistook a man for a woman during an exchange with Robert Cooper.

But now ‘Tommo’ is taking a step back and Dunstall Park will be the last time he calls them home at a race meeting.

Thompson told the PA news agency: “I’ll be brutally honest, it’s not going to be easy because I still love it to this day and I’m so proud that I’m one of about 20 people that do the race calling in the UK.

Derek Thompson is stepping down from commentating
Derek Thompson is stepping down from commentating (Mike Egerton/PA)

“I’ve been doing it for so many years that it’s time to move on. It’s not getting any easier, but I still love it. I’ve been very lucky, I’m paid to go to the races. Other people have to pay to get in. I’ve got the best seat in the house.

“I’m absolutely stunned by the amount of people that have come up – and that’s not just older people like me, but younger people as well – and said can I have a selfie, can I have your autograph. It’s just lovely. The messages I’ve been getting on social media, thank you so much, it’s lovely, it almost brought a tear to my eye. It’s very moving and it makes me feel very proud.

While Thompson will be putting down his binoculars, he certainly does not plan to be a stranger to the racecourse and hopes to take his affable style around the country.

Frankel's debut win at Newmarket is one of Thompson's fondest memories
Frankel’s debut win at Newmarket is one of Thompson’s fondest memories (Nigel French/PA)

Thompson said: “I’ll still be presenting at the racetracks around the country and hoping to organise a little tour called, ‘Are you well? I thought you were’, or ‘It’s a man actually, Derek’, so we’re hoping to continue the fun side of racing because I’m a great believer in enjoying racing.

“The memories, and there’s some great stories, many of which we can’t tell, but the ones we can I’d love to, we’re hoping to start a podcast. I will still be going (racing) because I enjoy working. I’ve been very lucky over the years, working with people like John Francome, Brough Scott.”

Thompson also famously once raced against the then future King in a charity event and remembers the race fondly.

He said: “I beat him, Prince Charles as he was then. I rode a horse for Nicky Henderson called Classified and I beat him at Plumpton.

King Charles III once raced against Thompson
King Charles III once raced against Thompson (Andrew Matthews/PA)

“There were about 12 runners, it was a two-mile Flat race and it was incredible.

“We occasionally have a chat at the races, Royal Ascot and stuff and we get together sometimes.

“I always say, ‘Sir, I’m sorry I beat you all those years ago and he says ‘don’t worry, I forgave you’, but the (late) Queen goes, ‘but I haven’t, Tommo’. It was incredible.”

Reflecting on his illustrious career behind the microphone, one of Thompson’s favourite memories was calling Frankel’s racecourse debut at Newmarket when Sir Henry Cecil’s charge launched the beginning of an unbeaten 14-race career.

And Thompson has fond memories of the late, great Cecil and the empathy he showed when he was dealing with bowel cancer in 2012.

Sir Henry Cecil with Tom Queally and Frankel
Sir Henry Cecil with Tom Queally and Frankel (PA)

He said: “I did the first commentary on Frankel when he won at Newmarket – what a horse.

“I used to go and sit with Henry Cecil on the gallops. I remember I had cancer and I was coming out of hospital and I was very weak and I used to go on the gallops at Newmarket.

“I remember him saying, ‘come on, sit down next to me’, and we watched the horses because I could hardly stand up. It was just lovely and I remember watching Frankel coming up there and he was one of my favourite horses. I miss Henry to this day.”

Red Rum’s first Grand National victory in 1973 will forever remain one of the fondest from the many commentaries – in this case radio – Thompson has done during his career.

He said: “The 1973 Grand National, Red Rum and Crisp. I’m the youngest ever commentator, 22, of the Grand National.

Red Rum and Brian Fletcher winning the 1973 Grand National
Red Rum and Brian Fletcher winning the 1973 Grand National (PA)

“There was Michael Seth-Smith at the first, Michael O’Hehir was at Becher’s, I was at Valentine’s and then I handed back to Peter Bromley and he did the best commentary I’ve ever heard on a race finish.

“Crisp and Richard Pitman were 30 lengths clear passing me and Red Rum got up on the line to win.

“Red Rum was probably the greatest horse of all time. There’s so many – Frankel, Brigadier Gerard, Nijinsky, Shergar, I’ve been lucky enough to see all of those.”