Alastair Gordon Lyell Down (9 February 1956 – 1 November 2024) was an English journalist and broadcaster who wrote for '' Sporting Life'' and ''

Racing Post ''Racing Post'' is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing, and sports betting publisher published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of 60,629 ...

'' and covered horse racing for ''

Channel 4 Racing ''Channel 4 Racing'' is the name given to the horse racing coverage on the British television stations Channel 4 and More4. History The first transmission of racing on the channel was on 22 March 1984 from Doncaster, as it took over midweek cov ...

''.

Early life and education

Alastair Gordon Lyell Down was born on 9 February 1956. His father, Gordon Down, was an insurance broker, and his mother, Pam, was a gardener. He grew up in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

. Down graduated from

Tonbridge School Tonbridge School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for boys aged 13–18) in Tonbridge, Kent, England, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judde (sometimes spelt Judd). It is a member of the Eton Group and has clo ...

and later from the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

. He said that he attended the University of York because seven racecourses were within an hour's drive of it. At university, Down spent much of his time betting on horse races. He boasted that in his final two years there, he attended only two lectures.

Career

Down started his career in 1979 with ''Raceform'', shortly before joining ''The Sun''. He then joined ''Sporting Life'' two years later, in 1981. He was made the lead presenter of

in 2001. His role on the show was particularly prominent when it focused on jump racing. When Channel 4 Racing employed a new production company in 2012, Down was dropped along with

John McCririck John Michael McCririck (17 April 1940 – 5 July 2019) was an English horse racing pundit, television personality and journalist. McCririck began his career at '' The Sporting Life'', where he twice won at the British Press Awards for his camp ...

and Mike Cattermole, which ended his frequent television appearances. Alastair_Down

A collection of his writings, titled ''The Down Side: The Very Best of Racing's Top Writer and TV Presenter'', was published in 2012. Its sequel, ''Cheltenham et Al: The Best of Alastair Down'', was compiled by Sean Magee and published in 2014. The book won the 2015 British Sports Book Award in the Best Horse Racing Book category, the last one to do so.

Personal life and death

Down was married to Frances Down (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Werner) from 1988. He later separated from her. They had three children together and he had a daughter from another relationship. His daughter Saskia was killed in the

2019 London Bridge stabbing On 29 November 2019, five people were stabbed, two of them fatally, in Central London. The attacker, Usman Khan (terrorist), Usman Khan, had been released from prison in 2018 on Parole#United Kingdom, licence after serving a sentence for Terror ...

. According to the ''

'', he never recovered emotionally from her death and drinking became a "safe haven" for him. Down resided in

Evenlode Evenlode is a village and civil parish (ONS Code 23UC051) in the Cotswold District of eastern Gloucestershire in England. Evenlode is bordered by the Gloucestershire parishes of Moreton-in-Marsh to the northwest, Longborough and Donnington t ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, as of 2012 and in

Bledington Bledington is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cotswold (district), Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, about southeast of Stow-on-the-Wold and southwest of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, Chipping Norton. ...

from December 2020. He died on 1 November 2024, aged 68, after a brief illness.

Awards and honours

Down received the Racing Writer of the Year Award from the Horserace Writers and Photographers Association five times, first in 1994 and most recently in 2018. He was the only journalist to receive the award five times. He was awarded the President’s Award by the association in 2022, receiving it in 2023. The press room of the

Cheltenham Racecourse Cheltenham Racecourse at Prestbury Park, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, hosts National Hunt horse racing. Racing at Cheltenham took place in 1815, but comprised only minor flat races on Nottingham Hill. The first racing on Cleeve ...

was renamed after him in his honour in October 2024.

Bibliography

*''The Down Side: The Very Best of Racing's Top Writer and TV Presenter'' (Hardcover, Raceform Limited, 1 January 2012; , ) *''Cheltenham et Al: The Best of Alastair Down'' (Kindle Edition,

Books, 28 October 2014; ) *''Cheltenham et Al: The Best of Alastair Down'' (Paperback, updated and revised, Racing Post Books, 18 September 2015; )

References

Notes

External links

* * on

{{DEFAULTSORT:Down, Alastair 1956 births 2024 deaths People from Cotswold District People from Bromley People from Bledington People educated at Tonbridge School Alumni of the University of York English journalists English broadcasters British horse racing writers The Sun (United Kingdom) people Channel 4 people