Flower helps Cook bloom

Alastair Cook is a man who has not always enjoyed the support of the English media or cricket fans. However, he is a man who is on a mission to succeed at getting his form back.

Having failed to play well over the last year, Cook has now seen his form get back on track after being given the opportunity to play against first class opposition in the warm up tests before the Ashes cricket action gets underway, the last of which saw Cook earn an impressive 111 not out.

Whilst some parts of the England team’s preparations have come under heavy scrutiny that has left them receiving negative attention, including an attempt at a

Jockeys' title fight helps ATR to record daily audience

The battle between Paul Hanagan and Richard Hughes helped pull in a daily record audience of 565,487 viewers to At The Races

  PICTURE: Getty Images  Jockeys' title fight helps ATR to record audience By Howard Wright 4:51PM 10 NOV 2010 THE final-day battle for the jockeys' championship at Doncaster, Kauto Star's reappearance at Down Royal and the culmination of the Breeders' Cup contributed to At The Races notching a record daily audience reach on Saturday, according to figures released by the official research company BARB on Wednesday.

The number of viewers who tuned in at some stage to the channel's 11-hours of live broadcasting totalled 565,487.

The previous highest figure was recorded on Victor Chandler Chase day at Ascot in January 2008, followed by the 2005 Breeders' Cup, which took place over a single programme at Belmont Park.

Saturday afternoon's highest quarter-hour audience was 184,563, while exclusive Breeders' Cup coverage in the UK and Ireland, negotiated in conjunction with betting-shop service provider SIS, peaked at 113,000 from 6pm.

More than 100,000 tuned in for both the Breeders' Cup Turf and Classic, which ATR regarded as more than satisfactory, with a spokesman pointing out: "Saturday evening is generally a tough slot, against the likes of X Factor on terrestrial TV."

ATR recorded a peak audience of 130,000 for the Breeders' Cup on Friday, when the live programme began at 7.45pm. Friday's highest quarter-hour figure of 144,139 was registered from 7pm, during coverage of Wolverhampton's evening meeting with the Hanagan and Hughes both riding on the penultimate day of the season.

ATR chief executive Matthew Imi revealed that the channel is now regularly reaching two million viewers, up 500,000 from two years ago.

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