FAN favourite racing presenter Francesca Cumani is set to present the Melbourne Cup from home as part of her rumoured £550,000 deal.
The glamorous host, a big hit with ITV racing viewers, cannot travel to Australia due to Covid restrictions, report news.com.au.
Cumani, a regular alongside Ed Chamberlin on terrestrial TV in this country, has also proved incredibly popular Down Under.
Reports claim she signed a five-year-deal with Network 10 in 2019 worth a whopping £550,000 – £110,000 per year – to present coverage of the ‘race that stops a nation’.
That rumoured deal came on the back of Cumani proving such a hit with Seven, the previous Melbourne Cup rights holders.
But Cumani will be forced to present from England for the second straight year as a result of the global pandemic.
The Australian say Cumani, 38, will continue to receive her salary despite her only TV appreances coming through Zoom and pre-recorded messages.
They further claim she was due to feature in the channel’s coverage of the Victoria Crown Oaks and Mackinnon Stakes, but now her appearances have been cut to just the Cup itself and last Saturday’s Victoria Derby.
Due to circumstances beyond her control, Cumani presented Channel 10’s footage from her lounge in the UK in 2020.
She also had to self-isolate last year after her 72-year-old father, famed trainer Luca, contracted Covid before making a full recovery.
Cumani is racing royalty, famed for her stylish outfits as much as her encyclopedic knowledge of racehorses.
Cool, calm and collected in front of the camera, the only time she really got flustered in front of a jockey was when a young Frankie Dettori lived with her.
Taken in by Luca, Dettori stayed with the Cumanis after coming to England from Italy as a teenager.
Francesca admitted developing a teenage crush on the eventual superstar – after seeing him take a bite out of some mozzarella from the fridge.
She said: “God, I used to think he was so cool and exotic.
“I have a lasting memory of him coming through the house and going to the fridge, grabbing a ball of mozzarella and just biting a chunk out of it.
“He was quite wayward when he was younger, and his talent needed nurturing in the right direction.”
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