John McCririck over the first hurdle in his ageism case against Channel 4 McCririck, 73, said: "We have won a significant opening skirmish against the anonymous suits and skirts at Channel 4, who sit in judgment on people's careers. My legal team will now confront them at a full tribunal. "Highflyer and Channel 4 promoted him as part of the Channel 4 "team,"" he added. The new-look Channel 4 line-up started with only two presenters aged 50 or over in Graham Cunningham and Jim McGrath. Alistair Down, who was not part of their original plans, was re-introduced prior to the Cheltenham Festival to provide features and monologues, though he does no presenting. McCririck stressed last night: "I'm not doing this for the money. Legal action will cease immediately if I get my job back. A Channel 4 spokeswoman said: "We note the outcome of this preliminary hearing, which had no bearing on the central issue of alleged age discrimination. We reject the suggestion that discrimination on the basis of age played any part in the decision not to include John McCririck in the Channel 4 Racing team from 2013 and we will continue to vigorously defend this claim. The judgment will not be well received at Channel 4, who have been defending disappointing viewing figures at Royal Ascot last week. Audiences dropped 40 per cent as compared to BBC in 2012 for the majority of days.