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We have had the likes of Cattermole and Hoiles in the past but that surely tops the lot.
Not funny when for a split second you think you’ve been watching the wrong horse all through the race and then think you’ve backed the winner.
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That was shocking ha ha.
Can you imagine the owners of Reliable Man for the rest of their lives have to hear a voice over off castlejack king for last final furlong.
Tough job, but consistance mistakes in classics are inexcusable.
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An Australian caller did exactly the same thing on Saturday in the Queensland Oaks. It must be catching!
The mental torment of the horse racing commentator – No wonder some of them have turned to drink and debauchery.
Can’t help thinking a lot of their errors these days are through lack of preparation and homework. Some commentators have a lot of fingers in a lot of pies.
Barty had just done two days for the BBC at Epsom, had he the time to do the necessary preparation for Chantilly?
O’Sullevan didn’t used to do the shoulder races for the BBC because he hadn’t done the preparation, maybe some of today’s commentators should follow his example.As mentioned on another thread, I’d backed Crackerjack King, but having seen him run before, I knew the colours and that the horse was a grey that wore blinkers. I watched the race in my local bookmakers along with some friends who had also backed Crackerjack King knowing I had, and also saw it napped in the RP. As the field came down the home straight, I could see Crackerjack King having all kind of traffic problems and being unable to make any headway, so I said to my mates ‘Sorry lads, he’s well beaten’. About 5 seconds after that, suddenly I heard on commentary ‘And here comes Crackerjack King on the outside’. My mates were on their feet, but I could see he was about 12th! I looked again, and thought ‘What’s going on’. As the horses neared the line, again the commentator mentioned him! My mates were going absolutely crackers, and were jumping around hugging each other as the winner crossed the line!! Even worse, the bookmaker shouted me across, saying ‘Well Done Darren!!’ and was getting ready to pay me out!! Eventually, I screamed at the top of my voice ‘HE HASN’T WON!!!! THAT WASN’T HIM!!!’ Even then, the bookmakers display had Crackerjack King as the winner!! It wasn’t until about 20 seconds after the end of the race that the correct result was shown.
The only thing I can think of is that both Crackerjack King and Reliable Man were grey, I think the only two greys in the race. Maybe Bartlett made a note that Crackerjack King was grey, but didn’t realise that Reliable Man was.
I remember being at Kempton a few years ago and Mike Cattermole making the same mistake in a race that Khyber Kim won. In my eyes , it’s a thankless and very difficult task being a commentator. I made a huge mistake commentating on a race at Auteuil once when a German horse finished seventh – but I had it as second, talk about VERY similar colours!! We’re all human, we saw Frankie make an error on Friday, Barzalona almost make one yesterday – today just happened to be Ian Bartletts turn. The only worse thing I can think of is the irony that the actual winner was called Reliable Man – something that unfortunately Mr. Bartlett wasn’t!!
Inevitable that there are occasionally errors. There is no rewind or edit when you are commentating live on racing.
On the subject of prep. I have read that there are a wide variety of preparation strategies for commentators, including learning the colours as they go to the start! I’ve studied memory function in some detail and that technique is not as daft as it might sound! I think the amount of racing these days means that it’s simply not practical for a commentator to study every race for days beforehand.
It’d be good to hear from a commentator or two among the TRF roster on their own prep strategies.
Im with "eddie case" on this 1. Even though I was singing Bartys praises on another subject yesterday this does seem like ill preperation. Im sure commentators cant survive just on their roster pay (£480 per shift I last heard. However 2days working in Epsom, jetting off to Chantilly. Is this not a recipe for disaster??. It has to be said Ian is normally impeccable in the box, was nice to hear him again at Newcastle earlier in year. Would be nice to hear a commentators view if their are any on the forum?
Coincidently, both Hoiles and Barty were calling home imaginery Pricewise ‘winners’. I know he needs a bit of help but this is ridiculous!
Not that this is an excuse, but I think when Barty (or whoever else is covering the French Racing on the Equidia feed) I think they are holed up in a pokey studio, not swanning around Chantilly itself.
Also those commentators on the Equidia shifts have to sometimes cover 8 or 9 races with big fields of often unfamiliar horses, so I imagine there is a fair amount of "winging it". This time Barty got caught out.
Maybe there should be two commentators sharing the load like what happens at the likes of Cheltenham and Royal Ascot.
I remember being at Kempton a few years ago and Mike Cattermole making the same mistake in a race that Khyber Kim won.
Think that was Newbury, late December 2007 wasn’t it? Khyber Kim was mistaken for a Mike Lurcock trainer-ridden creature.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Yes he made a mistake but he is a commentator – nobody died. If a doctor screws up a patient could die – lets get a sense of perspective.
Everybody makes mistakes at work at some time, luckily for most these do not happen in the public glare.
If anybody lost money through in-running betting due to his mistake then, frankly, they deserve to lose their money for relying on a commentator rather than using their own eyes.
On the rare occasions when commentators do make howlers it generally does upset and annoy them. I know after a mis-call at Ascot Richard was devastated he had made the wrong call. His response on Twitter when somebody made a comment along the lines of everyone making mistakes at some time was "I’m paid not to makes mistakes" which is a good attitude and the attitude shared I’m sure, by all the callers.
On the subject of prep. I have read that there are a wide variety of preparation strategies for commentators, including learning the colours as they go to the start! I’ve studied memory function in some detail and that technique is not as daft as it might sound! I think the amount of racing these days means that it’s simply not practical for a commentator to study every race for days beforehand.
Indeed different commentators do have different methods and habits. Most will be at the course a course a couple of hours before racing learning colours and making notes. There is one who still caries a pencil case full of colour pencils and still draws the colours to etch them on his mind.
I’ve asked a few of them how they remember the colours and they say you get to know the horses and connect them with their colours – going racing most days I can see where they are coming from, you even remember them subconsciously.
Most commentators use the horses going down or walking round the start to re-enforce the colours. Tommo, for example, makes a point of watching the jockeys come out of the weighing room and calls them out by horse name to get the association.
A couple, however, are blessed with a photographic memory. I was told a story about Des Scahill when a UK commentator was sharing a commentary box with him. It was one of these 20 odd runner two-year-old contests where nearly all the field were debutants. Whilst the runners were going down he was watching some other sport on his monitor. Only when they were at the post did he pick up the colours, he scanned them once and that was it he had them in his memory.
A couple, however, are blessed with a photographic memory. I was told a story about Des Scahill when a UK commentator was sharing a commentary box with him. It was one of these 20 odd runner two-year-old contests where nearly all the field were debutants. Whilst the runners were going down he was watching some other sport on his monitor. Only when they were at the post did he pick up the colours, he scanned them once and that was it he had them in his memory.
No wonder he never lets viewers know any of the colours during the race
The only way you know which horse he is referring to is if you know the colours yourself and/or you follow the order of the horses being called by him from leader to tailender.- Total Posts 17716
Poor old Des’s large field technique nowadays is to mention as few horses as possible, in hope the race is over quickly and painlessly. I notice he’d handed the handicaps on Irish Guineas day to an assistant. Way to go, Des!
If anybody lost money through in-running betting due to his mistake then, frankly, they deserve to lose their money for relying on a commentator rather than using their own eyes.
Quite right, you pays your money…..
A few years ago now when Trading Shops had just began to appear on the High Street, Thommo called the wrong faller at the second fence in a Beginners’ Chase iirc, and it was laid on BF for £180,000.
Anyhow, you guessed it, the horse Thommo called as a faller went on to win and wiped out someones entire account
The person who laid it used to post on BF as ‘Warwickhunt’ and although he was left penniless he refused to blame Thommo for the reasons you give.
for him.
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