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I used to watch all the coverage, but now find myself recording then fast forwarding through just to watch the races.
Good people but does anyone else have a problem with Balding, Pershad and Fitzgerald. While knowledgeable, find these quite boring.
Please bring back Francome and Thompson and ratings will double.Well come to the forum and I agree in general but
Somehow I cant imagine them knocking on Big Mac’s door and begging him to come back but stranger things have happened I suppose.Blackbeard to conquer the World
I used to watch all the coverage, but now find myself recording then fast forwarding through just to watch the races.
Good people but does anyone else have a problem with Balding, Pershad and Fitzgerald. While knowledgeable, find these quite boring.
Please bring back Francome and Thompson and ratings will double.Couldn’t agree more, and the most missed of all Big Mac. Most people prefer cardboard cut outs to characters though I’m afraid, we are in a minority.
Even the opening music sounds clinical and is a nothing.
Francome and co were so right for this programme, they had the balance right there and then. While the new presenters are competent and efficient, the programme has lost its earthy character in tune with racing as a whole.Totally agree as well. I used to like Rishi Persad but now he looks too smug and Fitzgerald is just hopeless. Shame they don’t use Alice Plunkett more as I’d prefer to see her leading their coverage instead of Nick ultra smug aren’t I clever Luck
Nothing will ever change, best to forget about it and just get on with your lives.
Francome spouted a lot of crap but was worth his place for his wit and personality alone, however he has no interest in doing it anymore.
How Tanya can still be employed by them is a mystery to me and the weekly feature about Persad preparing for his charity race is extremeley tedious.
Even the opening theme tune is a nothing.
Francome had a no nonsense earthy appeal with some great stories. Thompson just nits the whole lot together. The chemistry worked then, but it feels like a factory at work now, clinical making it very boring,
Like hearing the Irish commentators when the racing is coming from say Leopardstown, but just doesn’t sound right with Fitzgerald so prevalent over here.When Jamie Moore made his chinky horse comment on a recent morning line, that was the first time I’ve laughed watching it all year … A far cry from the francome days.
I actually think its better when the overrated balding isn’t on there,just as well as she can’t be botherd with jumping it seems.
Hopefully the penny will drop one day and they will realise the link between falling audiance figures and them avoiding showing the horses before the race,I can’t be the ony one who enjoys watching horses cantering to the start can I ?Quite agree with original poster. Whilst Balding is knowledgable, she comes across as a headmistress talking to an audience of dimwits. Pershad, undoubtedly a nice guy, is just too , hard-to-put in to words, – "nice", "uncontroversial".
Fitzgerald, whilst knowlegeable too, adds no more to the coverage than did Francome.
No matter who C4 used as presenters, they’d be criticised, so I suppose we’ve got to just grit our teeth and be gratefulthat they coverthe sport at all.
It’s too late to bring back John Rickman!Out with old in with the new
Now where have I heard that before
Like the old hands here in this
forum they are irreplaceable.I suppose years of travelling together
and working together does bond people
in a way that comes across to viewers.
More cosy than professional.Acceptable styles change. Cosiness has
been replaced by professionalism possibly.
Julian Wilson’s rather serious style would
not I guess be marketable today,
but I quite enjoyed him in doses, because
he was informed and very passionate about
racing. It is very difficult to get the
right mix !
Couldn’t agree more with all that’s been said. I think the coverage lacks warmth and humour. Yes racing is a serious business, but it is a sport, it should be fun, certainly for the viewers. Derek Thompson was an essential player in the line-up. John Francome too. And let’s not lose sight of Alistair Down, briefly caught on camera yesterday at Chepstow. His knowledge mixed in with his avuncular approach made him an ideal presenter. As the first year of the new regime is up the only consolation is that Simon Holt is still in the commentary box.
I’ve become more and more happy with the Channel 4 coverage as the year has progressed.
I never thought I would ever say it but Graham Cunningham has become one of my favourites now. So professional and well informed, with a good sense of humour.
I don’t mind Rishi Persad at all now and he does a good job. I don’t know why people get so irate about Mick Fitzgerald. He knows his stuff and is admirably efficient.
The absence of John Francome has made Jim McGrath raise his game so that he now doesn’t have to rely on laughing like a drain at Francome’s jokes or using phrases like "stays longer than the mother-in-law" so much.
Clare Balding is supremely professional and such a consummate and versatile broadcaster. Nick Luck adds another welcome dose of professionalism.
I have previously described the new Channel 4 coverage as BBC Lite and it still is — but, overall, I think they do a very good job.
I still record the programmes so I can fast-forward Tanya Stevenson (still hopelessly inadequate and out of her depth) and the adverts.
The obvious replacement for Tarns was staring us right in the face during the adverts and even on the Morning Line recently.
Kate Miller, the William Hill presenter for the adverts, would be a great replacement for Tanya. She appears to be articulate and intelligent and, unlike Tanya, doesn’t look like a scarecrow or sound like a bad Barbara Windsor impersonator.
I also still hate the fingers shown pressing the buttons on the touch screen desk (totally unnecessary and very messy) and the painted on stripes and faded grass superimposed on the track near the winning line. Again, totally unnecessary.
But overall, I think Channel 4 has made good strides this year and I don’t think the on-screen team is as disjointed and out of place as many people think.
I, for one, don’t miss Francome, Big Mac or even Tommo particularly.
The programme lacks humour.I really miss the old presenters.While I watch it because I love my racing I miss having a laugh too.
Not enough coverage of the horses too,I like to see them walking round the paddock and going tot he start,too much chat now.
While I didnt always agree with everything Big mac said he was a great character and he always championed the welfare of our horses.Far too much time spent in the glass box talking. They might as well be based on a roundabout in Milton Keynes for all the atmosphere it conveys. Clare Balding I like, but on this she seems to feel the need to act like Derek Thompson. I miss the characters…….Alistair Down and John Francome. Tanya is just awful. Why she ever ended up in front of a camera I don’t know. They could replace her with Rory Jawani.
And let us see the HORSES!Could be my memory playing tricks but I’m sure everyone used to complain about the old presenters
I don’t dislike Tanya, but it does my head in when she can’t pronounce the horses names. I miss Francome.One of the rare good things about At The Races (ATR) is their Sunday Forum which often has good guests including Alastair Down. Its wonderful to see how much of a jumps fan he is and how much of a loss he is to Channel 4. If C4 changed their boring…sorry Morning Line into something like the Sunday Forum it would be much more worth watching.
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