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What I did agree with were her shocked comments about the rider of the winner. I don’t think I have ever seen a worse display by a jockey 19 is no excuse; the way he held himself up by the unfortunate horse’s mouth to wave around was despicable. Such an action would have caused Pour Moi pain & may have injured his mouth to make it hard & insensitive in the future. People that complain about whipping (less harmful to the horse) will probably have missed this as they have never ridden themselves. If a kid even did this in a Pony Club show they would be severely reprimanded.
Totally agree. As I’ve said elsewhere on here, I hated the celebration and despite some childish responses it has nothing to do with lost bets because I didn’t even have a bet on the derby. I didn’t think it was as great a ride as some suggest but its all about opinions and certainly it was a beautifully timed ride and the horse is absolutely outstanding. But the celebration was obnoxious in my view and I stand by that. The race though was terriic and will last long in the memory.
I am in agreement with what people are saying about Barzalona. However, it is very easy to get caught up in the moment when you have won a major prize. Some of you will be aware of my ‘antics’ in December 2008, when our horse Fiepes Shuffle, won the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton. For a stable like ours to come over from Germany and win such a big race, it really was a very special day, however, whilst walking in with the horse to the winners enclosure, I got slightly carried away, leaping around and punching the air like a total lunatic – and not only was it was broadcast live on ATR, but some photos appears in the following days papers!! The simple fact is, it’s adrenaline. That was a very special day for me and all within the stable, and when you’ve achieved something you’ve pretty much dreamt about, I think you’re entitled to a little celebration!
OK, what Barzalona did might not be right in everybodys eyes, but put yourself in his place – you’re riding in the biggest race of your life, you’re in last place, then you horse flies down the home straight, you know you’ve got the victory – aren’t you going to get just a little bit excited?
After pondering overnight on what happened yesterday, I’m still disgusted with the jockey and still think it was totally unprofessional [he hadn’t actually ‘won’ when he did it..he was a hairs breadth from looking a complete idiot]. As for the BBC coverage, I’ve mellowed slightly, given that so many people wanted to know what happened to the Queens horse. As for the comment about Clares post race interview with the jockey, it was a clever bit of improvistaion..she asked him to speak in French because she would have [and did] translate it herself. All a bit of a let down, really, but then the bigger the build up to a race, the greater the let down afterwards. And nowhere near as exciting as Flipper winning, Darren!!
Clare Balding did what all good broadcasters are able to do, she verbalized the thoughts and feelings of the vast, vast majority of people who watched the race yesterday.
Top notch as always.
The most perplexing post race comment came from John Magnier who said he wished someone else had owned Carlton House.
Awww, poor Queenie.
I’m quite sure the old girl can handle the disappoinment, in the same way her mother coped with Devon Loch’s near miss in the ’56 Grand National.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
I haven’t seen the TV coverage but you’d have to think that CB would have been hard pressed to do anything BUT focus on the Queen’s runner, both before and after the race, as that was the public ‘story’ surely.
The most perplexing post race comment came from John Magnier who said he wished someone else had owned Carlton House.
Probably meant he wished he owned it himself!
I haven’t seen the TV coverage but you’d have to think that CB would have been hard pressed to do anything BUT focus on the Queen’s runner, both before and after the race, as that was the public ‘story’ surely.
The most perplexing post race comment came from John Magnier who said he wished someone else had owned Carlton House.
Probably meant he wished he owned it himself!
At the presentation the first horse she mentioned was Carlton House, not the winner! Treasure Beach the runner up never even got a mention. Any other ‘big’ race the third horse probably wouldn’t even have been mentioned.
No Magnier tried to sound suitable contrite that he had beaten the Queen’s horse. If Joe Bloggs had owned it he wouldn’t have given a fig!
Far, far too much concentration on Carlton House, to the detriment of other fancied runners. We saw the VT of him getting out of the horse box at least three times!
Any other ‘big’ race the third horse probably wouldn’t even have been mentioned.
Fair comment but any other big race the third isn’t always owned by the Queen and hasn’t been virtually the only talking point for the last four weeks.
But I’m sure the Queen herself wouldn’t want her horse to be the first mentioned by CB on the podium, it should have been all about the winner.
I forgot to say, there were also innumerable close ups of Ryan Moore’s angst ridden face talking to connections & not one of the jockey who had been beaten a head!
I don’t know about three or four weeks, I thought the media interest only really revved up in the last three or four days.
To be honest Willie Carson was the voice of reason on the day.I was a bit miffed about all the Carlton House coverage. Am sure Clare had what the public wanted to know on her mind, not us "racing" enthusiasts. We can’t expect anything else. Derby Day to them is far from just about Racing. Of course Carlton House will be at the forefront of BBC coverage. It is a little sad for us, but I am afraid if we want true racing coverage, we need to switch to RUK.
Value Is EverythingCome on GT – a little harsh. Everybody knows Clare is about as pro-racing as anyone could possibly be.
Am sure Clare had what the public wanted to know on her mind
She
was
reporting on the BBC on a what is national occasion. Only right she should be appealing to the wider audience.
There’s some misapprehension here. On this occasion, for once, many non-racing fans were tuning in to see The Derby. They were doing so simply because the Queen’s horse was favourite.
The publicity for this year’s race was massive
because of this fact
, and its profile correspondingly higher than usual.
Are you absolutely certain about these two points you make?
I don’t know one non-racing fan who tuned in to watch yesterday’s Derby simply because the Queen’s horse was favourite. Ok, there may have been some, but relatively speaking, ‘many’ is an exaggeration in my opinion.
So I don’t think it’s ‘fact’ that this was the case do you?
And to your second point, you say the publicity for this year’s race was massive, again referring to the Queen’s horse as your reason.
But was the publicity massive just because the Queen’s horse was favourite? I’d say that the ‘Fallon’ story outweighed the ‘Queen’s horse’ story ten to one in the 48 hours that immediately preceded the Derby. And before that I didn’t notice any publicity that I wouldn’t have seen in any year ahead of the Derby – Queen’s horse or no Queen’s horse in the race.
Come on GT – a little harsh. Everybody knows Clare is about as pro-racing as anyone could possibly be.
Am sure Clare had what the public wanted to know on her mind
She
was
reporting on the BBC on a what is national occasion. Only right she should be appealing to the wider audience.
Sorry Corm, I can see my comment could be taken both ways.
Was not meant as a criticism. I totally agree with you, As I said, Clare had "what the public wanted to know on her mind". She was therefore right to appeal to the wider audience.
Thumbs up.
Value Is EverythingI can quite understand the BBC emphasising the aspect of Carlton House’s ownership but the Racing Post has been at its sycophantic worst for two weeks or more and that is in my view far worse.
The RP has long since ceased to be a journal of objective analysis and insightful comment. We’ve had the ingratiating mood toward Henry Cecil (reflected by Matt Chapman on ATR) and during the winter, Paul Nicholls is given almost reverential treatment as were Kauto Star and Denman.
While in most years there would be some interest in the other contenders, this year’s pre-Derby coverage in the RP concentrated on one horse to the almost total exclusion of the others. As others have said, had Carlton House been owned by anyone else, we would not have seen such ingratiating coverage.
As it turned out, the horse wasn’t good enough and has perhaps been beaten by a superstar who, had he been trained by Henry Cecil, would now be being lauded as the next equine superstar but because he’s French-trained and won’t be seen till the Arc, there will be an undercurrent that he’s not somehow good enough.
- Total Posts 17716
There’s some misapprehension here. On this occasion, for once, many non-racing fans were tuning in to see The Derby. They were doing so simply because the Queen’s horse was favourite.
The publicity for this year’s race was massive
because of this fact
, and its profile correspondingly higher than usual.
Are you absolutely certain about these two points you make?
Attendance at Epsom was 120,000, up 16% on the previous year.
Fact.
Interviews with many punters at the gate produced the "We’ve come to see the Queen’s horse win" response.
Fact.
http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-ra … bymeeting/
The Derby, not the England/Switzerland football qualifier, was top of the bill in every sports segment in the morning news programmes, on terrestrial, Sky and Radio 4.
Fact.
So yes, I am absolutely certain of those
facts
. The viewing figures for BBC1 will make interesting reading too, I have no doubt. For once, after decades of trailing in the Grand National’s wake, The Derby was a real focus of general public interest yesterday.
Quite how you think Fallon’s absence might have
increased
attendance baffles me, as that absence wasn’t decided until after most people would have set out for the course. Bizarre idea!
Curious how so many Racing fans (on TRF and elsewhere) seem determined to diss the importance of the event, none the less.
As it turned out, the horse wasn’t good enough and has perhaps been beaten by a superstar who, had he been trained by Henry Cecil, would now be being lauded as the next equine superstar but because he’s French-trained and won’t be seen till the Arc, there will be an undercurrent that he’s not somehow good enough.
In all fairness, if an already lightly-raced Derby winner takes 4 months off in between major races, skipping all the other important events over the summer, depriving fans of seeing him once or twice more before he is inevitably whisked off to stud like most Coolmore horses, then no, he
isn’t
good enough. He’s
not
a superstar. It’s got nothing to do with nationality. If the connections of Sea the Stars and Workforce told the media they’d be opting for a similarly weak campaign, the chorus of naysayers would be equally loud.
If he wins the Arc, defeating Workforce and So You Think (plus perhaps Carlton House again) in the process then he will be a super-star no matter how much time-off he takes Miss W.
Agree with the comments re -reverential treatement meted out by RP to prominent figures (but you can forgive them HRA Cecil). RP needs to be more edgy IMO.
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