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I offer a man none of you will have heard of (perhaps Steve, if he’s lucky).
He worked for Extel in Scotland (the audio-only service in the days before TVs in betting shops). We used to call him ‘oul Jimmy’. By freak of chance, many years later, I worked with him (at SiS) and learned that his name was John Copland.
He had an undisguised, un-anglified but perfectly clear Scottish accent, a depth and grittines of tone that spoke of a decade at the pit face or a lifetime of Capstan at 40 a day.
He called a race as though he had happened to be passing the track and had stopped to watch and was casually telling a friend on the phone what was happening in a quiet manner, as though he’d probably move along in a minute and find something more interesting…but, hold on…what’s that horse coming out of the murk of a Sedgefield afternoon…it, it seems to be passing the others at the back…on the inside…now moving away from the rail, and, hey, hold on. maybe this is worth hanging around for after all…and his tone would rise a little, and we’d hold our breaths involuntarily, just in case this one, this horse that he ‘can’t quite make out’ is ours, and maybe, just maybe, even though there’s less than a furlong left on this darkening afternoon…and his pitch rises at the thought of being the only man there to witness this speeding miracle whose colours he is at last able to see and, ten strides from the line put every punter in every Scottish betting shop out of their spine-tingling misery.
And those were the days when what mattered was not accuracy or fancy pre-planned phrases. What mattered was not that he already knew the horse’s name or indeed that it had gone clear two out. What mattered was that John was a superb dramatist who knew unerringly that at the core of every punter’s heart, only one thing shone…hope.
Gareth Topham is one of the best race callers i have ever heard and if he found himself calling a big race in the near future, i would go out of my way to listen to it.
You don’t fare too badly yourself, sir
Have you got the gig at Dalston Point-to-Point again this Easter?gc
I usually don’t hear from them until late Feb, so we’ll see!
I quite like John Blance now
Has improved plenty for practice, certainly; although a tendency still remains for calling too many horses "it" rather than sexing them. Not quite sold on the frequent use of "after that we’ve got…" yet either.
When John Blance was challenged on this forum a couple of years ago about repeatedly calling horses "it" rather than bothering to find out and mark up whether they were fillies, mares, geldings or colts etc, he came up with the lame excuse that it was a throwback to his days when he had huge numbers of names to remember for when he was commentating on large numbers of races for betting shop services and didn’t have time to do basic research like this.
It’s pure laziness now he is commentating on often small fields for one racecourse meeting. There’s no excuse for it. Most of his colleagues do mention fillies etc and say "he" or "she". Some of them use different coloured marker pens as visual aids for this purpose.
Other culprits are Darren Owen and sometimes Ian Bartlett. It seems that for Mr Blance, or should that be Bland, old habits die hard. Using the phrase "after that we’ve got …" is another cop-out for his failure to take the time and trouble to work out whether runners are fillies or mares etc.
Given I spend most days of my life listening to these guys as I earn my crust at Ladbrokes, I feel I’m well able to pass comment on their abilities (or otherwise which is of course personal opinion)
The one name I can’t find in Meerkat’s excellent run-down is Tim Peters (the youngish presenter one, rather than the Master of Ceremonies at certain racetracks one). The
Post
reported in the summer of 2012 that he’d be joining the Racetech roster at the start of the following year, but did he ever? I can’t recall having heard him once yet at a professional track.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
What happened to the competition for the female commentator ? The experiment with Matt Chapman soon died a death too
What happened to the competition for the female commentator ? The experiment with Matt Chapman soon died a death too
This should answer both questions: http://thatracingblog.blogspot.co.uk/20 … ar-on.html
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
What happened to the competition for the female commentator ? The experiment with Matt Chapman soon died a death too
This should answer both questions: http://thatracingblog.blogspot.co.uk/20 … ar-on.html
gc
Thanks, interesting read
The experiment with Matt Chapman soon died a death too
Not soon enough for most people!
....and you've got to look a long way back for anything else.
Given I spend most days of my life listening to these guys as I earn my crust at Ladbrokes, I feel I’m well able to pass comment on their abilities (or otherwise which is of course personal opinion)
The one name I can’t find in Meerkat’s excellent run-down is Tim Peters (the youngish presenter one, rather than the Master of Ceremonies at certain racetracks one). The
Post
reported in the summer of 2012 that he’d be joining the Racetech roster at the start of the following year, but did he ever? I can’t recall having heard him once yet at a professional track.
gc
After a few calls in the Autumn (including the Kempton Sunday card featuring a couple of Listed Hurdles), Tim Peters appeared – unless I’m very much mistaken to quietly drop away from the commentary roster. Not sure why though? Maybe one of the sages on here knows why.
Also, think Gary Capewell is worth a second chance.
After a few calls in the Autumn (including the Kempton Sunday card featuring a couple of Listed Hurdles), Tim Peters appeared – unless I’m very much mistaken to quietly drop away from the commentary roster. Not sure why though? Maybe one of the sages on here knows why.
Also, think Gary Capewell is worth a second chance.
Tim Peters was commentating at Kempton this evening, from what I remember Gary Capewell was hard done by.
Des is long gone. He sounds completely disinterested in the day to day stuff.
That said, who was it that called Frankel, the perfect mix of poetry and destruction?? That makes my ears bleed.
SHL
After reading the GC blog, I note the reference to Mirabel Topham’s 1952 commentary team – which included a lady whom I believe deputised for her husband who was ill.
Does anyone know her name and the names of the rest of that "team"? Pretty sure one was Bob Butchers (who later became the Mirror’s Newsboy) and a Mr Topham (no relation).
Just something that has always bugged me.
After a few calls in the Autumn (including the Kempton Sunday card featuring a couple of Listed Hurdles), Tim Peters appeared – unless I’m very much mistaken to quietly drop away from the commentary roster. Not sure why though? Maybe one of the sages on here knows why.
Also, think Gary Capewell is worth a second chance.
Tim Peters was commentating at Kempton this evening, from what I remember Gary Capewell was hard done by.
Cheers Yeats – will have to check out the replays.
Also, think Gary Capewell is worth a second chance.
Definitely. Never quite understood why he wasn’t kept on beyond the 15-meeting trial back in early 2012, and he’s honed his craft further still both here and abroad in the meantime.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Tim Peters was commentating at Kempton this evening
Ah, I missed that – heard Richard Hoiles calling the opener and explored no further, but revisiting all of the replays just now it sounds like Tim did three of the five remaining contests.
Presuming this must still be an early Racetech gig for him, if an established caller is sharing it with him (cf roster rookie Malcolm Tomlinson sharing a six-race card at Carlisle with the already long-established Mark Slater back in 2003). Certainly the number of runners at Kempton last night didn’t exceed the total at which the booked commentator would usually ask for assistance.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Also, think Gary Capewell is worth a second chance.
Definitely. Never quite understood why he wasn’t kept on beyond the 15-meeting trial back in early 2012, and he’s honed his craft further still both here and abroad in the meantime.
Mention of Gary Capewell reminds me of the infamous incident about a couple of years ago when he turned up at, I think, Newbury races to commentate on an Arab race on the card but was promptly sent packing with a flea in his ear by the commentator who was doing the rest of the meeting, Mark Johnson.
Johnson, never one to mess with, told him in no uncertain terms that HE was the duty commentator and that HE was going to commentate on the Arab race, not Capewell.
In vain did Capewell protest that he thought he had been asked to commentate on the Arab race and that he was fully expecting to be doing so. He ended up retreating back home with his tail between his legs.
I seem to remember that it was announced afterwards, I believe, that he had landed a prestigious job commentating for a racing TV service in, I think, Dubai.
The days of Matt Chapman’s controversial but short-lived commentating efforts for racecourses seem a long time ago now, as do those of the appalling Filly Factor competition for women commentators when Hayley Moore proved a less-than-thrilling winner but a thankfully short-lived new voice.
The main highlight of the Filly Factor for me was Yeats twice posting that eye-popping picture of the lovely Rachel Casey. Nurse, the screens!
Graysonscolumn, in his excellent and illuminating blog, which I have just read via his link on this thread, mentions that Clare Balding, with her superb vocal and observational skills, would make an excellent racecourse commentator, if she were not so busy doing everything else, but I won’t say any more or I really will get lynched this time …
I wonder who will be the next commentators to retire or be retired and who will be their replacements ?
How do people get on the roster these days ? How would someone interesting in calling races get a start ? I’ve always been interested in this side of racing but never seen how people get the door open.
Have you got the gig at Dalston Point-to-Point again this Easter?
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