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I have just looked at his meagre comments for tomorrows meeting at Ffos Las.
62 words for 7 races and that inlcudes the horses names. Why bother?
Is this a record to summarise 7 races in so few words.
In fact it is 43 words if you take out the horses names, on average of just very slightly over 6 words per race.
Are they paying him for those very few words of wisdomDiomed is just a snapshot of Spotlight. You must subscribe to see the full text
Laughable, really
It is more than laughable because if you go to the William Hill website and look at tomorrows meetings the full spotlight text is there so why would you subscribe to it or am I missing the point?
For some meetings, the word crap and six dittos would suffice for a seven race card.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
It is more than laughable because if you go to the William Hill website and look at tomorrows meetings the full spotlight text is there so why would you subscribe to it or am I missing the point?
That’s the Racing Post for you. Their website is a joke. Technical support and customer service are also poor so i refuse to pay any money, regardless of how little it may seem.
Used to be a good website and i think i’d have paid a nominal fee for the convenience of having video form / replays in the same place as the stats but they’ve made a mess of it, complicated matters and the video form is freely available elsewhere so…
Another indication of how petty / ridiculous it is :
Hiding the betting until a certain time the next day. However, once again available elsewhere and even on their website by looking at a trainers entriesI have just looked at his meagre comments for tomorrows meeting at Ffos Las.
62 words for 7 races and that inlcudes the horses names. Why bother?
Is this a record to summarise 7 races in so few words.
In fact it is 43 words if you take out the horses names, on average of just very slightly over 6 words per race.
Are they paying him for those very few words of wisdomI’ve checked and I can’t see what you’re seeing. Excluding horses’ names, which sit outside of the Diomed data entry field for each horse’s individual comment, the word count for the 13:30 alone comprises 66 words and the 14:00 numbers 98.
Or did you mean the Diomed Verdicts?
Either way, the Spotlighter on duty has to write the individual Diomed comments and the Diomed Verdict for every race he or she is allocated – it’s not a sole job for someone. There is a character limit for both, with the one for the Diomed comments much the lower.
HTH,
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.
GC
A question on a linked subject to which you may know the answer.
Does the compiler of the RP Analysis attend course every time? A couple of the meetings I’ve attended recently I note the Analysis has missed significant observations that would have been obvious to many on course, particularly thsoe at the paddock.
The same question applies to the Racing Post Course Reports for the website. On one occasion at a recent Scottish meeting I’m sure the Racing Post ‘On course’ Reporter was sat in the office/front room watching Racing UK.
From a purely selfish angle I can’t say I necessarily mind that on course obsevations are limited as I’m seeing things that many others are not!
Rob
GC
A question on a linked subject to which you may know the answer.
Does the compiler of the RP Analysis attend course every time? A couple of the meetings I’ve attended recently I note the Analysis has missed significant observations that would have been obvious to many on course, particularly thsoe at the paddock.
The same question applies to the Racing Post Course Reports for the website. On one occasion at a recent Scottish meeting I’m sure the Racing Post ‘On course’ Reporter was sat in the office/front room watching Racing UK.
From a purely selfish angle I can’t say I necessarily mind that on course obsevations are limited as I’m seeing things that many others are not!
Rob
I can probably answer those questions for you Rob.
In all the years I’ve been in the press room I could probably count the number of times the Analysis reporter has been on course on the fingers of one hand. The Analysis reporter either works from home or the office watching the racing on TV. They do, however, generally ring the course or comments-in-running reporter for any additional info but the quality of feedback they get will depend on who the reporter is.
As for the RP on-course reporters I would say, depending on the course, they mostly watch the racing on TV.
Taking the Scottish courses the only press room with anything like a half decent view of the racing is Ayr.
Musselburgh is a windowless room in the bowels of Grandstand, the Perth press room is behind the stands, the Hamilton press room is the far side of the parade ring, neither with any view of the track and Kelso has a Portacabin with limited viewing.
Thinking about it the only live reporter I can think of who makes a point of going out to watch almost every race "live", as opposed to on TV is Graham Dench. Others may do depending on the layout of the course.
As for looking at runners in the parade ring that isn’t always possible, especially if there is only a 30 minute gap between races. Depending who is working on a particular day there will be some "pooling" of resources so someone will go down the paddock and share what they’ve seen when they return – but, as I say, that depends who you are working with.
Thanks Paul
I suppose that I am looking at things from a different angle since my reporting is a hobby and any deadlines are thsoe I set myself. I’m not reliant on computers on course and the only realtime reporting I’ve done is getting Dave Cormack to relay my paddock reports to Twitter! Upside is that I see things that aren’t reported in the racing press.
Of the RP On Course Reporters I have seen David Carr in the paddock on a regular basis.
One case I remember not being caught by the Analysis was of Mark Johnston’s filly Maracuja. She was very green pre-race at Musselburgh and threw away any chance she had in the preliminaries.
Hope to catch up with you at Kelso next week if you are sticking to your schedule.
Rob
Hope to catch up with you at Kelso next week if you are sticking to your schedule.
Rob
Barring pestilence, nuclear attack, Jock’s shutting off the border etc. I shall be there – will be good to see you again.
As for getting to the parade ring it must be something to do with the name David as David’s Baxter and Milnes also try to ensure they get to the parade ring most races – although at courses like Warwick, where it is a long trek from press room to parade ring, it is almost logistically impossible.
Yep, messrs Baxter, Carr and Milnes would probably be the ones I’ve spotted paddockside pre-race the most, along with Colin Russell and (of those used less often) Jimmy Pugh.
Aintree isn’t a hard course for Live Reporters to work, given the location of the press pit relative to the paddock, but even so it was noticeable when I was there on Sunday how much time and care David Carr was affording to looking at every last animal beforehand.
Certainly his comments on what looked well in the paddock were far nearer the mark than the various givers out of best turned out awards on the day, judged on some pretty strange decisions from the latter!
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.
Paul’s beaten me to the punch on this one, Rob, and I’d go along with pretty much all he says above.
All I would add is that the depth of feedback on the given day can also depend on such things as:
– Reliability of communications. Hereford, God rest its soul, used to be especially hit-and-miss where successfully phoning or texting the reporter on-course was concerned, and on one particularly memorable afternoon every attempted chat I had with the gentleman in question was rendered as Lou Reed
Metal Machine Music
-type white noise. I do tend to prefer email comms for that reason, as (I think) do most of the reporters concerned now.
– The workload of the reporter on the given day. If a major incident, such as McCoy’s 4,000th winner or a horrible riding injury transpires part-way through a meeting, the reporter can (understandably) often be expected thereafter to prioritise on filing copy on that event in his or her available time. We as analysts try to exercise common sense where all subsequent requests for paddock notes, post-race quotes, etc. are concerned, particularly if the gravity of the incident in question greatly transcends the importance of the race.
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.
Is there anywhere I can find Spotlight/Diomed historical tipping results? Was looking to benchmark.
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