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anyone else find this smug git massively annoying? loves the sound of his own voice, and actually makes me pine for the days of emma ramsden and mike cattermole!
At last Jim McGrath has someone to talk to about form/analysis. Cunningham is a vast improvement. One man’s "smug git" is another man’s knowledgeable expert EGS.
Value Is EverythingI think he tries to be a tad too clever at times but he certainly knows his subject. I find him an improvement on Francome, who I always thought made a bizarre combination with McGrath as they came at the sport from markedly different angles.
Mike
I like him. Knowledgeable, sense of humour, passion for the sport. Don’t find him in the least bit smug.
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
GC is a real racing intellectual heavyweight and a welcome addition to the team.
I met him fleetingly at Atlanta airport connecting from Louisville on the way home from the 2010 BC. He was most helpful showing me where I needed to go to get my Heathrow flight (even though he was going to Manchester)as Atlanta airport is huge and easy to get lost in. We had a chat about among other things the merits of Woodford Reserve!
I do detect a bit of jealousy within the industry towards him, however my experience of him is of a very friendly and genuine bloke. His passion for the game is infectious and I honestly believe the GC’s of this world have more chance of converting a new generation of race fan than all of the populist RFC mob.
It’s very early days in Channel 4’s new look racing setup but to me GC looks to be the capture of the revolution. Very happy to have him on board.
GC is a real racing intellectual heavyweight and a welcome addition to the team.
His passion for the game is infectious and I honestly believe the GC’s of this world have more chance of converting a new generation of race fan than all of the populist RFC mob.
Agreed. Graham Cunningham does at times exude an air of rather too verbose self-confidence which may irk some but I’ve long enjoyed his stints on RUK and am glad he’s now been granted a wider audience. Too many words perhaps but the insight is there
His partnership with Jim McGrath is most promising and could finally, after all these years, bring the best out of the latter – and there’s a great deal of ‘good’ lurking there – who I felt was always stymied with his previous pairings, and furthermore never looked comfortable amidst the forced Thompsonian jollity
It couldn’t be forever…as I believe there’s other presenters on the C4 roster but the Luck, McGrath, Cunningham tribunal at Sandown yesterday is as good as it’s likely to get I reckon, with Tanya Stevenson, I must say, melding well with them
The replacement of any of those three with Clare Balding will be interesting and I feel it may provide Clare with her stiffest test yet. I very much hope she’s up for it and up to it, and I believe she will be
Up to a standard, not down to a cost; legged-up, not dumbed-down…how very refreshing
Yes, but I wouldn’t pine for Mr & Mrs Bland.
Cunningham and McGrath are basically pundits. It seems a poor use of resources to pay two people to effectively do one job. Francome was slightly different in that although he was clearly a useless pundit he could offer the ex-jockeys perspective and unlike so many didn’t take himself too seriously.
I think he is a huge improvement, particularly for the Morning Line. This programme exists to help punters and GC knows his stuff. Emma is useless and Francome basically looked at a horse and decided if he liked it.
C4 does a great job and I think GC improves it.His partnership with Jim McGrath is most promising and could finally, after all these years, bring the best out of the latter
Graham Cunningham is bringing some much-needed authority to the previously feeble paddock coverage.
Jim McGrath seems to be taking it much more seriously now and has belatedly had to up his game and to stop treating it all as one big giggle.
Francome managed to trivialise the pre-race comments by making empty, vacuous comments like "He ran a smashing race last time out" (without saying where the race was run and why it was so impressive) or "He’s been in good form recently" (without bothering to give any details of the previous races).
Francome used to say "He was a good winner last time out" and it used to infuriate me that he and McGrath often couldn’t be bothered to say where the win was.
He and McGrath got very lazy, self-indulgent and complacent but Cunningham brings a wealth of hard and often detailed information about the races involved.
McGrath is now having to be much more on the ball, instead of relying on laughing helplessly at Francome’s witty remarks but not adding much of his own, apart from "He stays longer than the mother-in-law".
Having said that, McGrath managed to hand over wrongly to commentator Martin Harris at Wincanton, instead of Mike Cattermole.
The whole programme generally, however, seems a lot more professional and authoritative.
Admittedly, the graphics are a bit too small but at least they don’t have the graphic with the time of the race and the course in the bottom corner of the screen needlessly throughout the race any more.
But overall, the often lightweight, bumbling, cringemaking elements of the previous productions have disappeared and it is a much slicker, tighter operation, with a bit more gravitas.
I hate to say it but I think Tommo and Big Mac will not actually be missed as much as I thought they would be. We are well rid of Francome.
Ironic that Large Mackintosh is still being seen in the commercial breaks doing his appalling bookmaker ads. Can’t stand the obtrusive William Hill "Ladies and gentlemen, today’s mobile offer…" ad inserts but what can you do?
At least Tommo was there in spirit with the victory of Big Fella Thanks at Wincanton.
The whole show is a vast improvement I think and all the better without miss big head. The morning line reminded me of the old format before they dumbed it down
Yes I agree the paddock analysis is much more informed & sharp, but where are the horses? We need to see them not just talking heads. Can’t they talk while the horses parade?
Yes I agree the paddock analysis is much more informed & sharp, but where are the horses? We need to see them not just talking heads. Can’t they talk while the horses parade?
as pointed out on another forum there are far too many pointless interviews. also the viewer should get a chance to view the horses beforehand, while not the same as being at the track at least you have some hope of assessing their fitness and general well-being.
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