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I was very disappointed in this. Horses are what got me into racing, yes it’s interesting to hear about the people & Channel 4’s vignettes about the trainers have been good, but the horse is the star.
If Ch4 do it properly, they’ll be doing the right thing imo. Who wouldn’t be interested in the life story of H Cecil, the superhuman efforts of AP, the riches of JP, of Coolmore and their undeclared long-running war with the mysterious Arabs, of owners like Anthony Knott, of badly injured jockeys sweating blood and tears at Oaksey House battling to stay in the sport they love?
People respond to people. Show a layman ten Frankels – he has no context within which to judge them. Tell him how Sir Henry’s father was a para killed in action two weeks before Henry was born, 10 minutes ahead of his twin David who was lost to cancer at 57. How his mother then married the man who trained for King George VI. How Henry, at 46 took up with a 22-year-old stable-girl costing him his marriage and, arguably his career, and his dignity (in the Fallon case) etc. How he bounced back to train the best horse in history only to fall victim to cancer etc etc.
But it must all be done with a solid and well thought out narrative. The people who must accept that they are
not
the stars are the presenters, it must never be about them, not even the great CB.
If the purists cling to the ‘it’s all about the horse’, the sport will never grow beyond the confines of the narrow tranche of those blessed enough to ‘get it’. The others need a very strong hook.
Tell him how Sir Henry’s father was a para killed in action two weeks before Henry was born, 10 minutes ahead of his twin David who was lost to cancer at 57. How his mother then married the man who trained for King George VI. How Henry, at 46 took up with a 22-year-old stable-girl costing him his marriage and, arguably his career, and his dignity (in the Fallon case) etc. How he bounced back to train the best horse in history only to fall victim to cancer etc etc.
And to think, when I suggested a Film about Frankel’s career they said it would be BORING!!
I think program makers have to base content on what will actually bring in a bigger audience. I can see the actual races becoming ever more secondary on the content front in the future. To me it’s no big deal really. I study form, place my bets and tend to watch other things between the races. To be honest, it is not often you learn anything worthwhile listening to the pundits anyway and there are some inane questions and obvious replies to put up with when they are pretending to get some insight for the viewer. It’s Prozac broadcasting really.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
If Ch4 do it properly, they’ll be doing the right thing imo. Who wouldn’t be interested in the life story of H Cecil, the superhuman efforts of AP, the riches of JP, of Coolmore and their undeclared long-running war with the mysterious Arabs, of owners like Anthony Knott, of badly injured jockeys sweating blood and tears at Oaksey House battling to stay in the sport they love?
People respond to people. Show a layman ten Frankels – he has no context within which to judge them. Tell him how Sir Henry’s father was a para killed in action two weeks before Henry was born, 10 minutes ahead of his twin David who was lost to cancer at 57. How his mother then married the man who trained for King George VI. How Henry, at 46 took up with a 22-year-old stable-girl costing him his marriage and, arguably his career, and his dignity (in the Fallon case) etc. How he bounced back to train the best horse in history only to fall victim to cancer etc etc.
But it must all be done with a solid and well thought out narrative. The people who must accept that they are
not
the stars are the presenters, it must never be about them, not even the great CB.
If the purists cling to the ‘it’s all about the horse’, the sport will never grow beyond the confines of the narrow tranche of those blessed enough to ‘get it’. The others need a very strong hook.
Wow – love this post.
You are right Joe. Done well, I can see this working and of course the trainers and jockeys stay whereas the horses move on pretty quickly.
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
Our sport is not one loved by the masses in the same way as Football etc and therein lies the major problem. Trying to make personalities out of racing people, who are in the main private individuals, will not work.
On some occasions the horses make the story, on other occasions it is the people that need to be at the forefront. There needs to be a balance between horse and human. Both are equal and need each other.
I would happily watch stable tours on C4 or RUK but would this appeal to the general public? I think not. The trick for C4 is to find a way to bring the sport closer to the public and that is an extremely difficult thing to achieve currently. Racing only tends to find itself on the front pages these days for negative reasons which is a great shame.
Best of luck to C4: a breath of fresh air, this intention of concentrating on the ‘human interest’ angle rather than the fuddy-duddy atavistic pursuit of racing horses
Doesn’t interest this old fuddy-duddy who has since the age of 13 – 43 years ago – marvelled in that other-worldly peace ‘n’ quiet clippety-clop of the noble horse and revelled in the sights and smells of the racecourse..cloistered comforting.atavism indeed…
…no, there’s RUK, and on sufferance ATR for we who relish the race, the race alone
Good lucK C4, you cater for a different throng
Don’t really see what’s wrong with the proposal – if it saves the sport from the swan dive it’s in now.
Almost all racing coverage on TV and in print is bloodless, technical and boring. I speak with authority as I was for a couple of years involved in racing journalism on the print side (I got back into hard news toot sweet).
There are reasons for this. Racing publications walk in quaking fear of upsetting trainers, connections and jockeys. Without their co-operation there will be, they fear, very little content and information to put in the papers. This has led to an overly polite attitude. Some jockeys and trainers can be divas in private. I well remember an enormous hoo-ha on one publication because of a cover that actually did nothing worse than praise the skill of the trainer who was offended by it. Extraordinary!
On TV, it’s even worse. The presenters are interchangably tedious – excepting Mac and Tanya, and Mac is being slowly phased out – and the sheer colour of a big race day is lost. The BBC coverage was often stunning, but political correctness did for it.
To draw a new audience you need to show personalities, sexy girls, cash, booze and excitement. Get some characters involved, show some actual money being thrown around. They need a new Ras Prince Monolulu. Perhaps have Nevison or someone taking on the betting ring. Racing has this raffish reputation which I think would draw audiences in but television has managed to make it about as engaging as a school sports day. You need real lively debate, perhaps someone like Mark Winstanley arguing the toss with someone like Matt Chapman. To a man, the current pundits sound bored to death.
Of course, if this was done there would be charges of promoting gambling, sexism, you name it. But I bet you it would boost figures.
How Henry, at 46 took up with a 22-year-old stable-girl costing him his marriage and, arguably his career, and his dignity (in the Fallon case) etc.
Hmm, well best of luck with getting that bit on telly!
Mike
Chanel 4 never existed when the world stopped every time Arkle ran so I reckon they missed that bit Where they were when Red Rum was around God only knows.
Maybe they missed Australia coming to halt when Black Caviar ran at Ascot.
To come to this conclusion my guess is they asked some horny members of the Chanel 4 team if they had the chance to get the leg over Snow fairy or some female jockey which would they chose and they went with that
Forumites logic – Football should only be the actual football, nobody cares about the managers or the players. Let’s stick a microphone on a mita delta and ask it how the game is going to go.
If the purists cling to the ‘it’s all about the horse’, the sport will never grow beyond the confines of the narrow tranche of those blessed enough to ‘get it’. The others need a very strong hook.
The "others" will not be tuning in whatever way it’s presented.
…on ATR right now is ”The Story of Frank
fel
”
…uncorrected – need one say more..?
oh for the days of Seabiscuit v War Admiral….
If the purists cling to the ‘it’s all about the horse’, the sport will never grow beyond the confines of the narrow tranche of those blessed enough to ‘get it’. The others need a very strong hook.
The "others" will not be tuning in whatever way it’s presented.
Why’s that then, Eddie?
Is racing unique amongst all the things that can be portrayed on television?
So what’s
your
solution to the problem of pitiful TV ratings and the decline in interest in the sport (other than as a jolly day out)?. A return to the 1950s by time machine?
It’s not as if there’s been a shortage of equine stars in recent years – Kauto Star, Denman, Sea The Stars, Frankel etc.
Racing is never going to attract droves of extra viewers from those who have got little or no interest in it.
It’s always going to be a specialist sport.
Some people will never watch football, rugby or cricket if they are not interested in it but we don’t hear broadcasters or fans of those sports tormenting themselves over how to attract non-fans or potential viewers who might happen to stray on to programmes where those sports are being televised.
If anything can be done to attract non-racing fans to boost the viewing figures by focusing on some of the human interest stories, then so much the better but it’s far better just to accept that it’s a minority-interest, marginalised sport likely to attract low viewing figures except on big days such as the Grand National and, to a lesser extent, the Derby.
A lot of people, especially among non-racing enthusiasts, aren’t remotely interested in form or betting so won’t watch TV racing because of that alone. It’s just the way it is.
Racing is never going to attract droves of extra viewers from those who have got little or no interest in it.
It’s always going to be a specialist sport.
Some people will never watch football, rugby or cricket if they are not interested in it but we don’t hear broadcasters or fans of those sports tormenting themselves over how to attract non-fans or potential viewers who might happen to stray on to programmes where those sports are being televised.
If anything can be done to attract non-racing fans to boost the viewing figures by focusing on some of the human interest stories, then so much the better but it’s far better just to accept that it’s a minority-interest, marginalised sport likely to attract low viewing figures except on big days such as the Grand National and, to a lesser extent, the Derby.
A lot of people, especially among non-racing enthusiasts, aren’t remotely interested in form or betting so won’t watch TV racing because of that alone. It’s just the way it is.
This is absolutely 100% correct and something I have been saying for years.
I was drawn to racing in my teenage years because I fancied betting on horses. I wasn’t enthused by the game because of ‘fascinating’ human stories about trainers or jockeys, my overwhelming interest was, and still is, betting on and enjoying horses racing. I am of the firm belief that that is why the overwhelming majority of people got interested in racing in the first place and continue to follow racing for.
If C4’s idea is to draw in ‘new’ interest in racing (a highly dubious prospect in itself – it just doesn’t happen like that) then it must go from the betting angle. I would propose something similar to The Prof’s ideas but with something a little bit more dignified than the likes of faux-mockney Winstanley and uber-bored failed pro-punter Nevison. How about a more cerebral betting ‘panel’ for the races?
On Saturday afternoons, maybe even a nod to the Premiership games (tin hat on!) from a betting point of view. There’s an increasingly large audience that follow SKY’s Soccer Saturday and the Beeb’s poor relation Final Score. Betting is never mentioned in either of these, so I fancy an ongoing scores ‘n prices panel on screen could bump the audience up significantly. Even that, though, would not increase the number of people actually interested in racing.
Joe asks the rhetorical question "who wouldn’t be interested in the life story of H Cecil, the superhuman efforts of AP, the riches of JP" etc. Well to be honest, I think most people wouldn’t be remotely interested. Horse racing IS about the horses and it IS about the gambling. Trying to promote trainers & jocks (most of whome are tiresome & monosyllabic) at the expense of that seems ridiculous to me.
Mike
[There’s an increasingly large audience that follow SKY’s Soccer Saturday and the Beeb’s poor relation Final Score. Betting is never mentioned in either of these, so I fancy an ongoing scores ‘n prices panel on screen could bump the audience up significantly.
I seem to remember, quite a few years ago, that Channel 4 started putting half-time football scores on during the racing coverage and some full-time scores as well.
The idea didn’t last long and was quickly dropped. Nobody’s going to watch the racing because of the bonus that they might get some football latest scores or results. They are chalk and cheese, although it’s true that lots of racing fans like football too.
Joe asks the rhetorical question "who wouldn’t be interested in the life story of H Cecil, the superhuman efforts of AP, the riches of JP" etc. Well to be honest, I think most people wouldn’t be remotely interested. Horse racing IS about the horses and it IS about the gambling. Trying to promote trainers & jocks (most of whom are tiresome & monosyllabic) at the expense of that seems ridiculous to me.
Totally right. Nobody without a vague interest in racing is going to be remotely interested in Sir Henry, even though he has had a very colourful and often controversial private life.
I don’t even think many people would be interested in Tony McCoy, despite his exploits in racing. Having said that, he proved he can attract plenty of non-racing votes by winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in December 2010.
Nobody outside racing, and probably plenty inside, would have any interest in JP McManus and his riches.
The betting is the key to racing’s interest to certain people. No interest in betting, no interest in racing for the overwhelming majority of people.
[There’s an increasingly large audience that follow SKY’s Soccer Saturday and the Beeb’s poor relation Final Score. Betting is never mentioned in either of these, so I fancy an ongoing scores ‘n prices panel on screen could bump the audience up significantly.
I seem to remember, quite a few years ago, that Channel 4 started putting half-time football scores on during the racing coverage and some full-time scores as well.
The idea didn’t last long and was quickly dropped. Nobody’s going to watch the racing because of the bonus that they might get some football latest scores or results. They are chalk and cheese, although it’s true that lots of racing fans like football too.
Given the choice, I’d much rather it didn’t happen at all. But then, I would not be expending effort on getting the non-existent ‘new’ racing fans anyway.
If that’s the path C4 want to go down, having a thorough Racing & Football punting-based program (not just latest scores, which are available anywhere) would at least give them a chance for some ‘crossover’.
The only reason AP won Sports Personality was as a ‘lifetime achievement’ crystallised by his win in the BBC-covered Grand National. My own view is that he is the greatest sportsman of our generation, the majority view would no doubt be ‘who?’
Mike
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