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I am delighted to be able to report that, thanks to the wonderful mute button, I was able to thoroughly enjoy the four and a half hours coverage of the entire card on Saturday.
It has to be said, however, that the thankfully silent, but nevertheless grotesque images I was seeing on screen between races hinted strongly at a bunch of self-indulgent presenters deluding themselves that literally everything they say or do is entertaining.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"It was plain to see that unlike most of the other temporary pundits Ruby Walsh had put in a shift with the form book before doing his paddock duty with the terminally bland Cumani on Saturday.The conclusions may not have been correct but the work was there for all to see.
Walsh does have a no nonsense way of communicating though that may spoil the lightweight banterish vibe that I think ITV are trying to cultivate.
Not really seeing the point of Luke Harvey being down at the start ,as an ex jock he could offer a lot more insight to what he notices and what is going on down there but instead all we get is him trying to be mates with the often reluctant jockeys.
I personally don’t mind fashion coverage on big meetings but Charlotte Hawkins sounds incredibly insincere and fake and once again there is no attempt ( except when they do pre-recorded fashion features) to make the content interesting.Until recently, I was a fairly casual armchair fan. I’ve started to get into it a bit more this year, going to a couple of meetings, having a few TV Saturdays for betting.
Having it on terrestrial TV is great, makes everything is so easy.
Secondly, the coverage, honestly I had no idea it was a problem until I saw a few comments on Twitter.
The race commentary is very good. They have people interviewing the jockeys in the parade ring, down at the start, after the race is over. There is a bit of superficial analysis between races, they do their recommendations. It wouldn’t matter who they had on, I am not using ITV as a source for my bets, I use the Racing Post and other info online. I don’t mind the fashion stuff or other light segments, it helps sell the event, add a bit of humour. Anyway, I am likely reading the RP or checking the odds in my betting app anyway, so a bit of background noise is fine.I’m afraid Fran Berry is not a good pundit.Monotone voice and not very insightful comments.
Disappointed that one of the ten biggest betting races of the year has been relegated to ITV4 this year.
I’m guessing it’s because ITV feel there’s enough sport on the main channel on Saturday with the rugby.
Be interesting to see if there is any impact in the betting turnover on Saturday.
Was anyone yawning like I was today, hearing Ed Chamberlain after every race telling us that the bookies were getting a bashing. And I mean every race.
Ed Chamberlain is a monotone bore anyway, his voice is so dull and weak and another thing he is always says is every meeting is a special meeting one of the big days of the year, I suspect even when racing is snowed off and only Southwell is left for itv to show, the low grade seller would be a special race.
Ed is wonderful when compared to someone called Vanessa Ryle who is hosting the coverage from Uttoxeter on SSR, talk about being dull….
I think he’s OK. Agree about building up the racing, although I daresay he’s under orders. Problem is that, when you do that and it doesn’t work out the way you hope, the temptation is to go too far the other day. Honestly, you’d think Enable had been killed, rather than finish a creditable second in the Arc, from the way they were going on after the race.
Couldn’t agree more Tonge and he hypes the chosen horse up so much that it’s at the point where part of me wants “The Tiger”, “The Queen of the Flat” “The One Belonging To The Blind Guy” “Bryony’s Best Friend” or whatever the horse of the moment is, to get beaten just so I can see his face when he doesn’t get his “narrative”.
I’m trying to work out why I find it so annoying and I think there are two reasons. Firstly, I don’t like that everyone is being herded along to cheer the same goodie and boo the same baddie. It’s like canned laughter on sitcoms or overwrought weepy music at a sad bit of a film – instructing you how to feel. Mega patronising. What if my hero mare is Magical not Enable? What if my hero jockey is Rachel Blackmore or- gasp- a man and not Bryony? Growing up I liked Dessie but I liked the other horses too and would often pick a different one to cheer on. I didn’t just want Dessie to win because you were supposed to like him the best. He got a little bit of special treatment by the telly then which was OK but if he was around now it would be unbearable.
Secondly, banging on and on about one horse in the run up to, and review of, a big race takes time away from the stories of the others and an appreciation of their strengths and weaknesses. I used to love the morning of the Grand National when every single horse got a few minutes dedicated to it in the buildup. A big part of the beauty of racing (and the fun of betting) is the nuances of it. Watching Ed is about as subtle as being battered with a brick labelled “Clap now”.
The other thing about the extreme hero-worship is that it’s dangerous. Ed was lucky that it was Up For Review who broke his neck in the National not “The Tiger”, who Joshua aged 6 from Winchester has drawn this picture of. If the Bambi of the moment pulls up with a leg flapping or is killed at a fence then Ed (or whoever tells him what to push at us) would be partly responsible for building a PR disaster. I suppose they must have considered this in their meetings about angles and stories and what have you. Still…hmmmm.
Those are very fair comments from someone already a racing enthusiast, Green’. I agree with most of the sentiments. But ITV are catering for a different audience who are not yet all barmy as thee and me about the game. They’re trying to get a different audience and a major part of that is building up the characters – both equine and human – within racing -for the ordinary perhaps non-racing person to get enthused over… And because Racing faces more competition from other sports these days the media probably feel the need to over-hype Racing’s characters. If Enable, Frankie, Tiger and AP can do what Red Rum, Ginger, Troy and Carson did for me – then all well and good. Even if us already enthused aren’t keen on it.
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