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We do indeed have a thread for SSR.
....and you've got to look a long way back for anything else.
I personally don’t loathe the show, but it’s not surprising that with a roster of over a dozen presenters there is at least one member who irritates me. Actually there are more than one but I can appreciate the qualities of most of them. I’ll continue to watch, with or without sound muted, so long as they show most of the major races accompanied by decent commentary, as they do at present. However, I’ll reserve the right to criticise when appropriate, after all these are supposed professionals.
Cheers, @espmadrid. I obviously forgot about that one.
I just feel that some people are sitting watching just looking for the presenters to make mistakes. If you watch any programme about something that you know a lot about there will be mistakes. I realised that when I watched a documentary about the APT that my husband worked on and he pointed out that there were inaccuracies in it. I really like the ITV Racing presenters and I think it’s great for racing as they try to make it fun.
Every iteration of racing TV programmes be they from the BBC, ITV (World of Sport days), CH4, RUK/RTV, At The Races/SSR and ITV Racing they all have the same thing in common in that they universally have parts of their respective programme (be it segments or more often presenters/pundits with their very varied levels of talent at the job) that required a liberal application of the mute button at some point.
By and large the good (the continuation of televised racing, especially on terrestial TV) outweighs the times of meh and/or idiotic punditary that cause us all to reach for the mute button at times – if I am 100% honest, I expect a little more from the two dedicated racing channels simply because ITV Racing also has to straddle the line of being somewhat of a hybrid sports show/light entertainment programme in bringing racing to a wider section of the general public, hence you get segements that apply solely to a new racing viewer and in turn have us rolling our eyes and muttering…..really (………as we reach for the mute button).
I do believe that I heard Ed state that there were well over 100 racing days being televised through 2026 with around 70 odd being on the main channel, which considering it is a World Cup year this year ain’t bad going at all.
I can live with several muteable moments during their programmes if ITV continue their commitment to showing more racing days on terrestial tv than we have ever had previously…..that can only be a good thing.
I seldom watch ITV but I agree it is beneficial to have a racing programme on free to air television. Even in the vastly changed media landscape, I think it would be a real blow to racing if it ever lost free to air coverage.
From what I have seen, I think ITV does a decent enough job. There is maybe a bit too much lightweight stuff but I appreciate they are broadcasting to a non-specialist audience.
SSR is a bit of a joke. Aside from not having much in the way of good racing, many of their presenters are awful. Alex Hammond and that Josh character being the worst. Then there are Harvey and Fitzgerald stealing a living. I used to like Chapman on SSR (which suits him better than ITV) but his bragging after tipping a winner is now utterly tiresome.
There are some positives. Seb Sanders offers some insight and is not frightened of being critical. And Calum Halliwell (who I nominated for the Broadcaster award) continues to impress. I would prefer to see him presenting at the big meetings, rather than Hammond.
RTV is still good for offering coverage of most of the best meetings. The club days are also welcome. However, the channel employs far too many pundits, plenty of them offering nothing. And the channel’s obsession with promoting the RaceIQ data is tedious in the extreme. They should leave that stuff for “The Verdict” and let McNae bore everyone to death there instead of on the main programme.
I also don’t think it helps racing’s image when so many of RTV’s pundits look like they were born with silver spoons in their mouths. It reinforces the idea that people can only get involved in racing if they are from an affluent background.
I tend to have ITV Racing on but also have W Hill racing radio on in the background too. Even they are pretty light hearted a lot of the time, discussing things like the best biscuits to have with a cuppa and how vegan mayonnaise is as good as non vegan. When racing resumed during the pandemic racing radio preserved what little sanity I have left and I will be eternally grateful to them.
I haven’t listened to William Hill Radio, but I assume that they cover all sports, not just racing, so are trying to appeal to a wider audience than just racing anoraks…
What you describe sounds a bit like Test Match Special, which was ostensibly about cricket but, at the same time, not really about cricket.
I like cricket but can’t stand Test Match Special. I never could, even in its so called classic era. All those public schoolboys, calling each other by silly nicknames and going on about cake. Dreadful stuff.
I think John Arlott was overrated as well. He sounds drunk and almost incoherent in his later broadcasts. Given the amount of red wine he used to put away, he probably was.
I suspect much of Test Match Special’s audience are not particularly bothered about cricket but tune in because the show is a “national treasure”.
I listen to paddy power commentary as all you get is the commentary , to be fair I have listened to William Hill in the past
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
“All those public schoolboys, calling each other by silly nicknames and going on about cake.”
Sounds like a typical TRF thread when Chezza was here
“All those public schoolboys, calling each other by silly nicknames and going on about cake.”
Sounds like a typical TRF thread when Chezza was here
Was he a cricketing or ruggers man , id guess rugby
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before but when I went through a pretty traumatic divorce years ago at the same time as the last of my children had left home I used to watch the videos that I’d recorded of Ch4 racing because it stopped me feeling so lonely when I wasn’t at work. This was at a time when I would go racing on my own because I felt that I was with ‘my tribe’ and never felt alone at a racetrack.I’m now pretty housebound with a bad knee and feel the same way about ITV Racing and W Hill radio.
We should start a TRF podcast , pay for betting , I’ll put forward the first podcast subject ” Gaelic Warrior over or underrated ” , me and Hughsie can do it …
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
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