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You can know your racing inside out and have a personality the size of a small planet but not many people can be a good anchorman [or woman] on live television.
On a general point, why do we need so many talking heads on screen ? From Clare Balding`s big face getting in the way of the horses in the parade ring, the phalanx of long winded bores they wheel out to talk to Lydia on RUK, the inhabitants of the awful purple upholstered anodyne shelter from the elements on C4. Gina Bryce stuffing her face with food at Ascot and telling us how reasonably priced the bloody champagne is at York. The producers seem to think we need reassurance that someone is holding our hand all the time.
Most of the specialised racing channel types would need to be a lot more concise and I
m surprised theyve featured on as many wish lists. Very few are good enough broadcasters. Of those that are, Lydia Hislop and Gary O`Brien are probably better off staying where they are. Matt Chapman may well be worth a try.I`d like the producers to show every horse finishing a race,possibly after editing to avoid anything too grisly. Ditch video form guides close to race time and to deal with the here and now more seriously
<p abp=”283″>On a general point, why do we need so many talking heads on screen ? From Clare Balding`s big face getting in the way of the horses in the parade ring, the phalanx of long winded bores they wheel out to talk to Lydia on RUK, the inhabitants of the awful purple upholstered anodyne shelter from the elements on C4. Gina Bryce stuffing her face with food at Ascot and telling us how reasonably priced the bloody champagne is at York. The producers seem to think we need reassurance that someone is holding our hand all the time.
<p abp=”284″>Most of the specialised racing channel types would need to be a lot more concise and I<code abp=”285″>m surprised they</code>ve featured on as many wish lists. Very few are good enough broadcasters. Of those that are, Lydia Hislop and Gary O`Brien are probably better off staying where they are. Matt Chapman may well be worth a try.
<p abp=”286″>I`d like the producers to show every horse finishing a race,possibly after editing to avoid anything too grisly. Ditch video form guides close to race time and to deal with the here and now more seriously
I agree. C4 has always had far too many people covering racing. The Beeb made do with 3/4 at most and provided a superiour product at the same time. Claire Balding, Nick Luck and Sean Boyce as the main team with McCoy/Dettori will be ample.
I’ve mixed feelings about losing C4. They were professional and slick, but rarely passionate, and too often boring. So ITV needs to recapture that enthusiasm, excitement, and passion, as well as building on the professionalism. Surely any idea of the on-course studio as on C4 with the presenters talking to each other and thumbing on the computer screen has to go. Everyone apart from the race commentator, should be outdoors. Frankie and AP would be naturals alongside an enthusiastic anchor person. Matt Chapman is a possible. His paddock interviews at Towcester races can irritate but do add atmosphere as do his greyhound commentaries. Jeff Stelling knows his racing and never lacks passion. And if Simon Holt is too tied to C4 to be picked then Mark Johnson is an enthusiastic race caller. There are as others have noted many race analysts. Don’t underrate Graham Cunningham continuing.
Personally, I think Thornton would be a disastrous choice.
He strikes me as being popular in the weighing room. What you really want is someone who can distance themselves and actually be critical once in while. It just doesn’t work with ex-jocks. In my opinion the fewer the better.
I’m pretty much in the camp of only wanting to watch the horses actually race on TV. I’m not really bothered about
seeing the horses in the paddock, going down etc. Neither am I really bothered about interviews with trainers,
jockeys, owners, etc. I’m not overly bothered about the betting market either as if I’ve had a bet then it would
usually be at BOG or Betfair SP. I’m like this with most if not all sports, I can’t abide listening to the so
called experts rabbiting on for half an hour before a football match starts. I do however understand that there
are many many people with differing views and that is of course the problem for the programme maker who has a
limited amount of time to deal with.Lets take for example a six race National Hunt afternoon programme from two meetings with each race going off
at 15 minute intervals.Lets say the average time to complete a race is 5 minutes. The first race is scheduled for
2.30 soOff time 2.30
Race finishes 2.35
Replay and comments 2.37
Adverts 2.40That would leave 5 minutes until the next race and if you said 2 minutes to go through the runners and riders and
a betting show that would leave 3 minutes to the off of the 2.45. If that race is a 20 runner handicap hurdle then
what, of any use, can you show in that 3 minutes?I know the above is a bit extreme but there isn’t a whole lot of time to show anything substantial hence I think
the current fillers of jockey interviews etc.A lot of people have mentioned the standards set by the old BBC but if memory serves me right they were part of the
old grandstand programme and generally only covered one meeting which allowed them to cover a race for fifteen or twenty minutes whilst still going back to the Grandstand studio in between. Nowadays with the exception of the big festival meetings it’s difficult to cover the one meeting of say four races as you would have a two hour programme which features for a NH fixture just 20 minutes of actual sport. A flat meeting would be about 10 minutes of actual sport. Admittedly there would be much more time to see and discuss the horses but how many casual viewers would watch a whole two hour programme for just 10 minutes of sport?What could be worth chancing on the days that ITV4 show the coverage is to have an hours program just before the racing
takes place (rather than in the Morning at present) to discuss the races being shown that afternoon. Taking adverts in to the equation that would be an average of 8 or so minutes for each race. It might catch a few extra viewers interested in the pro’s and con’s of having a bet which IMO is the most common way of getting people interested in the sport.Whatever happens it won’t necessarily affect the bits I watch but for the sake of peoples sanity please don’t let
Jeremy Kyle front it. Gary O’Brien would be good but I can’t imagine him leaving Ireland, Sean Boyce is OK,
Matt Chapman is a no no as I don’t like the way he says “little” and I can’t comment on the RUK folk as I don’t
have it.More like
Off time 2.30
Race finishes 2.35
Advert 2.35.20
The urge to smash the tv because of that lad on the tesco ad 2.36
Pointless interview with winning rider 2.40
Pundit telling you the winning rider doesn’t get the rides he deserves 2.43
Runners and riders graphic 2.44
Hand over to Mick Fitz who will tell you the fav is a nice harse 2.44.50
2.45 Race offGoto 10
RUK jumped on the bandwagon and had Lizzie Kelly in the studio. A record breaker in the saddle she almost certainly created another less desirable record for the most number of ‘erms’ in an afternoon. She knows how to ride a decent horse but she is no broadcaster.
More like
Hand over to Mick Fitz who will tell you the fav is a nice harse 2.44.50
laugh uncontrollably when Mick Fitz says he gets things wrong sometimesRUK jumped on the bandwagon and had Lizzie Kelly in the studio. A record breaker in the saddle she almost certainly created another less desirable record for the most number of ‘erms’ in an afternoon. She knows how to ride a decent horse but she is no broadcaster.
I hadn’t noticed that until my missus pointed it out, thereafter it drove me nuts.
I’d like them to have a completely fresh start, new faces all round.
And give some kids who didn’t grow up with a silver spoon a chance, one thing that’s a huge turn off for me, and has been for years in whatever channel or coverage it’s been, is these self entitled pillocks with no real talent of whom the maxim ‘it’s not what you know but who you know’ could have been written for.
This.
Have you seen Paddy Power’s odds on being part of the team?
Chiles 2/1
McCririck 2/1
Kyle 3/1
Holt 1/10
Stevenson 4/6
Spencer 1/5
Persad 1/3
Inverdale 1/1
Pougatch 6/4
Beevers 25/1
Chapman 2/5
Turner 1/3
AP 1/10
Mr Motivator 100/1Don’t like to take a chance do they?
No wonder racing is struggling for levy having to depend on licensed thieves like Paddy Power for an income.My dream line up would be…..,anything without ‘Timeform’ Jim Mcgrath ( his ‘knowledge’ does nothing to promote Timeform)
then without Emma (‘are my eyelashes looking good ?, how about this scarf I’m wearing ?), Spencer and finally Mick Fitz. with that awful nasal voice of his, so irritating allied with his fancies that include E/W horses at 4/1 and under.
ATR for me has the best presenters and I do subscribe to RUK purely to see the daily racing, rant over.
News today in the Racing Post that the following have been informed they’ll be part of the new ITV racing team
Oli Bell
Sally Anne Grassick
Hayley Turner
Rish PersadTanya Stevenson, Gina Harding and Tom Lee have apparently been told services won’t be required.
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