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Jesus Christ! Newmarket & their supremo Stephen Wallis say Jim is the best in the business (doesn’t say much for the rest) and will also do the July festival.
What do these people use for ears? Jim’s in the GG class.could not agree more you missed out tommo though,lost count of the number of times he says, and hear comes in the last furlong of his commentary.
Cant stand Jim McGrath commentary. Maybe its the phrase book he so obviously keeps to hand. "He ranges up and grabs a narrow advantage". And he has a dreadful knack of concentrating on only the fancied horses…if you’ve backed anything bigger than 10-1 you can forget it getting a mention unless it is in front!
I remember John Hunt getting jocked off at Aintree for Mike Vince on the whim of Nigel Payne.
Funnily enough I just thought I’d google Stephen Wallis to get a bit of info about the chap, guess what came up first?
Sept 2007 – "Stephen Wallis, the right man for Newmarket" etc by Hotspur (JA McGrath) of the Daily Telegraph.Wonder which courses Ian Bartlett and Richard Hoiles will end up at then.
Im sure Goodwood,Thirsk and Uttoxeter will be tempted to get their services.
I like him.. but the fella’s really struggling.
His recent commentary at Aintree after Denman fell and left the race to MdB was diabolical. He basically gave up and could have been reading out his shopping list.
I like him.. but the fella’s really struggling.
His recent commentary at Aintree after Denman fell and left the race to MdB was diabolical. He basically gave up and could have been reading out his shopping list.
Hello,
Who are you referring to above?
I think its a shame John Hunt doesn’t get a few more big race calls as he is great at his job and sounds pretty good and clear too!I do agree Jim does sound a bit boring now and again but generally I think we have a great bunch of good commentators in this Country.
With the exception to one or two of course!One of my faves is Jim McGrath, much preferable to Ian Bartlett who has such an ugly raspy voice that gets right on my wick.
I like him.. but the fella’s really struggling.
His recent commentary at Aintree after Denman fell and left the race to MdB was diabolical. He basically gave up and could have been reading out his shopping list.
Hello,
Who are you referring to above?
I think its a shame John Hunt doesn’t get a few more big race calls as he is great at his job and sounds pretty good and clear too!I do agree Jim does sound a bit boring now and again but generally I think we have a great bunch of good commentators in this Country.
With the exception to one or two of course!John does do a lot of calls on the big races but these are mainly for Five Live.
For the life of me, I can’t fathom out why Jim McGrath gets such a hard time. I think he’s a good commentator.
For me, the much lauded Simon Holt ( for example ) is one who is certainly over-rated. I watched a race quite recently when he was commentating. He didn’t once mention the leading horses for the best part of three fences. What’s all that about ?
No, give me Jim McGrath any day of the week.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
I don’t have any problems with Aussie Jim either, the stick he gets here is mostly undeserved, imo.
I agree John Hunt is a fine commentator, I hear him occasionally on radio 5.
But he needs to be careful not to let his standards drop on the radio, he has allowed himself to be suckered into nattering during the course of a commentary, either with Harvey or the old-womanish Lysaght. One racecall at Aintree, the 3 mile novice hurdle, he didn’t mention the name of a single horse until they’d jumped 3 flights of hurdles, he was so busy chatting to Harvey.
Trouble is that McGrath has deteriated somewhat over the last few years (like a lot of callers seem to do as they hit their fifties – look at GG for example).
When he’s on his A game he can still be up there with the top guys, but often I find he sounds either bored or muddled.
John Hunt is very good when on course, but I too find it infuriating when his 5live commentaries turn into a gentle natter with Harvey/Lysaught. Unfortunately, I think this is a case of being "under orders" (BBC orders that is).
Trouble is that McGrath has deteriated somewhat over the last few years (like a lot of callers seem to do as they hit their fifties – look at GG for example).
When he’s on his A game he can still be up there with the top guys, but often I find he sounds either bored or muddled.
John Hunt is very good when on course, but I too find it infuriating when his 5live commentaries turn into a gentle natter with Harvey/Lysaught. Unfortunately, I think this is a case of being "under orders" (BBC orders that is).
Yes I would agree with you you "CarryonKatie" about the above topic.
John Hunt is very good when on course, but I too find it infuriating when his 5live commentaries turn into a gentle natter with Harvey/Lysaught. Unfortunately, I think this is a case of being "under orders" (BBC orders that is).
Why on earth would he be "under orders" to mess up the commentary like that?
It’s like something from an Alan Bennett sketch…JH: "Well, they’re under way, so ,Cornelius, who d’you think will start favourite?". CL: Well, John, it’s hard to say, but there’s a chilly wind out there on the track today". JH: "Mmm, yes, there certainly is…"
And so on and so on.
Meanwhile this listener, hoping for a radio commentary to provide an unfolding picture of the contest in my minds eye, gets lumbered with an image of two old dears in frocks nattering away about bugger all for half the race.
Perhaps John Hunt could cast some light on this bizarre commentating technique?
Don’t have the "pleasure" of listening to R5 commentaries these days, last one I heard was the Irish Hennessy some years ago when it wasn’t televised when the format was exactly the same, can’t remember whether it was Lee or John doing the commentary but they had jumped 3 or 4 fences I didn’t even know the race had started with Lysaght waffling on, I suppose he thought he had to justify his trip to Ireland.
Can’t imagine Peter Bromley putting up with it during his commentaries, think Lysaght would have been told where to go and Bromley would have been doing listeners a favour as well.PS A bit of turf trivia, who was responsible for Lysaght getting a job doing the racing at the BBC?
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