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I think the vast majority of SSR presenters struggle with the poor quality of their everyday offer and only get stuck in a bit more when Ascot meetings are on. Ennis, Chapman and Lynch are the exception as they can be relied upon to give their view of whatever is put in front of them. I totally agree with the comment on here about Alex Hammond on SSR …..very little or zero opinion available and plenty of bland parroting.
Pretty sure Lydia has already broken her record for saying “shall we” today, and we’re only halfway through the card.
According to Jane Mangan just now, Rossa Ryan was “outnumbered” by Joe Leavy in the Dash.
Where do they get these people? Just because you come from an equestrian background doesn’t mean that you are a good presenter.
She also seemed surprised how Martin Dixon was able to find a winner priced at a massive 6/1 in an open sprint handicap where the favourite was only 1 point shorter.
One annoying race commentary term ……. Aussie Jim maybe?
The horse who ‘jumps from fence to fence’
er, just think about that !
Yes that is phrase I detest. John Francome used it a lot. The horse jumps the fences and not the space in between.
I also detest these daft sayings:
XYZ (Name of horse) wins the races. A horse can only participate in one race at a time.
He will jump a fence in due course. Not a lot of use. We don’t have races with just one fence.
Watching RTV this afternoon, Graham Cunningham is getting on my tits even more than usual.
I have never met the guy, so may well be completely wrong, but he has always come across as smug and supercilious; today, he has added another reason to dislike him through two things: firstly, saying “10-4-5” or whatever the numbers of the first three past the post may be, after every race. Secondly, admitting that he refers to races by number, as they do in the Far East, rather than by time.
If you combine the two, that means horses are no longer individual animals but mere numbers- “I like number two in race five”- and that goes against everything racehorses are.
When they are reduced to mere numbers, their existence loses meaning and they become nothing more than interchangeable and expendable commodities.
Agree 100% Gladiateur.
It’s the same here, the horses are simply referred to as numbers, very clinical and no more than a commodity really.
Referring to race distances in metres is another I dislike. Perhaps it makes the commentator feel more worldly and knowledgeable.
What about so-and-so ‘takes out’ the race. I hear that creeping in more and more.
I think Cunningham is a very good analyst. Maybe not ideally suited to mass audience TV and I can see he might be a bit marmite but knows his stuff alright.
Cormack
Personally, I was rather hoping that Cunningham would stay in Hong Kong. Did they get fed up with him as well?
Is he still doing the pointy figure routine to emphasise a point?
Another irritating phrase I’m hearing more often: “First day at school”, used when a horse is making its racecourse debut.
Grrrrrrr.
Don’t even get me started on ‘They’re in the gate’ which Mark Johnson unfortunately thought was a good idea to bring back (along with a few other racing Americanisms) with him after his stint commentating over there.
At least he doesn’t use the term ‘Gate to wire’ for a winning front runner very often now or sitting chilly for a hold up out the back ride or eighth of a mile (no its a furlong Mark because you are back in Blighty now).
He/she ‘Put the race to bed’ is another general one that gets badly overused too.
‘Sealed the deal’ is one I hear more and more often. As in, say, one in lead jumps last well “and that jump seals the deal for so and so”
Not sure if it is one rogue commentator overusing it or if it is creeping into general use.
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