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Must have been taking lessons from Des Scahill for unwillingness to indulge in any pre-race banter. Jeremy Grayson reminded us of this on another thread a while ago and wrote of his chagrin that Des’s failure to engage made life much harder for broadcasters trying to link seamlessly to the Irish races.
It wasn’t the lack of banter specifically that irritates us at TFR (and presumably elsewhere), Crusty. Rather, it’s the complete absence of anything from Scahill until the gates fly open.
Seems amazing to me that so little regard is given to the racegoers by Des and no doubt the other Irish commentators. You would have thought it would be a basic courtesy to the racegoers on course to keep them informed, let alone any incidental benefit to broadcasters.
Certainly makes you realise what a good on-course job our own commentators do, what with regular updates on events, how many runners there are to go in to the stalls, betting shows and other pieces of information.Thank goodness the Irish have the "white flag" – which is announced by the commentator – otherwise on-course punters at Irish courses would be unaware the race is about to start – unless they are fixed on the start with their bins.
If racegoers are very lucky the commentator may possibly mention if a horse is playing up going into the stalls – but even that isn’t an odds-on shout.
Can someone at At The Races tell Chapman to turn his phone off when he is in the booth everytime we get the interference noise from it.
I must definitely be going soft (either that or the medication is wearing off) but I actually liked Matt Chapman’s commentary for At The Races on a race from Killarney that I heard this afternoon.
Despite the vocal gymnastics, and even the mini screeching at the end, I actually had to smile and not reach for the mute button.
It’s certainly very worrying that I am building up immunity and even a touch of admiration for him. "Nurse! The screens."
Haven’t heard much of one of the other newcomers to the course commentary scene, John Blance, but finally watched a video of Kempton (rearranged from Ascot) and Southwell, where he was commentating for a jumps meeting at Southwell.
He did a good, workmanlike, if low-key job, although it irritated me when he kept saying things like "jumps out to its right", instead of "his" or "her" right.
Most commentators make the effort to find out in advance which of the runners are geldings or mares etc and some mark up their sheets or racecards with the names of the fillies etc in a pink highlighter pen as a visual reminder for easy reference. Raleigh Gilbert certainly did this, as I saw many times on his sheets for each race.
John Blance was also obviously doing a Tommo at Southwell and commentating from the monitor for the head-on shots on the far side (he mentioned "on the right of screen"). Hopeless for the on-course crowd, who don’t see that view from the stands.
Plenty of mentions of jockeys and others bits of information from him, though, so good overall.
Have watched a few videoed programmes today in which David Fitzgerald was commentating at Southwell, Doncaster and Ripon (including for Ripon on Channel 4).
Still nobody to touch him as a racecourse commentator, in my opinion, for making the effort and giving value for money, even though he is obviously junior in the pecking order and more established commentators do the big meetings.
Really impressive preparation from David, with all sorts of information in his commentaries, including an excellent effort in a two-horse race at Southwell. You’d think he’d been doing it for years rather than being in his 20s.
He seems to be getting a few shifts at Racing UK, although I haven’t seen any of them, and he hasn’t yet appeared on the list of presenters on the website. Neither has ATR refugee Gordon Brown, come to think of it.I must definitely be going soft (either that or the medication is wearing off) but I actually liked Matt Chapman’s commentary for At The Races on a race from Killarney that I heard this afternoon.
Hmmm crusty baby, your goin soft…. like a new born,(you are having a giraffe infact ha) the new additions arent anywhere near the standard we are used to on the roster… another years training minus your mate Pratt!
I’m sure many will be delighted to know that Matt Chapman ended up on a "cherry picker" high above the Grandstand at Towcester this evening, interviewing Lawney Hill.
Obviously to the delight of many, including AP who requested the power was turned off so he could not come back to the ground.
http://www.ors-racing.co.uk/Images/General/Towcester120504ChapmanSmall.jpg
Although, joking aside, all credit to both Matt and Lawney for having the bottle to do it – especially as it was quite breezy (as you can see from the flags).
I certainly would not have had the guts to do it.
Matt did say to me afterwards that he enjoyed it but it wasn’t something he would want to do every day.
Respect to them both.
I’m sure many will be delighted to know that Matt Chapman ended up on a "cherry picker" high above the Grandstand at Towcester this evening, interviewing Lawney Hill.
power was turned off so he could not come back to the ground.
Matt did say to me afterwards that he enjoyed it but it wasn’t something he would want to do every day.You’ve got to hand it to Matt, really, I have to say. You can’t fault his enthusiasm and versatility, whether he is working as a presenter, pundit, phone-in referee or race commentator.
I’m sure if I went to a race meeting where he was commentating, my girlfriend would love his antics because he is so different, in the same sort of way that Tommo would enliven any meeting. I think even I would end up enjoying hearing him (heresy though it may be to admit it).
I still hope Tommo and the others don’t get the boot to make way for the likes of Matt but there’s no doubt in my mind that Matt will be heard on the racecourse much more frequently.Listening to Matt this afternoon is certainly a lot better than having to put up with the boring drone of Naughton and Malcolm "I hear it’s going to get cold next week how will we cope with that" Tomlinson on Racing UK. Yawn!
I’ve got that illness, Alzei…. sorry, I can’t remember what it is. But anyway, I must have listened to thousands of race commentaries over the last 25 years and I can honestly say, by an absolutely mile, Matt Chapman is the worst race caller I’ve ever listened to.
The other day he didn’t even call the names of the horses, he was so busy telling us the breeding of the horses and by the time the finish line approached he was saying something like, "And in first it’s the son of Gallileo" etc.
And there was another time he was calling the race by jockey names.
He is awful – get rid of him, the sooner the better.
On commentators it was mentioned somewhere that Racing UK and ATR we trying to get their own presenters onto their courses but the reverse seems to be happening.
Tony Ennis is doing all Racing UK courses like Perth and Thirsk, David Fitzgerald is doing Doncaster and Newcastle.
So is this not going to happen and will the people who decide where commentators go keep it independent or do you think the two channels will put pressure to get their own on their own racecourses?
Does anyone know the results of this six-month review yet? I presume rosters will have gone out for beyond July 1st? Haven’t seen anything reported in the press however.
What are people’s opinions of Tony Ennis as a commentator I think he misses a lot of obvious things tonight in the 8pm at Kempton he failed to notice a horse flashing home at speed at the end.
If anyone has a link see what you think am I being unfair on him?
I haven’t really heard enough of Tony Ennis, but thought he was okay though not in the class of Simon Holt and Richard Hoiles.
Thank goodness the Irish have the "white flag" – which is announced by the commentator – otherwise on-course punters at Irish courses would be unaware the race is about to start – unless they are fixed on the start with their bins.
Maybe that’s why they have the white flag.
The Irish system for starting flat races (the jump races are nearly as bad as ours) is superior to ours, due to them immediately announcing a horse has been withdrawn no matter how late whereas here you may not even know whether a horse is going to be/or has been withdrawn till several minutes after the race has been run.
Thank goodness the Irish have the "white flag" – which is announced by the commentator – otherwise on-course punters at Irish courses would be unaware the race is about to start – unless they are fixed on the start with their bins.
Maybe that’s why they have the white flag.
The Irish system for starting flat races (the jump races are nearly as bad as ours) is superior to ours, due to them immediately announcing a horse has been withdrawn no matter how late whereas here you may not even know whether a horse is going to be/or has been withdrawn till several minutes after the race has been run.
I would agree with you there – I happened to catch some of the Singapore racing on Sunday and they had a horse withdrawn at the start.
One of the starters assistants came a long with the biggest yellow flag I have seen and he waved it at the withdrawn horse like a referee giving a player a yellow card – it looked hilarious but we all agreed it was an effective, unambiguous way of making the point.
I’ve got that illness, Alzei…. sorry, I can’t remember what it is. But anyway, I must have listened to thousands of race commentaries over the last 25 years and I can honestly say, by an absolutely mile, Matt Chapman is the worst race caller I’ve ever listened to.
The other day he didn’t even call the names of the horses, he was so busy telling us the breeding of the horses and by the time the finish line approached he was saying something like, "And in first it’s the son of Gallileo" etc.
And there was another time he was calling the race by jockey names.
He is awful – get rid of him, the sooner the better.
Couldn’t have put it better myself.
....and you've got to look a long way back for anything else.
Agreed – the bloke is absolutely awful as a commentator. His problem with a lot of stuff he does is that he tries too hard to create excitement through his commentary. He’s not alone in this. There are a few commentators who will try to convey the excitement of a close finish when there isn’t going to be one.
How many times do you hear a commentator saying that a horse is "flying down the outside" when nothing of the sort is happening? The worst is when one horse is comfortably out in front, holding all challengers, and the commentator pretends that the horse in second is closing the gap all the time.
As for Chapman he ruined last year’s QIPCO Champions Day at Ascot for me as he was the person calling the horses back into the winners enclosure after the race. It was a beautiful autumn day, good races, plus Frankel on display, and you had him screeching and shouting as the winners came in like a boxing commentator calling two heavyweights coming into the ring! The worst part is that you can tell his approach is forced, and that he’s trying to hype things up.
There is an art to commentating and he hasn’t got it at all.
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