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Good to see that picture of Iain Mackenzie.
Quite a rarity, as Iain’s a very private man (as far as one can ever be in this mode of work) who doesn’t much care for his picture being taken.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
While Fitzgerald seems most likely to be dining at the top table in the not too distant future, are there any others that TRFers feel could make up the next generation when the likes of Holt, Hoiles, Johnson etc start to approach the twilight of their careers? (I know Gareth Topham has been touted quite highly by others on TRF – not yet heard him myself).
There’s lots of Gareth Topham available to listen to on the Point-to-Point Racing Company’s
Viewpoint
annual subscription service, wherein videos and commentary from many of this season’s Pointing fixtures are stored for posterity (and purchase).
The fact that he has been entrusted for the last three seasons with the commentary at what’s one of the four the blue ribbon events of Pointing, the Lady Dudley Cup fixture at Chaddesley Corbett, speaks volumes. He’s roster material and no mistake.
The Northern Area footage on
Viewpoint
also includes a good few calls by Gareth’s friend and contemporary Steven Powell, who also continues to improve at a rate of knots and was heroic in the face of possibly the worst weather I’ve endured at a Point all season when calling at Corbridge at the end of April – all this from the top of an uncovered scaffold, with of course no monitor or other mod cons. One wonders if there are any on the roster who might (as Frankie Boyle once put it) pee their brains out of their eyes faced with a similar proposition.
TRF’s very own
peterh
got his first engagement as a Point caller this Easter just gone, too, contending with the customarily big fields at the Cumberland Farmers meeting at Dalston. Pleased to report having seen and heard the
Viewpoint
footage, he mostly nailed it. Although some years behind messrs Topham and Powell experience-wise, the raw material is definitely there.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Hope Paul wasn’t referring to him when he mentioned the new commentator who had the cringemaking and carefully scripted hyperbole soundbite written on his racecard in advance!
Surely got to be the dreadful John Blance, it certainly sounds like him. Think he’s even worse than Chapman
He even managed a "It’s the God’s Honest truth!" in one race at Towcester today. I nearly **** myself, I thought something drastic had happened to him in the commentary box.
What is it with SIS that they send any Tom, Dick or Harry from their studios to the racecourse and expect them to make a commentator?
An exception is Alan Howes who is excellent.John Blance is without doubt accurate with his calls from what I have seen and heard, however the last twice its been apparent he certainly has a very throaty delivery, to the point he sounds very hoarse(not a machin pun btw) towards the finish.
Im not very keen on Alan Howes myself, I read something a good while back where John Hunt was singing his praises, gets too involved in the dramatics for me.
David Fitzgerald is certainly clocking up the miles, I thought Cartmel completed your set.
and Tomlinson having apparently been refused a Fontwell gig by Fontwell themselves, if a Twitter feed I read several months ago is gospel).
gc
I read that too Jeremy, Tomlinson was meant to cover for John Hunt at Fontwell, until Fontwell said "no thanks Malcy"
A strange one, with Fontwell being a "Northern Racing" course, and Malcolm being a regular at Newcastle/Sedgey etc…Im not very keen on Alan Howes myself, I read something a good while back where John Hunt was singing his praises, gets too involved in the dramatics for me.
Sounds like Hunty’s a good judge as well as good commentator, not noticed the dramatics unless something dramatic’s happened in a race to be honest. In fact Howesy has a similar style to Hunty which can’t be a bad thing.
Suggest you listen to Towcester’s cliche ridden commentaries from Monday, some obviously written down in advance to use when appropriate even at the expense of accuracy at times.
Seems a fair call from Fontwell regards Tomlinson, one of the few along with Tommo who regularly fail to name the horses involved in photo finishes. GG used to specialise in this as well and I’ve noticed Barty do it once or twice recently.
A commentator shouldn’t be doing the job imo if he can’t name the horses in a photo.I suppose at the end of the day beauty is in the eyes and ears of the beholder.
Sounds like Hunty’s a good judge as well as good commentator, not noticed the dramatics unless something dramatic’s happened in a race to be honest. In fact Howesy has a similar style to Hunty which can’t be a bad thing.
Seems a fair call from Fontwell regards Tomlinson, one of the few along with Tommo who regularly fail to name the horses involved in photo finishes. GG used to specialise in this as well and I’ve noticed Barty do it once or twice recently.
A commentator shouldn’t be doing the job imo if he can’t name the horses in a photo.I don’t think Alan Howes is remotely like John Hunt, to be honest. Alan Howes puts lots of extra information, including jockeys, trainers, number of winners jockeys have ridden and pieces of form, into many of his commentaries. He seemingly does plenty of homework and really makes the effort, even in all-weather, bigger field races. Never just the horses’ names and nothing else from him.
Malcolm Tomlinson certainly never commits himself in a finish, even when it is obvious to even an amateur race reader in a betting shop which one has won.
At least with the imminent departure of Jim McGrath he will be able to concentrate on his Jim impressions without competition from the real one. No doubt all the jockeys will continue to "sit tight" (while remaining unnamed, of course).
Tommo is certainly bad with his "leave that to the judge" routine. GG was also terrible, with his "…a PHOTO…" cop-outs.
I’m sure Paul Ostermeyer would wish it to be pointed out at this point that Richard Hoiles has gone on record as saying that none of the commentators wants to commit himself in a tight finish, get it wrong and then have that wrong commentary whizzing all over the world and in cyberspace for perpetuity.
Yeats is right that commentators putting their heads above the parapet and at least trying to get the result right, rather than cravenly chickening out, should be part of the job.
But as Paul has insisted before, the commentator’s job is to commentate, the judge’s job is to call the result correctly. And if you’re ex-commentator Dave Smith, your job as the judge is to call the result almost before the commentator has finished saying "leave that to the judge" or "that’s too close to call".Im not very keen on Alan Howes myself, I read something a good while back where John Hunt was singing his praises, gets too involved in the dramatics for me.
Sounds like Hunty’s a good judge as well as good commentator, not noticed the dramatics unless something dramatic’s happened in a race to be honest. In fact Howesy has a similar style to Hunty which can’t be a bad thing.
Suggest you listen to Towcester’s cliche ridden commentaries from Monday, some obviously written down in advance to use when appropriate even at the expense of accuracy at times.
Seems a fair call from Fontwell regards Tomlinson, one of the few along with Tommo who regularly fail to name the horses involved in photo finishes. GG used to specialise in this as well and I’ve noticed Barty do it once or twice recently.
A commentator shouldn’t be doing the job imo if he can’t name the horses in a photo.I suppose at the end of the day beauty is in the eyes and ears of the beholder.
Here is the extract I was referring to c/o John Hunt on one of his blogs,
2008 proved a successful year for our younger commentators with Tony Ennis continuing to impress with his enthusiasm, knowledge and racereading skills but it is Alan Howes who has really developed this year into an accomplished performer. Alan has been commentating for a few years now and it struck me the other day just how relaxed he is sounding whilst easily stepping up to provide exciting commentary when appropriate. A recent example of how assured Howes has become came at Fontwell just before Christmas; Rudetsky March’s chase victory was called superbly by Alan, the horse just getting up on the line having looked for all the world to have blundered his chances away with a series of mistakes. Alan managed to generate an edge to his work without shouting (I wish I could do that) and ended up calling the winner even though there was precious little in it at the line. Alan will hold his own and more if given a chance to have a crack at the bigger meetings next year, although I have to say there appears to be a stranglehold on the top meetings at present by four or five commentators which may result in Alan having to exercise some patience. he is still only young and his time will come.
(end of blog)
—————————————————————-Will the stranglehold on bigger meetings fall by the wayside??, I certainly wish it would, as it is monatenous, for years now we have had the same commentators doing the same meetings year on year. It would be nice to get a balance where commentators lower down the supposed pecking order had a crack at the bigger meetings.
1, Do we really need a top 5 in the pecking order just because a’s face fits and b’s dosnt??.
2, (Should racecourses be allowed to dictate who calls at their track and who dosnt?? Bizarrely when their owned by the same holding company they can commentate at one of their courses but not at another….)
3, Do some commentators have it easier than others??
Everyone on the outside has their favourite, everyone has their "oh not him calling" moments, myself included! Looking at the bigger picture, the pool of commentators and quality of commentating couldnt be better, albeit we are in for a bit of a change if I read right in Crustys post earlier
Dear Mr Patch
I have just noticed your detailed appraisal of my commentating on this forum and feel I have to reply to one of the accusations levelled at me.
It refers to the vexed question of me referring to horses at "it" rather than "he" or "she". You are right, I do tend to do this. It is a legacy of my eight-and-a-half years at SIS and all the thousands of greyhound races I have had to call. When I first started I was in the habit of involuntarily referring to dogs as "he". This often got me into trouble when the canine involved happened to be a bitch. I therefore resolved to un-sex them, if you like, in order to play it safe. With the workload at SIS it is impossible to keep on top of every runner in every race so to do this seemed to be sensible and would at least avoid someone ringing in to complain that I had called their bitch a dog the whole way round or vice-versa.
To an extent I do this in my horse commentaries, although if you listen carefully you will notice that I have referred to horses as he and she as well. Also, I might add, you are the only person to date, punter or fellow commentator, who has ever mentioned this as a problem.
What I do take exception to though is your attempt to extrapolate from that the idea that I do not bother to do my research/homework. This is untrue and unfair and if you are ever at a track where I am commentating feel free to seek me out and I can take you through my entire preparation ritual.
Many Thanks
John Blance
Dear Mr Patch
I have just noticed your detailed appraisal of my commentating on this forum and feel I have to reply to one of the accusations levelled at me.
It refers to the vexed question of me referring to horses at "it" rather than "he" or "she". You are right, I do tend to do this.
Many Thanks
John BlanceThanks very much for your message. Greatly appreciated, as is your courtesy. Thanks for the interesting insights into your career and diligent approach to your work.
Good luck with your commentating work. I know you are well regarded in the industry and you have been praised on this forum and elsewhere, especially for your SIS work.David Fitzgerald is certainly clocking up the miles, I thought Cartmel completed your set.
David Fitzgerald is London-based as well, mind, so his booking for Cartmel so early into his tenure certainly piques the interest.
Just been watching today’s coverage from Cartmel on sportinglife.com for the first time. Computer problems previously meant I could not access the free videos.
What a delight it was to watch the Cartmel coverage and what a superb job David Fitzgerald did as the course commentator.
I cannot fault his enthusiasm and the excellent effort he puts into his commentaries. The amount of detail he includes on the riders, the horses and the races they have won etc is truly astonishing, all delivered with fluency and confidence.
If my experience at Cartmel is anything to go by, most of the crowd will probably have heard only tiny bits of the commentaries and probably seen hardly anything of the action but it was certainly a great first viewing experience on the website for me.
Looking forward to watching and listening to the races from the Saturday and Monday.
The excerpts of Nick Luck’s analysis on Racing UK from Cartmel after the replays also revealed what a good service it must be, especially by comparison with At The Races. Couldn’t justify paying for Racing UK, though, because I would hardly get the time to watch any of it.
Well done to sportinglife.com for making the race replays available, especially as they are free.Surely got to be the dreadful John Blance, it certainly sounds like him. Think he’s even worse than Chapman
I don’t think I have knowingly met John, nor have I been at any meeting where he is calling yet – so it wasn’t him.
What little I have heard of him on TV sounds perfectly capable and competent and it’s a style I like.
Oh dear Oh dear Oh dear …..
Mr Chapman has just completely ****** up the 4.50 at Lingfield what a shambles of a commentary.
This may end his commentary career
Oh dear Oh dear Oh dear …..
Mr Chapman has just completely f****d up the 4.50 at Lingfield what a shambles of a commentary.
This may end his commentary career I was watching a couple of races at Lingfield earlier and thought he did a good job, now I have built up immunity to his now toned-down style.
Just my luck not to be watching for the 4.50 but have just set the video for the racing review replays tomorrow in the hope of hearing what the mess-ups were. Would love any more details on what he has supposedly done wrong so I can be prepared…
Ironic that this thread has now come full circle and back to its original theme of Matt Chapman Commentating at Lingfield…Just No.
Certainly won’t end his commentary career. The powers-that-be would rather get rid of oldies deemed to be past their sell-by date (no matter how good a job most of them do) than admit that, by putting people under review, they got their strategy wrong for bringing in newcomers.A very accurate commentary ……..
he said, twice, "that was desperate." Would you dispute that?
A strange one, with Fontwell being a "Northern Racing" course, and Malcolm being a regular at Newcastle/Sedgey etc…
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