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McGrath was his useful boring self today at Ascot and was priceless while commentating on Cool Roxy saying what a good veteran the horse was, then suddently remembering it was the Veterans Chase!
Wasnt the worst of McGraths ‘boo boo’s today.
He failed to pick up the fact Ameeq was in front or even in contention in the 4:55 until a final strides before the line. The horse had been 2 strides in front since two hurdles back!
What is going on with the Croc this week….dreadful commentary at times and in fact woeful on more than one occasion.
I wonder where the Majestic Richard Hoiles is?
The majestic Hoiles was at Ayr yesterday commentating on the Scottish National, his commentary was appalling.
JohnJ
JohnJ,
A bit of a sweeping statment, any particular examples of why you thought the commentary was apalling?
Hoiles inability to identify the fallers on the first circuit, was a very poor effort IMO.
JohnJ
I’m a huge fan of Richard Hoiles 99% of the time but have to agree his commentary on the Scottish National wasn’t brilliant and did miss some of the fallers. Then again there’s no way I could do his job!
If Richard is reading, I’m amazed you don’t have a "spotter" for a race like the Scottish National. It must be almost impossible to keep track of 40 horses racing in close formation but it does make you look silly when you don’t spot the fallers promptly- something to look at for next year?
Just watched the replay on the Sporting Life website and fair comment, the lack of reporting the fallers on the first circuit wasn’t out of the top drawer.
I know that they have ‘spotters’ in the Grand National and it clearly would have been a huge benefit in yesterday’s Scottish National with the 30 runners.
although not in the same class as holt, johnstone or gg
mcgrath is good compared to cattermole
cattermole is a good presenter but a woeful commentator
There’s not much worse when you hear of a few ‘fancied’ fallers and think to yourself "That cuts the competition to mine down a bit". You then try to establish exactly where your horse’s colours are in a packing field only to hear the commentator say, two fences later, "…and we also lost so and so earlier."
Sugar!Can’t remember who was commentating at Ripon recently, but they seemed to find it quite hard to tell the difference Mandurah and the Supreme Novice Hurdle winner at one point
It was ‘Barty’, Ian Bartlett commentating at Ripon last Thursday (2.35pm race, you can hear it on the ‘finishing stages’ replay on ATR).
I happen to like Jim’s commentaries. I watched the Veterans Chase at Ascot to see how my old boy Knowhere did and was thinking the whole time "how some people keep putting him down?"
Commentary is not an easy job, and i’d give an arm and a leg to be as a good as Jim.
I realise commentating is a difficult thing to master but surely it’s time for Jim McGrath to shuffle off into retirement.
He called the wrong faller today at Exeter (twice), called the wrong horse finishing fourth and then did his usual thing of predicting rather than commentating and horse A was "grabbed by Horse B now…" when Horse B was actually in the process of falling. The in-running thieves must be puking into their lap-tops.
At least with the BBC’s habit of persevering with commentators (in all sports) that clearly cannot cut it anymore, his contract with them should be safe.
Can anyone think of a worse commentator still employed (now that GG has done the decent thing and packed in)? Even Derek Thompson is better!
I agree 100% – such a shame as when he first started he was a breath of fresh air AND very accurate but those days are long gone I’m afraid.
I don’t mind the catchphrases "grabbed" , "kicked away" etc but he simply a) doesn’t identify the runners quickly enough (Lucky Mix in the opener is an example of this) b) takes so long getting his words out that the complexion of the race has changed by the time he’s said it
J A McGrath in his pomp is probably the best caller i’ve heard in 30+ years of following the sport. I didn’t hear him today so can’t comment. If he is struggling then it’s probably best to go with the band still playing, he still has a lot to offer racing in print media
Not his finest moments.
Time to hand over to one of the younger and sharper commentators.
Regards
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