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Hi there racing fans. The National was a great race and i was happy as i had 1st, 3rd and 4th in my bets and a sweepstake
I watched the racing replay on RUK and I thought Mike Cattermole’s commentry was appalling! He stated that:
Simon – Pulled Up
King John’s Castle – Fell
Bewleys Berry – FellI feel sorry for the other commentator that had to keep reflecting on what happened.
A topic like this has been mentioned before about Cattermole a few months back.
I say get rid of him!
Have to agree
Never seen national but the last races i switched over to on RUK weren’t too good the Friday. He’s ok, does a decent-ish job but shouldn’t be given high profile meetings like these.It was desperate stuff,to not be able to tell the difference between Kings John Castle and D’Argent is inexcusable.
I thought I was imagining this so I’m glad someone else noticed it! I certainly heard him saying the grey and Bewleys had fallen. The young lad next to me at Aintree summed it up when he exclaimed to his dad that he ‘thought Berry had fallen dad!’
It’s a tough job and I certainly wouldn’t want to do it but Cattermole makes these mistakes time and time again at the jumps meetings. I wonder how many people were sifting through the rubbish having thrown away their slips on his hearsay, as it involved the horses that finished second and fifth (some bookies’ on track yesterday were actually paying out on a fifth place which is always good to see).
What about the last race as well, fav gets left 50 lengths and he doesn’t even notice and says it’s been put to sleep at the back. Don’t know how he gets all these big meetings.
At the risk of being accused of double standards here – I was quite critical of the Cat’s performance yesterday – I have been ruminating on it since. Plus I have been looking at my own "in running" notes on the race and I realised just how much I missed.
Although it was not the best call ever, I wonder if there is a case to be made for the defence?
His commentary position was near the third fence which would give him a good view of the action of the first section of the course, looking back at a recording of the race his call for that section was OK. For the Valentines – Melling section he would be reliant on either the monitor or using bins.
Most people at home would be watching on decent television sets – the commentator only has a relatively small CRT monitor, which may or may not be impacted by glare – he certainly will not have an HD picture. He will also be at the mercy of the director regarding shots and as someone has pointed out he has to concentrate on trying to pick up what has fallen along with describing what is coming up next.
Also using the bins he may not have had the clearest of views of the far side of the course with traffic in the centre of the course and, from side on, some horses would be obstructed from view.
As I suggested in a post yesterday I wonder if Racetec should use four callers in future – another option is to have spotters to concentrate on spotting the fallers for the commentator, so he can concentrate on what’s still running.
This slightly goes along the same trail of discussion, and I wanted to speak about it; how many times Jim McGrath mentioned the wrong horse, trainer, race, track, you name it on Dubai World Cup night was horrendous. It is off-putting to be mis-informed like that.
To be fair a few years ago Richard Hoiles did the 30 runner Topham on his own and got it spot on and if he did the National on his own i think he would do it perfect when you consider he had a monitor just to cover Bechers,Canal Turn and Valentines part of the course.
Maybe next year they should put in a 3rd commentator down the side and get either Simon Holt or Stewart Machin as they have both done big field races in their time to cover it.
It aint the easiest commentary to do when you think about it but maybe a third commentator is needed for the National
Totally agree. Shockingly embarrassing. It was the worse commentary since the Topham family had a go many years ago. He makes mistakes in 8 runner fields, so why on earth would you let him loose on 40 runners? I think C4 & RUK like his voice, but his eyes/brain never seem to kick in.
Saying that who can forget the legendary Peter O’Sullivan missing Boom Docker’s refusal at the 17th in the 1977 National when nearly 60 lengths in front, but noticing instead that Barony Fort was a fence behind!! Classic.
Speaking of which does anyone know what became of Boom Docker?
Cattermole has confidently called a few photo finishes incorrectly.If there is one thing worse then being beaten a short head -its being beaten a short head and being told you have won.
High Ken – they have just shown the 77 National on ESPN Classic and The Voice indeed did miss the leader coming down – but a youthful-sounding John Hanmer picked it up immediately.
I was at Aintree on Saturday and the groan when Bewleys Berry was announced as a faller was huge – if he’d won there would have been lots of ripped up tickets being sellotaped back together!
Thought Richard Hoiles did a really good job but I think they could do with another caller out in the country for next year.Having watched and listened, and having called a few races myself I can’t excuse the form but can confidently tell you what the cat was doing…
Contraband fell, Belwley’s Berry called falling. They have similar marking on their dials.
D’argent and KJC – well if you can’t see the similarities in those two animals then you have problems….
He’s not spotting the jocks and calling on the animal. Still completely wrong and he shouldn’t be calling the national. I’ll be happy to do it.
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