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Is this the first time the second day of Kempton hasn’t been televised? I suppose I better get used to the shape of things to come, as I cannot justify paying for a racing channel. It’s a great pity that coverage is continuing to be chipped away, many people will loose out especially if Channel 4 coverage is discontinued as looks likely.
I understand your point but is there not a nearby bookies where you guys live? i walked the twenty minutes into town to watch the Desert Orchid chase, i felt the need to do it aswell with all the food and drink I’ve consumed over the past two days.
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
Channel 4 dropped coverage of the second day about 2 or 3 years ago for the reason that apart from the Desert Orchid Chase the remainder of the card isn’t of a high quality and I have to agree with them.
If there was none of the dross racing on the sand I believe you would get better national hunt horses running instead.
I visit bettings shops, as opposed to betting online, mainly because one can view races. I went along today and the shop, of one of the big 3, had a few customers in.
I soon realised there was no commentary or announcements about runners being at the post etc. Instead the sound of Eastenders on BBC1 was apparent, from a tv in the sight of the sole member of staff behind the counter.
I asked if there was a fault on the commentary (daft question of course ) and was told "hang on I’ll turn it up".
I don’t think horse racing matters so much in betting shops these days. Even if the sound is ON it is likely to be at a volume easily drowned out by the noises from the FOBTs and low enough not to spoil the conversation between the counter staff. Not to mention the poor split screen images where dog racing or racing from Outer Mongolia are deemed essential viewing even if coinciding with a valuable steeplechase.
Since my analogue signal was switched off about 4 weeks ago C4 coverage has become obsolete, there’s no point in watching it now, the pictures are several seconds behind RUK & ATR and the picture quality is lower eg I saw some recorded C4 coverage from Saturday and when Nomecheki fell at the first this could not be seen on their coverage and was called some time after the event by a very hesitant Simon Holt, meanwhile on RUK coverage it could be clearly seen and was immediately called by Richard Hoiles.
I would imagine C4 coverage will have a natural progression to ending in about 2012 to co-incide with the end of analogue terrestrial coverage throughout the country.
Hopefully the BHA will pull their finger out by then
With some really good racing going on I was all set for a day in front of the TV with some nice nibbles. Alas it is Deal or No Deal instead. Shame on Channel 4, their coverage has improved, but there are still too many smug talking heads….still even the "cabin" & smug Nick are better than nothing at all.
Well, no different from the Beeb not covering it either. I don’t recall the second day at Kempton ever been shown. Or at least not for years and years if it was ever on.
Channel Four covered the second day for many years (the Christmas Hurdle used to be run on this day) until the cut backs in the early 2000’s. With the exception of Fieppe Shuffle’s year (2008 when the 27th fell on a Saturday), BBC picked up the Wayward Lad & Desert Orchid as part of their Welsh National coverage until about 2009.
Channel Four demands are the reason why the Welsh National is tomorrow (Saturday) and not today.
When the new tv deal was done ch4 should have been forced to do the kempton 2nd day just as they are with the Cheltenham December Friday.
One things for sure, a year on the show is no better and won’t get better as long as the Buffoon in charge doesn’t think the horses are the stars .
Take today , instead of enjoying seeing the welsh national runners at the start we got some taffy warblers instead…crazy don’t you think?Everything about terrestrial coverage is dissapointing to me, ”I’m not angry at you, I’m just dissapointed”, as my mother would say to me….
Farcical scenes before the Welsh National leading it to going off 7 mins late and ATR ridiculously going split screen during it with the distant dots on the horizon at Limerick.
None of the racing channels including C4 realise the horses are the real stars of the show.The BHA have had horses milling around over 5 mins at the start to avoid clashing with Irish races then at other times don’t bother at all.
I feel very irritated by TV racing coverage, I haven’t seen RUK, but the splits screens on ATR & the avoidance of horses on Channel 4 are both reasons why I haven’t been watching as much racing. There is too much "filler" of the wrong kind on 4. We don’t need all the little vignettes, & why can’t they do all the pre-race analysis as the runners are parading in the paddock, as they used to do years ago. I want to see the runners before the race, I would think all those that bet do too. When will they realise the horses are the stars, not trumpeters or singers with broken mikes….the horses please, all of them in a big race, not just the leaders in the betting.
I did email Channel 4, just got a standard reply.It’s certainly a shame that the second day of the Kempton meeting wasn’t covered on Channel 4 but, considering the number of meetings that are covered, it would be churlish to complain too much.
Ironically, people bemoaning the lack of coverage will get a welcome boost in 2014 because the second day of the meeting will no doubt be covered on Channel 4.
Boxing Day falls on a Friday next year, meaning that the Welsh National at Chepstow, traditionally staged on the 27th and previously covered by the BBC, will be televised on the Saturday.
Good news for fans of the second day of the Kempton meeting. It wouldn’t surprise me if we don’t get a cheeky race from Wetherby covered on the Saturday as well.
As a bonus this Christmas, I’m pleased I bothered to look if Racing UK were including any freeview action. Sure enough, there were freeview reviews of the Boxing Day meetings from Kempton, Wincanton, Wetherby and Market Rasen.
A sprat to catch a mackerel, I know, but a welcome boost for people like me (when I actually manage to watch it). Shame Huntingdon was off otherwise we would have had that as well.
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