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I know I am a day late but the coverage of the Oaks was pathetic – IMHO. They put up the caption for the race about 3 times which stated 11 runners but only 10 horses were shown.There was room surely for the 11th horse – Qualify.
It won at 50-1 and was an O’brien horse. Even EMMA when speaking to Aidan in the middle of the course mentioned the 2 of the 3 – O’brian horses – but not Qualify.David, to be fair to Emma she was in a rush to get off camera asap to have a costume change and re-arrange her hair which was rather blown around in the wind.
Hence why she never got around to Qualify.Emma Spencer is awful. Yeah you wouldn’t mind a night with her but that’s another story.
I don’t watch the Morning Line usually but as it was Derby Day I gave it a go yesterday. For her to complain about the cold once was Ok fair enough. Twice – OK we’re getting the message it’s windy and it’s cold. To go on about it three or four times is unforgivable as a presenter. For gods sake nobody planted her in Alaska.
She’s simply not very good, Tanya is worse and Tom Lee (though not present yesterday) is the most dull individual I’ve seen whilst into the racing game. Mick Fitzgerald has a voice that grates on you and shouldn’t be on TV for that reason – i.e. quality should be the aim, Banks the bookie comes across as basically just a tw*t and Jim McGrath is becoming the older uncle who knows a bit about the sport but is dated and a bit past his best to the point where he’s there because he’s there.
In short C4’s product is sh*t.
Everyone knows my disliking of C4 Racing however I still find it amazing how little time they give to showing the horses in the paddock, it seems to be rushed two minutes before the off time. I still question why they show race distances in meters.
I thought the Derby coverage was terrible, the advert breaks during the build up seemed much longer than usual, maybe it was my imagination. There was far too little of the runners before the race, a very small field and they barely showed each horse. The compilation after one slot of adverts in the pre-race build up was unnecessary and extremely irritating.
One thing I have noticed about the Channel 4 coverage on the whole, is that they often will show all the runners from a tuppenny, ha’penny handicap and then just them loading, with no paddock shots, when they show a group race. There time before being taken up with adverts, interviews and “arty” compilations accompanied by loud build up music.
I rarely watch it live these days and fast forward a recording, (I have yet to watch the Oaks), otherwise my blood pressure would be through the roof.
Just don’t get me started on the Paddy Power adverts…….Yes I know they need revenue, but……Nick Luck,Simon Holt Jim McGrath and Graham Cunningham are all excellent……everyone else is either adequate ( Rishi Persad and Brian Gleeson ) or unemployably awful( the Rest)…
However a new low has been reached by having Jeff (?) Banks on the Morning Line ( which is a terrible programme anyway)….Banks has no insight whatsoever and just charmlessly shoots his mouth off in all directions clearly causing embarrassment for those unfortunate enough to be lumbered with his company….dragging the show down to ridiculously low depths….get rid.
Gave up on the Morning Line years ago and simply us C4HD to watch races. Then it’s back over to RUK for previews/discussion.
Works well for me
Sadly have to agree about the Oaks and Derby on Channel 4, it was so much better on the BBC without the dreadful advert breaks and features such as Frankie & Johnny this year.
More to come next week with Royal Ascot kicking off and even though I am really looking forward to the racing itself I know I will have to put up with…
Gina Harding (nee Bryce) …(still flogging that competition car) along with Emma Spencer last seen sloping off to plan their Royal Ascot outfits and fight over which one will be partaking of Fine Dining tasters from the Michelin Star restaurant in the Parade Ring Restaurant in the Royal Enclosure this year…unless Rishi gets there first!!
Tanya will be down her local charity shop hunting for her outfit and hat and hopefully Tom Lee will be at Brighton or Chelmsford City.Note to Channel 4 Pre Royal Ascot:
Will Clare Balding be returning to creep around the paddock whispering in peoples ears like David Attenborough encountering silverback gorillas in the mountains of Rwanda?Please don’t bring back Gok Wan or any fashion guru of any sort..unless it’s the wicked Mr. James Sherwood
.…and finally most important that we see much more of the horses in the paddock and going down to start and a comment on every horse in every race not just the top three in the betting.
Jac
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...It is tedious in the extreme but there’s no excuse to not go and watch racing- much better than watching it on the telly.
Really lacklustre coverage of Ascot today … Rishi is downgraded from competent to unemployable based on truly cringeworthy questions today to the winning jockeys and Claire is officially not as good as Nick Luck at presenting the programme….she has lost interest by the sound of her….
Gok Wan is unwatchable for me : Puerile sense of humour (if you can call it that) no gravitas or anything interesting or intelligent to say ….adds nothing just grates….the BBC did it much much better in every department (except paddock/form analysis) back in the day.
Both C4 and RUK were awful today. Every time I switched to Racing UK all they were talking about was the betting and not the horses. As for Channel 4 the opening titles were cringing and did I really see an article about gloves?
Five minutes before the Coventry Stakes and they were talking fashion something or other, then they went to an advert, then it felt like the runners were just about loaded in the stalls. The race deserved more of a preview. Not impressed with the coverage today.
Yesterday’s coverage was akin to Loose Women with a modicum of racing grudgingly thrown in !!
What’s with the opening credits
I thought it was Strictly Come Dancing and then Bruce Forsyth appeared!!
Why was Gok Wan invited back to present the fashion? He never has anything critical or constructive to say. Bring back the BBC and James Sherwood who famously described a woman’s hat as resembling Tracey Island. He was too honest and not politically correct so he had to go, but it made the visits to the Royal Enclosure watchable to see what he might say next.
If you taped all the coverage of Royal Ascot shown yesterday and fast forwarded all the waffle and adverts (at least 30 minutes worth of those) you’d probably be left with around a good half hour of horse racing out of about 4 and a half hours airtime.
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...Why was Gok Wan invited back to present the fashion, he never has anything critical or constructive to say, bring back the BBC and James Sherwood who famously described woman’s hat as resembling Tracey Island.
James Sherwood’s show should not be seen as entertainment Triptych.
If a woman has poor self-esteem issues but loves racing so much she braves Royal Ascot; only to be crucified by James Sherwood on TV… She never goes racing at a big meeting again. Constructive criticism is one thing, James Sherwood went too far and had/has no place in a programme like this imo. This picks on the unknowing, it’s not like the woman is asking for a critique as it would be in a fashion programme.
Value Is EverythingBoth C4 and RUK were awful today. Every time I switched to Racing UK all they were talking about was the betting and not the horses. As for Channel 4 the opening titles were cringing and did I really see an article about gloves?
For a so called specialist horse racing channel the coverage on RUK was awful. Tedious interviews by Bell & Morrison followed boring reports from the betting ring with Nevison. All at the expense of showing the real stars of the show both in the paddock and going to post.
They seem as if they’re just trying to duplicate C4 and it’s nowhere near good enough for me.
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