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I wouldn’t say that empty, come on get up off your ass and go and get one NOW!!!!!
Colin
Others may think it’s ok Colin, but it’s good articles, decent race analysis that i’m interested in reading and reading Pru’s post, this paper don’t seem to offer that, so i’m afraid to say, i don’t see any point getting off my ass
I’ll have to stick to reading the blog ramblings of Simon Rowlands, Graham Cunningham, Nick Shiambouros etc,etc
………so you don’t buy the Racing Post then!
Colin
I’ve bought a couple of copies in last few year Colin, but overall RP is another waste of money imo
I thought it was a good product for the price. Could probably do with a little more analysis in there, but the time ordered race cards is a useful innovation. It’s a lean paper, focused on the key aspects and presumably if it gets through the first few weeks okay, there will be room to expand. Overall, it was £1 well spent
empty
Is your glass half full or half err empty?
Not sure how to answer you David, as i’m not sure what the above question is in reference to
Maybe you can clarify
Completely agree with the suggestion that the opening preview is too long, though all the analysis in it is a good read and most of all interesting, it could probably do with being spread out over the paper, or the opening few pages at least. The time ordered race cards innovation works well, particularly the quick-pick Scoop6 lists – handy today particularly!
I’ve a strong feeling many readers will bypass the form pullout..
The ‘at-a-glance’ section is unnecessary repeated information. Personally I think the page should be used for a more prominent winner finders/stats/trends section (incorporating the ten year trends section on page 8, winner finders bit on page 37 and keeping the A-Z of runners list).
The short but punchy sport section works well.
In all though a hugely encouraging first issue and I shall certainly be buying it again. I’ve no doubt the proof in the pudding for most of the readers that will have bought the paper today will come in the amount of winners the team can pick between them over the weekend!Phil
I don’t really like it. Smithy makes a good comparison, it resembles an extended version of the sort of thing you might get for nothing free with the Sun or Mirror. The front page is misleading. There is a picture of Ravens Pass when the clear inference on the headline story is that it should be Fair Along. The same front page picture is then reused on page 6.
There are also unforgivable innaccuracies. For example Tom Tate (pictured) when the photogragh is of Graham Lee (page 4). Stylewise it alters throughout the opening main tipping column. We have the ‘G1 Champion Stakes and the ‘Group 1 Darley Dewhurst’. It needs to be one or the other and the style should be kept to. Some of the photos are distorted so that they look wrong i.e. both Philip Hobbs and Notnowcato/Ryan Moore have been distorted.
The McCain column is good, perhaps a picture of him though in the header alongside his name.
I’ll keep buying it for the next few weeks but there is no way it compares favourably with the Racing Post. The Racing Post if far more than 60p superior at present.
To be fair, a good start with some nice priced winners from some of the headline selections i.e. Miss Lucifer and Leg Spinner. Though anyone who remembers the Sportsman will be able to tell you that good tipping isn’t enough to keep a newspaper in circulation.
Some interesting comments – pretty much what I expected.
I have to say that I am disappointed myself with the editorial pages at the front of the new issue.
We had some production problems (that, thanks to sod’s law didn’t surface in the umpteen practice runs) that meant we just didn’t have time to sub-edit the pages properly.
When you are a small title like ours, if you don’t hit the (very early – any ex-Sportsmen around, our final off-stone is 6pm!) press deadline the paper doesn’t get printed. So we had no option but to go with what we had at that time.
Those hitches will be ironed out by next week and the front-end will be much more like it, including the couple of columns we had to drop due to the technical problems. The Scoop6 page etc and other little ricks will also be sorted out – hopefully it’s not too late. I think the fantastic results will help in the short-term but we have got to get things right.
Thanks again for the feedback.Not easy.
It puts a different light on it when you hear first hand of some of the limitations/problems.
Good Luck with it Mulls.
if you don’t hit the (very early – any ex-Sportsmen around, our final off-stone is 6pm!)
While off-stone was 8, 9 or 10 o’clock the reality is that a lot of the racing section of The Sportsman was written at a ludicrously early time for as long as the paper was considered a sports paper with some racing, rather than a racing paper with some sports. The Four Horsemen had to be completed before 2:00 in the early days, for instance.
Even afterwards, all racing copy – with the exception of post-race analysis and news, neither of which Racing Ahead Weekend carries – had to be completed by no later than 4:30/5:00.
I must admit I would have liked to have seen a bit more editorial.
The cards in racecard order is a good innovation but as pointed out earlier not the best format if you are actually going racing – however having taken this innovative route why go to the bother of printing the cards again in full in the more traditional layout. This in addition to a separate additional listing for the Scoop 6 races.
One, albeit minor, gripe in the main and Scoop 6 racecards is the horses number being in small type after the colours.
One thing I liked very much was the single line stats summary, although (and I appreciate space is tight) I would prefer the going stats to be broken into three groupings rather than two.
Having both the Saturday and Sunday cards is also useful.
Well done to all concerned and I hope it takes off … however it is going to be an uphill struggle to match the post. There is, however, nothing wrong with some competition and let’s hope this goes on to provide it.
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