Racing review of Saturday newspapers

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I’ve only reviewed the four papers that I thought were decent weekday purveyors of racing – The Star, The Mirror, The Sun and The Mail – as the others just weren’t worth bothering with. I’m strictly comparing them to how their weekday coverage was, so for an actual technical explanation of the cards in each paper and what they contain, refer to the ‘Racing review of daily newspapers’ thread.

The Mirror £1
Goes with ‘Mirror Racing’, an eight-page full-colour pullout with a preponderance of bookies’ advertisements. Apart from the gilded thoughts of erm, ah, erm…Dave Yeats, there’s really not much that one could describe as additional to their weekday coverage. Cards are well spaced-out and selected races on the two main meetings contain colours and a couple of lines of how-they-ran-last-time-out form. The card for Navan is also there. Sunday’s racing is covered in standard detail but includes the full card from Punchestown and one main race from Cork. Overall, it looks quite decent but you don’t have to dig that far to realise that there’s not really much difference between this and standard weekday coverage.
As Morrissey once nearly reckoned, everyday is like Saturday 3/10

The Daily Star 50p
A 12-page ‘StarForm’ pullout includes one page of dogs and a page-and-a-half of sports betting. (Football analysis is by Dean Windass of whom it was once quoted that ‘he’s still trying to vote for Goal of the Season on his microwave’). There is plenty of stuff to read, with lots of tipping articles and analysis. However, this is another one that really only reproduces it’s weekday-style cards, albeit with full colours and a line or two of form-last-time-out on the two main cards. On Sunday, both Irish cards are reproduced in full which is commendable. Having them next to a number of sex-lines probably isn’t. Like The Mirror, there’s not really much more than their (generally good) weekday coverage although an uptick for plenty of comment and opinion.
Best for weekdays, not so for Saturdays 4/10

The Daily Mail £1
This is really disappointing, as the only one of our reviewed papers without a pullout allows a meagre two pages for Saturday’s cards. If anything, they are worse than weekdays due to the lack of space afforded. There’s no extra analysis or colours, form etc and everything is pretty much monochrome, giving the coverage a really dull can’t-be-bothered look. There’s a small tipping piece and a general news column and that’s about it. Furthermore, there are no cards for Sunday. The Mail’s weekday racing is actually better than this.
Woeful effort 1/10

The Sun 70p
A 12-page pullout called ‘Favourite’ includes two pages of football betting and one of dog-racing. Three pages of tipping/news articles from Steve Jones, Steve Mullen and Matt Chapman plus ‘Track Bites’ snippets are all good and there’s considerably fewer bookies’ adverts. The cards themselves are nicely laid out, making use of the extra space, with the ‘SunForm’ last-time-out runnings under every race. However, the coverage of the top two meetings – Cheltenham and Doncater – is genuinely excellent. Races are well presented, Cheltenham using up two centre pages, Doncaster one-and-a-half. Both include colours, SunForm, and a single-line Spotlight-style precis for every horse. Every televised race includes Templegate’s quite lengthy analysis in a separate panel, and there is a plethora of data, some of which is pretty useful, in a ‘Trackfax’ side-panel. AW cards get more standard treatment than the jumps, as do Sunday’s cards. However, there is no Irish coverage whatsoever.
Probably as good as non-specialist coverage can get 8/10

Conclusion
The Sun is an overwhelming winner here. I was genuinely impressed with their pullout which is good to read and they back that up with plenty of useful facts and figures. The coverage of the two main meetings and terrestrially-televised races in particular, is frankly superb. Downside is no coverage whatsoever of Irish racing, although I believe that extra space is what allows their UK stuff to be so good. The Mirror and The Star both fall into the trap of ‘puffing up’ their coverage via a pull-out without actually adding anything significant to their weekday cards. The Mail is a very disappointing effort, being cramped and dull and actually worse than midweek!

Mike

[Seasider]

The Times ups its game a little on Saturdays.

Yesterday there were two pages of racing information. One was given up to the day’s racecards & Friday’s results while the second featured a 500 word piece about Venetia Williams plus 300 words previewing the Massey Ferguson Gold Cup & the Bula Hurdle. TV races other than those got a two line analysis.

All Cheltenham runners were allocated a numerical form rating. No bookmakers adverts were in evidence. The entire section was printed in monochrome apart from a photo of Venetia wearing a fetching purple anorak with matching scarf, and a picture of Mister Miyagi jumping a hurdle somewhere or other.

[pilgarlic]

Broadly in agreement but thought the Star and Mirror would have warranted a point or two more. Not Tony Hatch are you?

The Matt Chapman column in The Sun has been a disappointing bore

[homersimpson]

Have to say I agree with Mike, although never bought the Mail, thank god. I think the only thing that lets it down is the omission of the Irish Saturday/Sunday cards although they do sometimes put the big races of a meeting in. I would stick the football betting pages in with the Football pullout to make way for the Irish meetings.

I have bought the Star & Mirror before and these don’t compare.

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