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A first class analysis of the blinkered and inward-looking nature of horse racing in Britain today.
Read it here http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ … 308361.ece
I agree with the gist of the article…..
…..But, comparisons are made in it with footballers and rugby players. How many of them would do a tv slot on the morning of a big game?
The writer could have chosen a far better example than two jockeys not turning up (for understandable reasons) on a show that nobody watches.
He would have served his argument better by criticising trainers who are ‘economical with the truth’ when interviewed – there’s nothing more irritating than a trainer who leads you down the garden path.
Strikes me of someone picking on the easy target, which is all too common among racing journalists.
Nice article, Venusian.
All a bit arch though. Things have improved immeasurably mediawise.
I will never, ever forget John Dunlop walking away from an inquisitive Jonathan Powell in the Ascot winners enclosure. Word’s don’t do his dismissiveness justice. He just walked off as Powell was mid-sentence. A thousand years of Harrovian disdain encapsulated in one swift exit. I was in awe. Powell’s heinous crime? Having the impertinence to ask about future plans for a winning juvenile. Dick Hern was the same. And it’s no wonder Sir Michael Stoute has yet to turn up to Great Leighs on a Thursday night.
And Pru is right. No football player ever went on Soccer AM before the big game.
Interesting reading.
Agree we do need the stars on show and racing should not be all about gambling.
But we do not know what Sam Thomas had to put up with that week.
Any "star" whatever the sport can cancel an inteview after a poor week.However, O’Regan should have been there. After all footballers do inteviews on the pitch just before the FA Cup. Or they used to when I watched it.
Just this week Alex Furgeson gave one at half-time.One reason the Cheltenham Festival is so good is racing has it’s stars on show. Whenever Master Minded meets Tidal Bay we should hear from all concerned (and not just in the Racing Post). I also get fed up of hearing what is drifting on Betfair. Racing is a sport and not just a betting market.
Mark
Value Is EverythingI fail to see what the BBC (which he mentions near the end) has to do with the overall point he is making.
Marble, the point Alan Lee is making is that the BBC has been criticised for its planned further reduction in racing coverage, yet people within the sport often don’t want to come out and play. The BBC can legitimately ask "Do you want it, or not?"
It has been a long time since the sport could think it was doing broadcasters a special favour by allowing them into its arcane and insular world.
I find the argument comparing this with footballers and rugby players flawed in the sense that football must have a dozen or more 24/7 channels dedicated to the sport along with the free channels that show football ad nauseum. While rugby does not have that sort of saturation the wide spread coverage afforded it is tons more than racing receives. The morning line is one of the very few outlets not restricted to pay tv that offers the opportunity for players to present themselves to a slightly larger viewing audience. Nothing against Mr Dennis but I’m not sure I see the value add for racing on a broader scale, when he is on no matter how short.
Racing in the UK is travelling down the road to a niche sport and is closer to the end of that journey than many may think. Considering that, it is still astonishing to me that there are two channels dedicated too racing even if you have to pay for one. If this remains the status quo for a long time I’ll be happy with that. I have no illusions about racing ever being at the forefront of the sporting world in the western hemisphere in my lifetime, again. If you want to experience a vibrant if not downright rabid enthusiasm for racing you have to move to Hong Kong, Japan or to a lesser extent Australia.
The difference can be summed up this way, with a cogent point made about racing in Hong Kong on the Sunday Forum by Aussie Jim. When a jockey shows up at a fully booked restaurant he can always be assured he’ll get a primo table. He went on to say if Tony McCoy were riding in HK he’d have the six best tables waiting for him.
Horse racing is big news in countries that are gambling crazy and the ‘big news’ can stay right where it is to be honest.
Horse racing in the UK is all about gambling and gambling should not be promoted. We have created enough problems in this shite hole over the years without creating any more – or should we just remind any young would-be racing fanatics that moderation is everything
Whilst we’re at it, we could also tell them crack cocaine aint so bad either so long as you don’t pipe it.The insular bunch of cretins can keep ‘their’ racing.
A good and thought provoking article – also an aticle in today’s Telegraph about last night’s Gimcrack speech by John Ferguson on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed/Ahmed. Racing needs to be on ‘free-to-air’ TV and in the ever more competitive area of fighting for ‘media time’ it needs to be more ‘media savvy’, and I’m not sure it is. Looking back now, I don’t think we realised just how fortunate we were in the 70’s 80’s and 90’s at how much racing was on – virtually every Saturday and quite often I’d run home from school to watch the last 2 races on an afternoon meeting.
It is a fantastic sport, and I follow it for the sport – I bet occasionally, but sometimes it seems as though it only exists for betting purposes. Agree about the ‘niche’ sport though – as someone who follows Rallying – it’s virtually non existent in the media – this would be a disaster for Racing. But how has it come to this? To me, that is the big question – it seems to have happened in such a short period of time.Nice article, slightly self-indulgent in use of complex speech, or am I just that dumb?
If I wrote something like that locally, I’d be sent to the guillotine.
Nice article, slightly self-indulgent in use of complex speech, or am I just that dumb?
If I wrote something like that locally, I’d be sent to the guillotine.
If he wrote that for The Sun he would meet a similar fate.
Basically journos have to write in the style of whoever is payng them.
There was a football writer who moved from The Sun to The Times so he had to switch from writing punchy one liners to writing in flowing prose.
He was asked after the move what his "natural" writing style was, to which he replied "it depends who is paying me." I think that sums it up perfectly.
(Just in case you don’t know our papers MDeering, The Sun is a tacky tabloid whilst The Times is, notionally, a more upmarket paper – although as both are owned by Murdoch that is debatable)
While Racing in the UK does have appeal but not in the way of how Football,Cricket or Rugby will always get more pages in the normal newspapers the sport does need to get the people from it out into the public domain.
You will get the odd jockey going on Question of Sport and sometimes Inside Sport but i can never see someone like Mattie Batchelor getting a cameo on Eastenders.
More does need to be done for example with things like Media Training for Jockeys, M Deering will almost vouch when i say that Australian Jockeys are taught how to act when attending a stewards enquiry at the course.
The Scoop 6 should be renamed the TV6 or Saturday 6 and available in shops so people who want a fun bet on a Saturday but might not want to use a betting shop can put it on in the same way of the lottery.
Racing Ahead for example is a fine read and im not just saying that because of Grayson as i read the mag before i became a member on here but why can you never buy it on a racecourse.
No DVD documentary of Kauto v Denman which could have been a big seller with Inrace commentary by Paul Nicholls,Sam and Ruby over the races with the big two.
The Morning Line itself is an OK programme but on Betfair Chase day which was the days big race they concentrated more on the crap they had at Lingfield even though ATR did more of a preview and like C4 they were not even covering the race but still made time to give it a good preview.
C4 did not even do a Cheltenham Highlights Show not even on More4 or the other 4 channel.
Similar the BBC does not do the Royal Ascot Highlights which was always good to watch with Richard Pitman.
They say that Racing is about Gambling well Football is the highest attended sport and the 2nd most bet on sport in the country yet you get faithful fans who got for the love of the club,i know people who go racing but never bet in the slightest but have a genuine love for the sport.
The people at the head of Racing need to realise that people will come racing but you need to show it in a positive light and show that we have heros and stars who are worshipped along with horses who the public treat as if they owned them.
You will get the odd jockey going on Question of Sport and sometimes Inside Sport but i can never see someone like Mattie Batchelor getting a cameo on Eastenders.
He appeared on Hole in the Wall a few weeks ago. Whatever next!
Racing Ahead for example is a fine read and im not just saying that because of Grayson as i read the mag before i became a member on here but why can you never buy it on a racecourse.
Quite right – skip my witterings and take advantage instead of the proper quality systems and horses-to-follow stuff in there each month. As regards finding a copy, I guess keeping things relatively tight and ensuring that it sells out at the likes of Smiths and Tesco – rather than not sell out over a wider spread of retailers or racecourses – is what’s kept it going strong for over four years now.
No DVD documentary of Kauto v Denman which could have been a big seller with Inrace commentary by Paul Nicholls,Sam and Ruby over the races with the big two.
Agreed – something of a chance missed.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
GC, have you got an offical list of retail outlets where it is sold? And what day of the month does it come out? I always look out for it when I’m out and about but I’ve never seen a copy – ever – in any shop which would include:
Tesco’s, Sainsburys, Martins, my local (small) WH Smiths etc.I know you can order it by post but I (and I’m sure others) would like to have a look at what I’m buying before placing a subscription.
If Brough Scott isnt careful he just may have something interesting to say about racing some decade soon.
Alan Lee’s article whilst commendable in parts is entirley ignorant of the contribution of Graham Wylie to National Hunt racing and the priorities of the modern day top level sportsman. He is of course still residing in dreamland regarding the broad mass appeal of the sport.
Alan Lee’s article whilst commendable in parts is entirley ignorant of the contribution of Graham Wylie to National Hunt racing and the priorities of the modern day top level sportsman. He is of course still residing in dreamland regarding the broad mass appeal of the sport.
I don’t quite understand this part of your post.
What is it that you think Alan Lee doesn”t understand about Wylie’s contribution? I’m sure he knows that Wylie has spent a lot of money on NH horses in recent years. What other contribution do you mean?
In what way is Lee residing in dreamland about the broad mass appeal of the sport? He seems to me to be addressing this very issue most directly and suggesting ways in which it might be enhanced. This is something that most racing "journalists" don’t have a clue about.
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