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If Thommo is to do a Cheltenham commentary then perhaps it is the 3 day April meeting at which he could be used.
For the festival it will be i imagine Simon Holt for C4, Richard Hoiles,Mark Johnson and Mike Cattermole for the course and betting shops and John Hunt for 5 Live.
I have nothing against Thommo as he can make a really poor days racing at Southwell sound exciting and his Fakenham commentaries are always lively and he sounds enthusiastic and is much more a commentator suited to a fun crowd who need jollying up.
Personally im surprized that Stewart Machin has not been given a day to do at the festival as he does big field races quite well.
Checkout Machin’s Ayr Silver Cup commentary a couple of years ago(machinist race i think) it was awful.
Also this year on Derby Day at another meeting Stewart had a howler!
Friggo,
Ch4 take the racecourse commentary when they are doing more than one meeting, because they also take the racecourse pictures in those circumstances – i.e. they broadcast the same Racetech coverage that goes into the shops and to ATR and RUK.
But at the main meeting, they have their own cameras and use their own commentator to ensure that the commentary matches the pictures they are showing. For example, Ch4 at Cheltenham will undoubtedly make use of the pictures from the camera car, whereas RUK will rarely use those and will stick with the wider angle provided by the Racetech fixed cameras.
AP
Find it hard to believe any commentator worth his salt would use the pictures from the camera car the vast majority of the time to give a commentary although he will refer to them for the viewers "benefit". Often it is very difficult to identify horses using it and horses are often missed jumping a fence with it. A good example was Ascot last Saturday when the BBC used a camera car to poor effect even missing horses jumping a fence in small fields. Vastly superior pictures appeared on ATR (apart from the 5 sec delay) more or less head on of them jumping the fences with all the runners in view. Can’t understand why anyone would prefer the former. Wincanton in the straight was another good example.
Would prefer it if Holt was doing the racecourse commentary as he is far more effective for me than when he does it for C4 and we wouldn’t have to suffer interjections mid race from Francome & Co.Yeats,
I don’t think anybody that seriously wants to see the race would welcome the pictures from the camera car. But for the producer and director, they provide ‘exciting’ pictures, full of ‘drama’ and ‘immediacy’. You know, the sort of thing that wins awards at the end of the year – so they are popular with the TV companies!
AP
My first post on this forum so hi all. I felt compelled to pop my posting cherry because of the abuse Thommo is getting. I was listening to talksport yesterday and anyone who can tip a 6/5 double once a fortnight gets my respect. "Full marks to him"!
If Tommo is going to commentate then I suggest the following as a C4 replacement.
I don’t mind Thommo as a commentator however he is very Repetitive and can get a bit boring after a while. Think he should stick to his interviewing on Channel 4 though really.
Would be good to hear either Mark Johnston,John Hunt or Richard Hoiles at the Festival next week.
Steve
Would be good to hear either Mark Johnston,John Hunt or Richard Hoiles at the Festival next week.
John Hunt will be doing the call for Five Live – unfortunately it will probably be the "art house" style call with pointless facile interruptions from Luke Harvey and / or Cornelius Lysaght.
I think it is pretty certain that Richard Hoiles will be doing the course commentary, although I’m not sure if it is Mike Cattamole or Mark Johnson who will be sharing it with him. It won’t be Tommo though!!!
Personally I don’t see why they just don’t have a Holt / Hoiles double header, providing both the course and C4 commentary.
Yes that would be a good Idea that actually Paul.
Its Racing UK who cover Cheltenham or am I wrong?
It will probably be Simon Holt and Jim McGrath on Channel 4 at a guess.Its a Pitty We couldn’t have a copy of the Racetech Roster of Commentators for each Meeting in the UK?
Steve
I’m bemused why Mike Catt gets so many of the big meetings, he can count Cheltenham & Aintree in his portfolio. He called another horse a faller that didn’t last Saturday. Can’t think the course executives bother much about accuracy when booking commentators.
Its a Pitty We couldn’t have a copy of the Racetech Roster of Commentators for each Meeting in the UK?
It’s a great pity indeed – don’t think it hasn’t been asked for a few times on here already, though! One day, maybe, one day….
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.
I had a look at Khyber Kim’s Newbury win last night as part of what I ironically refer to as my Festival analysis; I was highly amused to find that the commentary is exactly as it was on the day with Mike Cattermole’s howler intact.
Not sure if it was cattermole again but when Pilca won the handicap a few few weeks ago on channel 4 racing, they were calling the wrong name until late up the run in. Cant remember who they were calling it though. Think it may have been cattermole commentating though.
Saying that a worse one was jim mcgrath at the 2006 arc meeting 2yo fillies race, he spent so long focusing on the favorites (as i find the bbc generally do) that he didnt have any idea who the horse was that had just burst clear of the pack, and only mentioned the horses name as finsceal beo just before it crossed the line, took him about a furlong to realise.
Not a huge fan of Thommo and his tendency to inject a bit of stateside but the one who really does my head in is Des Scahill.
28 runner hurdles where the commentary consists of a monotonic delivery reciting all horses lead to tail then back to the lead again. There was an audible sigh half way through the commentary at Naas recently. Very accurate but very deadpan.
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