I know we are pretty much resigned to Derek falling back on his “I’ll leave that to the judge” stock phrase for winning margins anything less than 3/4 of a length but he excelled himself at Southwell the other day. A thrilling six runner finale saw a seven length victory for Oriental Cross, a further seven lengths back to the third and eight lengths to the fourth. Derek declared incorrectly that third placed Minella Examiner was the runner up and failed to mention the actual second, Ishyaboi.”…in third we have, er… I’ll leave that to the judge”. Wonderful.
Cork All Star, I was just about to start a thread about that moron. It was the 2nd time today, when the winner was a neck in front and he left it to the judge. If he can’t tell who’s won, then he should be trying other sports.
Why is it that most commentators are retired from the roster as they hit 65 yet Thommo seems to keep getting gigs hear on year?
Surely there is at least one up and coming called who deserves a chance as I don’t recall any new voices joining the roster since (the excellent) Gareth Topham and Tim Peters.
Gareth is great, I really enjoy listening to his commentaries.
The one who tends to get on my nerves right now is Stuart Machin. He is excellent throughout the race, but when it comes to commentating a finish he tends using his usual phrases, like “legs of jelly” or “under a Brennan drive” and so on. I just hate listening to him in a tight finish, especially when I’m not on the winner.