UK Racing Journalists – who are top of the heap?

[% MAN]

Interesting to note, unless I’ve missed it, that Folkestone’s fate doesn’t seem to have elicited quite the same generation of column inches.
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The reason could well be that amongst most hacks being sent to Folkestone is the journalistic equivalent of being sent to a Siberian salt mine.

[graysonscolumn]

The reason could well be that amongst most hacks being sent to Folkestone is the journalistic equivalent of being sent to a Siberian salt mine.

Tsk tsk. More fool them!

Already making plans to try to get to at least one more meeting at the track before its likely demise – most likely a Flat one, as my visits to Westenhanger have been (unsurprisingly) heavily biased towards the United Hunts meeting up to now. September 25th seems the likeliest as things stand.

gc

Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.

[% MAN]

The reason could well be that amongst most hacks being sent to Folkestone is the journalistic equivalent of being sent to a Siberian salt mine.

Tsk tsk. More fool them!
gc

In fairness I think it’s more down to the working conditions more than anything else.

Last time I went there was no wi-fi, no 3G and a very poor 2G mobile signal – the RP guys were having to phone their copy through.

Add to that a press-room door which alternates between refusing to open and refusing to close and it is a challenging venue.

[Steeplechasing]

Those mentioned so far would weep with envy and admiration at this piece of sportswriting from more than half a century ago http://www.baseball-almanac.com/article … icle.shtml

[Eclipse First]

A very famous piece Joe. Baseball has always drawn the best US sports writers; Grantland Rice, Roger Kahn and many others.
It is a wonderful game and Felix Hernandez just threw the 23rd perfect game in history in Seattle, it was shown live and free on MLB.com (they show a game live every day though mostly with an 11pm start).

[ivanjica]

Apoligies if this one has been covered off elsewhere, but as I havent seen a thread on here I thought I would drop this one in:

http://betting.betfair.com/horse-racing … 2-368.html

It led to a rather protracted thread on the betfair forum.

I cannot claim to be a fan of Lee Mottershead as I find his over flowery language grating, and he seems to think anything that took place prior to him getting into racing hardly worthy of mention, but this public spat with Ryan Moore seems to be regrettable.

I dont know the ins and outs as I didn’t read Mottershead’s atricle so I only have the hearsay evidence to go on. However if the points Moore makes are accurate it hardly paints Mr Mottershead and indeed Lydia in a great light.

There does seem to be an obsession in some parts of the racing media about promoting racing to a wider audience. I am not so sure who this will benefit, as racing existed long before the marketing people and their allies in the media got involved, and I am sure it will exist just fine without the constant "debate" about "moving racing forward".

I am certainly sick and tired with the predictable discussion everytime Frankel runs about how racing should be exploiting this marketing opportunity more. I am perfectly happy with the sport the way it is (or was until they messed around with the Champion Stakes etc) and believe much of the reason some individuals want to expand the appeal of racing has more to do with their own ego driven agendas than the good of the sport.

Finally somebody did make the point on the Betfair thread that Lester was hardly the easiest of people to interview and Ryan Moore is probably in the mould. Surely at the end of the day his job is to ride winners and he is pretty good at that. If it makes the life of journalists difficult is that such a big deal? Remember David O’Brien walked away from the sport due to the pressures – would we be happy to wake up one morning to read our champion jockey had packed it in for similar reasons?

[Author]

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