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To get you in the mood for today here are the opening titles to our daily TV Show…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJPqsiZKk9c
Craig
The Ice Cold Exacta in the 10th should be 1-2!!!
TO answer Cormack’s question, it is indeed on ATR!
Craig
Race 10: Another ice cold exacta to round off the day!
#1 was 2nd in similar class last time out but previously showed a penchant for 7f and there is no reason to think this horse will not last one mile. The veteran #1 (11 yrs) hasn’t won in nearly a year but is reunited with Brian Theriot, a good jockey.AND REMEMBER, PEOPLE…
1. UNLIKE OTHER RACECALLERS, I DON’T MAKE YOU CALL A PREMIUM RATE PHONELINE FOR MY CRAP TIPS AND…
2. TELL ARAPAHOE PARK TO EMPLOY A RACECALLER WITH AN AMERICAN ACCENT
Craig.
Although I was not born until 1976, my old man had a video recorder c.1974 (N1500, I believe) that worked until the mid eighties and he would tape every race on the ITV7 just the race and the replay.
Wish I still had those tapes but they were destroyed in a fire.
Looking back, it was a great time to follow racing. Qualitiy stayers on the flat, great hurdlers and steeplechasers.
And I dare say a time when TV racing was still accessible to the less informed viewer but also catered to the knowledgeable fan. TV Producers, take note.
Craig
I know i watched it, so must have been 80’s. Pretty sure it was a midweek card at Sandown (might be wrong), and I’m sure last race, on the TV anyway, was won by the UK with a horse called Cudgel.
I had a memory of this being on the friday of Eclipse week at Sandown and perhaps ended in 1983? Or possibly at Epsom as an August bank holiday meeting? (same day as the Metropolitan???)
Craig
Now you’re talking!
Diamond Edge. Artifice. King Or Country. Silent Valley. All 70’s vintage but hung around at a decent level into the next era. The last named very nearly bridged the gap to the 90’s!
What did Artifice achieve in the late seventies. In my head i can only clock that horse back to late 1981ish.
Craig
Hello guys. I am an Australia and I have just finished high school. I was wondering if any of you could steer me in the right direction in terms of finding a job in regards to journalism. I love horse racing, and I would love the experience of watching british racing in depth and writing about it. I am preferably looking for a traineeship/cadetship for 12 months. Thanks lads.
The Nudge:
Drop me an email at britishracecaller@gmail.com
Craig
There is nothing I can add that will do justice to the man in words that has not already been reflected here. RIP, Dougie.
Geordielad:
I am a commentator in the USA and while I understand where you are coming from, there really is no reason to feel that way.
As David said, all us commentators know the risks of making a living as a public figure. And part of that is learning to live with criticism of your work, often from people invisibly sat behind a computer!
The late Raleigh Gilbert used to tell me just to smile when someone maligned my work unfairly and say: "Thanks for listening." And of course to take note when the comments was from someone worth listening too.
It sounds cliched but most commentators, even established ones relish people listening to their work and offering good and bad comments.
And you can have the assurance that in Dougie’s case if he kept a tally, the positive would have outweighed the negative!
Craig
Robin Gray was a top class racecourse commentator for decades and imo his calls still stand scrutiny today.
Not sure why he may have had an off day, he is in his seventies now but still sharp as a knife.
Craig
It’s one of the ones you mentioned but he obviously has fans among the decision makers…
Craig
I am not sure anyone can seriously say Mark Johnson is an underrated commentator. He is the most accomplished UK racecaller of recent times having called many classics and of course with his position at Churchill Downs is now well known on an international stage.
That said, I still think Lee is the most underrated. A great commentator, imo.
Craig
Craig – I’d time warp them all together, and I think Richard did call a charity race a few years back. Peter was as knowledgable as you’d ever find, and Mr O’Hehir’s accent was wonderful. RP always comes across as someone who’s been both sides of the sport, I wonder if he ever rode……
Pringles anyone
( Sorry, apparently Pringles aren’t Crisps, I’ve just been told )
I’m just relieved they never asked Coleman to do racing…..
I think everyone agrees David Coleman would not have made a great horse racing commentator!!! Great broadcaster in his day, though. Apparently he did not get on with many people…
As to Richard Pitman being a rider…presumably you are not being ironic but I think I can say without being unfair no jockey of his era rode better horses compared to the amount of talent he had as a jockey. Bula, Pendil, Crisp and Lanzarote come to mind.
Craig
JJM Sports – Peter Allis is the best commentator. Would be very interesting to hear him do a National commentary! I’d have Peter O’Sullivan, Michael O’Hehir and Richard Pitman in my National team
That would be interesting, one is 92, the second dead and the third (to my knowledge) has never called a race in his life.
Craig
Although it did not claim any fatalities this year, I have never been a fan of the Mildmay course. Maybe this is a personal prejudice as I do not have stats to back it up, but it always seemed way too tight and the fences awkwardly positioned.
So, here is a radical suggestion:
Stop regular steeplechases at Aintree…
Rebuild the Mildmay Track so it extends so they run on the national track down to where the first fence is, turn left and then rejoin the national track in front of the 28th, before swinging wide of the national track for the home turn.
Put in 4 foot style aintree fences. Run your steeplechases on that (would be a nice change) and the Foxhunters and Topham on that!
Craig
Golf may have once been the bastion of the middle class in England but that is certainly not the case now.
The rise of Arnold Palmer in the late 50’s and early 60’s in the USA started the flood of interest in golf among the young and the general public who started flocking to driving ranges and public courses. That trend has been continued with El Tigre.
But it probably was not until the mid 1980’s that people began seeing golf as accessible in the UK to the every day man. Certainly the players coming to the fore from the home countries and Europe has a lot to do with it. Come the 1990’s and affordable golf courses were quickly becoming the norm in England and advances in equipment made it cheaper to produce and to take up the game. The R and A quickly seized this and made golf more accessible to people, especially juniors, than they had before.
The lesson for racing is not to cut the ties with its traditional past, embrace the good parts but reject the snotty elitism in favor of inclusion and that doesnt mean a drop in standards or a dumbing down as golf has proven.
Craig
There is an answer to this without resorting to showing a horse dying.
When I am calling here in the USA and we have a horse go down and has to be euthanized, I wait until it is over and has been cleared up, ask the TV person to put up a nice shot of the scenery and I just say: "And our deepest sympathies to (name of owner), (name of trainer) and those connected."
The people who want to know can work it out, it means something to the people involved and is a helluva lot more dignified than ignoring it or showing it as seems to be the desire of some people here.
Craig
the Hennessey compared to the Becher Chase is longer,
Give or take a few yards, they’re both 3m2f, the last I checked. Were you thinking of the Topham (2m6f)?
HTH,
gc
Thanks, Jeremy. Yes, I was crossing my wires. Still, I think the other points I have made are valid!
The water jump I noticed this year seems to have changed much since my day!
Craig
