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SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM AIDAN O’BRIEN VIA LISTENING POST TO RISHI PERSAD
Listen, Ritchie, I’ve been listening to what you’ve all been saying on the Racing Forum and, listen, I promise that, listen, I will listen to you all. Listen, I will listen, so I will — listen, I mean it. Listen, when I speak to Ritchie on the BBC at Ascot next month, listen, I promise not to say "listen" ever again. Listen, I can’t be fairer than that.
Listen, Joseph sends his regards. Listen, any chance of a discount on my mobile phone tariff? My ear’s killing me — listen, it really is. Listen, we’ll go home and see where we go with the mobile phone.A.O’Brien (Mr)
Listen, I might change my mind, so I might, over not saying "listen". Listen, we’ll look at the options and go from there.
Listen, Ritchie, if I hear Aidan O’Brien say "listen" one more time, listen, I’ll take that mobile phone that’s clamped to his ear and, listen, I don’t know what I’ll do, Ritchie, to be sure. Listen, he’s in a good form, so he is. Listen, and so am I, Ritchie.
John Francome, to his credit, made a brave attempt in the early days of the dumbed-down Morning Line to carry on wearing a tie but he must have been beaten into submission and forced to discard it.
By way of a small concession, he does, however, regularly have his specs perched in amongst his hair.
Nick Luck and Simon Holt have valiantly risen to the dumbed-down challenge by wearing a selection of pink and lilac shirts (naturally, with no tie, of course). Nick, of course, continues to wear what appears to be the same pair of jeans every week.
Tanya certainly knows her stuff, I concede, but don’t get me started on the hats she wears while in the "bedding" ring.
I put the mute on or hastily fast-forward when she appears.
Tom Lee proves an able deputy but I wish he would stop talking about "the machine" when referring to the exchanges. Everyone knows he’s borrowed that phrase from the often absent John McCririck, who claimed, wrongly I suspect, to know nothing about new-fangled things such as laptops and exchanges and often referred to "your wretched machine, Female."
The one good thing about the Morning Line now is that, as Tommo is hardly ever on, we don’t get to hear him referring to himself as "Tommo" when going through the charity bets, as in: "Tommo’s gone for number three…, Franks has gone for number five…"
Meanwhile, coming up after the break ….I’m just grateful that, as it was Channel 4, we didn’t see a beaming Tommo run up to one of the horses featured, wave a big microphone in his face and say: "By Jove. I tell you what, that was SOME performance. Well done, Big Feller. Enjoy the moment…. I LOVE it."
Channel 4 also slipped up badly by not arranging a Guest Test for the main expert on the programme, in the style of the Morning Line. And what about organising a nearest-the-hole golf tournament for those involved? What were they thinking of, missing such an opportunity?You’re quite right that the Morning Line has become dull and unimaginative. The whole dumbing-down of the programme is a matter for great regret.
Nick Luck even seems to find the whole thing a bit embarrassing and tiresome now. Certainly, his unfeasibly tight jeans have me cringing. I hate the fact that someone, presumably Andrew Franklin, has told them all to dress down because that is no doubt seen as less formal and what people want at that time of the morning. It’s actually an insult to the viewer.
Mike Cattermole, normally so smart and professional on the afternoon programmes, is the worst, with his scruffy jeans.
What’s wrong with wearing ties now? A lot of the presenters seem uncomfortable with it, notably Richard Hoiles, who previously was easily the smartest member of the team, in his buttoned-up suit, but who has now been compelled to dress down too.
BBC news reporters are just as bad. The casual look has certainly spread.
I knew everyone would defend Tanya and her "bedding" reports. Her popularity is a total mystery to me.Ginger McCain was always great value on television. I used to wait with bated breath for him to let slip his obligatory "bugger" or "bloody" into the conversation when being interviewed by Clare Balding or whoever. There was always the inevitable apology from the interviewer "for any offence caused", with the caveat "but this is live television".
Ginger always had a twinkle in his eye during his fruity comments and I remember, as a young shaver, going to see Red Rum make a personal appearance at Market Rasen racecourse in the 1980s and, on another occasion, at a pub in Market Rasen.
Now, with the passing of Ginger, I can only wait for the equally outspoken Mick Easterby to slip his next swear word in to a Channel 4 interview. He was certainly good value when Channel 4 featured him and Peter Easterby on successive days during the York Ebor festival, although I don’t remember hearing any rude words on those occasions.We visited Ffos Las for the first time on August 25 and were very impressed with what a beautiful course it was. It was in a great setting and, after staying in a £19 Travelodge room off the M4 near Swansea the night before to break up the journey, we followed the signs to the course and had a great day. I had previously visited all 59 courses (leaving aside Great Leighs, which I never managed to visit before it closed — I was waiting for the position of the temporary grandstand to be improved first and, sadly, left it too late).
The staff at Ffos Las (or VORSE Las, as raceday presenter Charlie Parkin insisted on calling it) were very friendly but we ended up paying £120 for meals in the posh restaurant after one of the staff said that the only other places to eat were burger vans. My girlfriend was threatening to give me a hard time if we did not do it properly after travelling from up north.
We did get a great view from the balcony outside the restaurant by paying the £120 and could look down from above at the winner’s circle from the balcony at the other side of the restaurant afterwards, without having to move too far from the restaurant. The meals were very good quality, too (just managed to bolt mine down before the first race) and you got a race card each included.
It would be an absolute tragedy if the course closed. Let’s hope they can get enough fixtures to keep it viable. Time will tell whether Dai Walters is bluffing in threatening to close the course.
This is my first day as a member of the forum but I have followed similar postings for some time with interest.I think Mike Cattermole and Emma Spencer make a really good team. Both are very professional but I’m wondering whether Mike gets paid by the number of times he says "Emma" during their chats and links on Channel 4 programmes.
Perhaps he gets a £10 bonus every time he says "Emma" and a £20 special Brucie Bonus for saying "Emm" and a £50 special achievement award for "Emms". If he IS getting these special payments, he must be worth a fortune by now.
Emma must surely be getting special merit payments for how long she can keep a fixed smile in place for the longest period of time.
