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Not sure how you found Balding ‘entertaining’ Gingertipster. Can you explain?
For me “The Balding Effect” drove audiences down wherever she plied her trade.
That’s true ID, from Donny and Newmarket as well. Quite an even split between the two TV company’s.
Remember the days when we had both BBC and ITV racing on together.
From memory BBC had the bigger meetings Royal Ascot, Grand National, Cheltenham, but did ITV have the Derby?There was obviously no internet to analyse and discuss everything then as we do nowadays, but I’m sure the programmes then were informative as they needed to be. There was a good mix of everything and there was nothing that people took too much umbridge about. The programmes worked on both sides, though the BBC had a bit better quality coverage, something it is sadly lacking in ALL programmes now.
It all ‘went wrong’ for me when ITV ended their coverage leaving Balding and Carson on BBC as a double act. Balding, who sought clinical perfection in interviewing and presenting skills, alongside little Willie Carson offering that high pitched something of a laugh. Something switched then from the emphasis of the racing to the presenters and this has carried on to the current day.
When BBC too ended it’s coverage, Balding moved to the new Channel 4 racing coverage, continued her same dominant presence and viewers continued to turn off. The chemistry was not there.
While the ‘chemistry’ is better on ITV than C4, I still think the coverage or programme is short to where it could and should be.
ITV racing could well do revisiting coverage from both BBC and ITV from thirty forty years ago. It was simple, uncomplicated but popular, and it worked. I can imagine the budgets were much smaller too.
God knows how much the payroll costs ITV for all those people presenting on their programme.
But throwing as many bodies as you can at something does not guarantee success.That’s brilliant apracing.
My late Dad always backed Norton’s Coin, but didn’t think he was worth doing in the Gold Cup! He wasn’t pleased! He rarely ever swore, but did that day.
Mind you, he had a whole shilling on Foinavon in the 67 National.
ITV big some horses up so much, if anyone beats them it leaves the occasion a bit underwhelmed.
It shouldn’t be like that. Too much Chamberlain “only 3,2,1 hours to go to the big race” and mentions what they think is the key horse time and time again. If I was an owner with another horse in the race I’d be pretty pissed off. And if I won I would go up to Chamberlain and say thank you, you’ve been banging on about such and such horse, you put the mockers on it, there are other horses too.
Too biased, I can imagine they make some other horses and owners the bad guys if their ‘favourite’ is beaten.Yes the public likes champions, but let the public decide not you on TV who we should be liking or cheering on.
It’s just like the football pundits who bang on about City, United, Liverpool etc, and when they get beaten by a ‘lesser team’, it must have been because those mentioned had on ‘off day’, not because the lesser team played so well.
gamble’s last sentence is particularly true, trying to compare decades where for one thing the technology around now provides interviews at home very easily.
I used to like hearing John Francome with just a couple of presenters alongside, that’s all it needed, that’s all the chat required.
Now, it’s relentless and it seems someone has a big budget out there to throw at getting as many people on the programme as they can.
ITV perhaps have got a quest for perfection, but perfection is not required. I remember watching Balding and it was so polished, but it was all about the presenting and interview skills, it killed BBC racing. That quest of perfection.
Remember the days of John Tyrell and his voice which sounded like he had one tooth in his head and the results were written by hand. Loved it! So simple, but earthy with no perfection seeking about it.Thank goodness for the fast forward and rewind buttons, I’m just not interested in all the chat. Even the commentator Hoiles doesn’t come up for air. Too much detail!
That’s the problem with ITV racing, just how many presenters do they need to throw at a programme?
Yes because of the sheer number there will be a few that people like, but also because of that number many that people won’t. It’s flooded with them!
No disrespect but there are too many Irish lads on there. I used to love it when coverage would switch to The Curragh or somewhere over there and you would hear the voices of Michael O’Hare etc. Gave it’s own unique TV. As mentioned Murtagh came over like a wailing cat ‘going up the heel’, while on other days we have Fitzgerald’s tone which all I can hear is ‘blarney blarney blarney’.
I love Irish people but sorry I think in this case for racing over here we need less presenters for this reason as well. Picking on accents, even Cumani is out of place she should do the fashion bit. You can hear her voice, but can’t hear what’s she is saying as you focus on the hoity toity.
In this ever changing world where sometimes change is made for changes sake, while we are here I do wonder if the Derby should be run on a Sunday.
Oaks on Saturday as it always was.
I think a day out at for the Derby on a Sunday would revive the race somewhat. Just writing this on a Sunday morning where things are quieter would give me focus for the race more later.
Too much else going on on a Saturday.I also think that people are just too busier too nowadays, technology has seen to that! My working life we were pretty busy in the 70’s and 80’s, but nothing like there is now with the invention of emails, blackberry devices etc which has meant people never really switch off from their jobs, even on holiday.
It would be harder to relax or get that time off on Wednesday now. Sunday can still be busy if you want it to, but is the quieter day. Some would then say leave it be so people can recharge.
And that’s the ‘trouble’ BCK, moving to a Saturday competes with a number of other sports. The fanbase or coverage is diluted. A lot of racing fans are fans of other sports as well.
Having a big race midweek more or less guarantees greater unrivalled coverage, taking all the focus and limelight.
Yes it’ll become as boring as Formula 1.
Seems that every sport is undergoing changes, whether for good or bad. The world is quite a different place to thirty/forty years ago.
It seems before covid however attending racing was as popular as it’s ever been. People have adapted just as humans have had to adapt to survive through their lives. We get used to it.
At present as above I think the biggest danger is one set of runners winning everything, not good for the sport just as it’s made F1 hard to watch.
Talking of lotteries in your last sentence, imagine one of the races is a sweepstake of sorts where during the week entries are bought at outlets and online resulting in huge million pound prizes for many winning tickets.
Now wouldn’t that feature race attract a lot of interest for the programme.
Forget the ITV 7 and £50,000. This could make twenty millionaires each and every week.
It would dwarf everything else.Probably something the programme is crying out for, something bigger than the presenters.
The name is one of my earliest memories when I got into racing. Just mentioned his name a few days ago on the ITV racing thread alongside Brigadier Gerard.
Hoiles has become ‘funny’ at the end of races. Totally not his character, it sounds as if he is having a go at someone, like a heated argument with the missus. The voice goes from boring to shouty, but the shouty is well, not the best.
Bring back the weekdays of John Tyrel, John Rickman, Brigadier Gerard, Joe Mercer.
I wonder back in those days would we have been so critical, or just accepted what was fed to us. I am sure however the presenters would not have been so dominant, and just let the spectacle of the afternoon occur without analysing absolutely everything.While on this forum there is a mixture of those liking or not liking ITV Racing.
I don’t use Twitter or anything like that, but I wondered what the general consensus outside of here was about the programme?
I can’t even stand the opening music. Makes me cringe.Jaywalker – Survival!
I don’t know if it’s the pandemic but I’m losing interest fast in watching racing as a whole. I don’t know if it’s the ITV team prattling on for 3 hours or so.
When I go racing, I enjoy the day, enjoy the atmosphere I don’t need anyone commentating telling me this and that. Yes there are fountains of knowledge out there, but where do you stop.
It’s like football horse racing does need the ‘fans’, the atmosphere, these are more important than a host of commentators, ITV seemed to have created a big luvvie team looking after themselves on a huge payroll. They even had Lucy Verasamy at the beginning providing the forecast for the afternoon. I can see that ploy was to try and attract non racing fans perhaps but having 12 people there at a time on occasions it’s just one big hurrah. Jobs for the ‘boys’.
If you flood enough people on a programme, it must be good or they think so!ITV, they have thrown bodies at the programme thinking if they cover absolutely every angle it should provide coverage that people will want to tune into.
Truth is, how many people have recorded the racing, then when coming to watching it just fast forward to watch the races. Quite a few I’m sure!
Just goes to show despite ITV attempts, to the viewers the racing IS more important than the presenters. The presenters are just there to fill the bits in between races.
So you can try as much as you like, to the viewers the horses and racing are the main attraction, so ITV might as well trim their presenter budget considerably.
They don’t need more than 3 on there in one programme, not 12!
