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After Mick Easterby enjoyed watching Shadows Lengthen win at Sedgefield last week, he was interviewed on Atr and said he thought Hoof It would return better than ever this year. Sounded like hes had a small operation (wind?)but Mick seemed revved up about him. Mind you, he looked in especially good form. Both still alive and kicking.
Peter h,
That list sent a shiver of discomfort as that Becher Chase was probably one of my worst calls. Im pretty sure I decked Clan Royal a couple of times and then seem to recall making a mess of an epic finish (amberleigh house btn an inch or two.) early days of in running back then, if at all. God knows the abuse I would have got nowadays. Remember ringing Richard Hoiles on the way home for support. Long journey home that! Funny to see they didnt ask me back, happy days.
Good evening gentlemen,
Just the main points. Today was the last broadcast from the studio as you know it. A new studio will be active in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, the programmes will be broadcast from the track, starting with Folkestone tomorrow. Royal Ascot programmes have always come live from the track and will again do so next week. Good luck to all.ATR doing a preview evening on Monday night, think it’s 5.30 to 8.30, Matt Williams and Gary Obrien working through the week, videos, form, interviews and a few laughs along the way.
Oh dear, I really am garbage. I feel I should contribute something towards any ongoing psychological damage inflicted on you by Doncaster last week; I am going to get Atr to permanantly remove all Doncaster archive to prevent others suffering the same way.
You know Crusty/Jeykll/Hyde, whoever you really are, this platform is a really good spot to engage with racing fans, including those who have a rational dislike of ones work. However I think we should leave our exchange with your earlier admission that you "can’t stand" me rather than accept your similarly recent observation that my Cheltenham commentaries "are excellent and have been widely praised."
I take exception to you presuming how I choose to work, particularly with jockeys safety and wellbeing in doubt. My heart sank when Steven Clements had that horrific fall at Taunton last week; the potential for the very worst news was immediately obvious.
Enough with you. I look forward to reading your future posts which seem strangely centred around commentators and their movements. My attempts to share reasoned thoughts are at an end, however. Good night ,Sir.
A word of warning; I think there are a couple of three or four runner races at Southwell tomorrow; I hope they dont push you over the edge.
Evening Crusty,
As Paul has just pointed out, you are both incorrect and unfair with your criticism of Malcolm; Channel 4 take the ATR feed and have done for ages on Saturdays. Surely if you want to slate anyone, it should be C4 for throwing to the commentary early and/or Thommo for not realizing the potential. Im sure your apology to Malcolm will be heart felt.Sorry that commentary at Doncaster didnt meet your high standards. Im assuming it was Eradicate’s race you are refering to. It would be useful to know what, apart from "reverting to shouting and bellowing,"you would have enjoyed hearing during that race. A list of the horses he beat in the Swinton? Hendersons strike rate in Yorkshire based novice chases?
You are correct about David; an engaging,emerging talent.
Ricky,
I was the commentator that day but apart from running through the card over the public address an hour before the first race, I was only heard during each race. If the originator of this thread was refering to during the race sound, he could well have a problem with me but at other times? I plead not guilty.Its interesting to gauge the reaction to what we did yesterday. My Mum’s friend heard it and thought it was all great fun. She even remembered Ghaanati’s name! A respected Racing Post journalist thought it was a shambles. At the end of the day, a not altogether inaccurate commentary was delivered under one off circumstances.
We thought that in honour of Iasylos’ Golden Jubilee attempt today we would perhaps have the sound of smashing plates to accompany every mention of his name. A recorded Red Arrows flypast for JJ The Jet Plane mentions would also be appropriate, no?
For my final thoughts, I will quote the originator of this thread who wrote, back on 13th May, "This otherwise dismal recession provides an excellent opportunity to make positive, radical changes to the sport." Thats radical with a small "r" clearly. I know I have taken that quote out of its original context but we really don’t like change in this great sport of ours, do we?
Sorry to those who were less than satisfied with the coverage today, in particular Venusian; to state that both myself and Cornelius require a carer was unnecessary and distasteful.
It was rather different to how things are presented 99% of the time but apracing is quite correct in what he says. He who pays the piper etc. The thought of resigning hadn’t really occurred to me.
On 5 Live we have a significantly different audience on a Friday afternoon than on Saturday’s. The Mayo/Kermode film debate which takes place on Friday is one of the most listened to programmes all week. Todays race coverage from Royal Ascot was tailored to ease into the general listen. In simple terms we embraced the slightly "ooohhh" "aaahhh" nature of todays unusual broadcast and got two races live on the air. Whilst Venusian and co were seething, it sounded very much like those in the live audience in Edinburgh were having quite a good time. Hopefully most of our listeners were too but, you can’t please all of the people all of the time.
Given the unique circumstances that prevailed in our little world today and having listened back to the programme, I don’t think racing enthusiasts would have been left in too much doubt about the manner of Ghaanati’s Coronation Stakes victory. Nor Henry Cecils’ 71st Royal Ascot win, nor Takeover Target’s defection from the Golden Jubilee. Nor indeed Michael Hills completing a wonderful day for his recovering father.
We’re back tomorrow, without todays sound effects, and will cover the Golden Jubilee and Wokingham and hopefully more, in the same way as we covered the Queen Anne, The King’s Stand, The St James’s Palace, The Jersey, Windsor Forest , Prince Of Wales’s, The Norfolk, Ribblesdale and the Gold Cup. That, depending on events in South Africa where the Lions play their first test and Silverstone, where excitement reaches boiling point for F1 fans ahead of the Grand Prix. Because Saturday is mostly about sport on 5 Live, just as Friday afternoon is mostly about cinema.
Well done to Mark. He will be absolutely buzzing. Its hard to convey just how much he loves American racing and its really interesting to hear some of the reasons for the appointment. He is always one to step up come the big race and deliver a "performance" and he clearly made a big impact during his trial. Its a great story, real mould breaking stuff and I really wish him well. He put himself in the picture a few years ago by doing a few guest calls under his own steam and in his own time and it goes to show what is possible if you really chase a dream. Real inspirational stuff!!! Well done again Mark.
I quite agree. I still can’t believe how they’ve just dropped it. I always thought it would be one of the staples of the BBC’s sports output. Imagine 15-20 years ago being told that there would be hardly any on BBC – almost unimaginable.
The thing is as well Andy, how much sport has the BBC lost in those 15 or 20 years? Cricket, Rugby, Football, Boxing etc all to varying degrees. You can see various afternoons devoted to such thrillers as indoor bowling or snooker while horse racing coverage has declined from their choice when you could possibly have expected it to increase with the loss of the other sports over the years.
We are told the viewing figures for racing are consistently low yet any criticism of their coverage is ignored and we are told how wonderful it is by Carl Hicks.
Those in charge must really hate the sport.
Good job the likes of O’Sullevan & Bromley aren’t starting out now, there would be no future for them at the BBC.Well, that is what baffles me – the company that ‘produced’ those two Legends of Broadcasting – now has such distaste for the sport. The head of Sport at the BBC must really hate the sport – it’s hardly regular on 5Live either on Saturdays.
Hope you don’t mind me challenging this final line Andy !! I know this is essential a TV debate but the sport gets very regular Saturday coverage on 5 Live, indeed it would be a challenge to find one feature race on a Saturday that hasn’t been covered during my five years on the station and beyond. Add to that extensive midweek coverage year round and I hope you will happily stand corrected Andy?
Best wishes,
John HuntPoint taken John, however, the coverage of the Festivals are fine – no problem at all. But the Saturday just gone did highlight something – I was away at another event so had the radio with me. The Bolton/Liverpool match finished, then the England/Aus Rugby – then over to Cheltenham for the last 2 fences of the Paddy Power – now that isn’t the first time something like that has happened. Yes, it’s better than no coverage, but gives the impression that it’s not really important.
We could go off on an tangent at the way a lot of sports on BBC have been ‘marginalised’ at the altar of the great god of football. Being a public service broadcaster should mean there is a wide range of variety – alas no it’s football 1st, 2nd, 3rd, everything else can be thankful for what coverage it gets. Sorry, but that’s okay for commercial broadcasters, but really the BBC should cover 1-1.5 matches a weekend leaving time for other sports and/or discussion comment.
Sorry, rant over, and welcome to the forum John!!Andy,
I dont want any of this to sound patronising and you are quite right; football is king. But I think your experience last weekend illustrates the strength of 5 Live rather than its weakness. There you are at an event and within a few minutes you have commentary on top class Football, Rugby and Racing ringing in your ears. Where we are constantly unlucky in racing is that so many times on a Saturday afternoon, the race time of the feature race clashes with the conclusion of the early Premiership footbal match. Football will always hold sway we do what we can around that.However, this Saturday is different. There is no early kick off in the football which should free us up nicely for detailed coverage of Kauto Star and also enable us to bring news of Binoculars’ reappearance. The evidence of last Sunday at Cheltenham showed exactly what 5 Live will do for racing, time allowing. Everton v Middlesboro reached halftime just as they jumped off for the Greatwood Hurdle and we gave full commentary from flight number one onwards together with news of what was happening with Sizing Europe and Jered and Hardy at Punchestown. It was lovely to be able to do so much but please remember the timings of other events, especially football, always need to work in our favour.
Best wishes
John HuntThanks for the welcome Rory and sorry about your hearing. I’m afraid I have seen off plenty of sound engineers in my time! Did you see Challenger win the Murphy’s on RUK last week? What a c…..character eh?
I quite agree. I still can’t believe how they’ve just dropped it. I always thought it would be one of the staples of the BBC’s sports output. Imagine 15-20 years ago being told that there would be hardly any on BBC – almost unimaginable.
The thing is as well Andy, how much sport has the BBC lost in those 15 or 20 years? Cricket, Rugby, Football, Boxing etc all to varying degrees. You can see various afternoons devoted to such thrillers as indoor bowling or snooker while horse racing coverage has declined from their choice when you could possibly have expected it to increase with the loss of the other sports over the years.
We are told the viewing figures for racing are consistently low yet any criticism of their coverage is ignored and we are told how wonderful it is by Carl Hicks.
Those in charge must really hate the sport.
Good job the likes of O’Sullevan & Bromley aren’t starting out now, there would be no future for them at the BBC.Well, that is what baffles me – the company that ‘produced’ those two Legends of Broadcasting – now has such distaste for the sport. The head of Sport at the BBC must really hate the sport – it’s hardly regular on 5Live either on Saturdays.
Hope you don’t mind me challenging this final line Andy !! I know this is essential a TV debate but the sport gets very regular Saturday coverage on 5 Live, indeed it would be a challenge to find one feature race on a Saturday that hasn’t been covered during my five years on the station and beyond. Add to that extensive midweek coverage year round and I hope you will happily stand corrected Andy?
Best wishes,
John Hunt
