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Yes well done to Mark for getting the Churchill Downs Job.
Like everyone on here from the UK and particular John i have heard is calls for many years and he always sounds enthusiastic when doing a race and has covered many big events from The Derby to his particular favourite which is probably the Foxhunters at Cheltenham.
I have spoken to him a few times and in particular at Kelso last year on Borders National day and found he is an easy to chat to bloke who just loves racing and if anything will even enjoy calling the Steeplechase that they have at Churchill on the Thusday before the Derby.
Aswell as USA racing he likes French,Channel Islands,Arabian and Point to Point so that is pretty much a huge variety in racing terms.
Once again Mark well done and give it much the best you can.
Unfortunately that Triple Crown series of Steeplechase races isn’t run any more. Belmont now has a Grade 1 at the end of September.
I hope that Keeneland may let Mark call the Grade 1 there.
I hope that he gets a good send off from the London Racing Club. He did a great job all those years he Chaired the meetings.
Why are these jumpers so chuffing fragile?
What? Jumper? Is he going to race on chases?
I can’t wait to see his first race!
He is a French Bred Irsh trained jumps horse. Not Barbaro’s Brother.
Parting Glass Racing-based in Saratoga is very good. Karakorum Racing and Castle Village Stables also really good- if it’s New York racing you’re keen on.
Dee Tee Stables is also good fun and is run by Steve Byk the host of the Attheracesandbeyond internet radio show and owner of the derbytrail.com site.
If you’ve got a larger amount of money and want to go for a syndicate that has a good chance of Graded runners then i’d say either West Point or Centennial.
A big plus point for a lot of the syndicates who have a string based in Saratoga, during the summer, is that they tend to own or rent houses in town where the owners either stay at a reduced rate or for free rather than having to fork out in excess of $300 a night
What’s the highest he has finished in Sports Personality of the Year? Did he make the final shortlst the year he won 289?
There isn’t a British sportsman, other than perhaps Phil Taylor, who has dominated their sport over the last 12 years+
I hope when he retires, and hopefully that’s a long way off, he is given some kind of Special Award
Meydan were keen to host for 2011.
I’m sure they were but surely that’s an impossibility? I’m sure others know how exactly Breeders’ Cup makes its money but don’t they take a huge portion of the handle and the host track keeps everything it makes from food and drink etc. Breeders Cup would end up with nothing-although I did see today that Emirates are just about to fly non-stop from LA to Dubai which may be another reason why it might be on the cards. Hong Kong I thought wanted 2010 or 11 as well?
Perhaps a split European/North American bid might be the answer. A European track aligning itself and offering to host the 5 Turf events with the American track hosting the other 9. Perhaps going in with Oaklawn Park-the biggest American track that can’t host a Breeders’ Cup-or Turfway Park
I can’t comment on the overall TV coverage because I’m over there and watched no content on TVG and HRTV in the week before Breeders’ Cup but have to say this Ryder Cup atmosphere seems like something that PR and media have dreamed up-because it seemed non-existant to me.
I spent 4 mornings at the track from 5am and found no-one trying to belittle the foreign connections or pick holes in the form of different horses-mainly asking questions. The number of Americans wanting to go racing in Europe is on the increase since both TVG and HRTV have shown racing every day for around 2 years.
There wasn’t a single moment in the 2 days of racing where I felt I was spectating in a Ryder Cup type event-and I even asked some of the writers who had been to the Ryder Cup weeks earlier and they commented that not only was that atmosphere non-existant at Santa Anita but they had the times of their lives in Kentucky.
Not sure about the "England" thing but it has always surprised me that a horse is listed in a racecard as (GB) but Graded races are always listed as ENG-even the Scottish Derby! If that hasn’t been changed surely it’s time to change that to GB as well.
As for the World Championships thing. Think they added that around 2001 or so. It was probably a marketing ploy and most American racing fans weren’t happy about it at the time. Breeders’ Cup have looked at the possibility of an overseas venue and I believe that 31 tracks-11 from overseas were written to and asked to submit bids for 09,10 and 11.
It will be back at Santa Anita on the Pro-Ride surface next year and heads to Churchill Downs in 2010 and I guess that Belmont Park may host in 2011-although they appear to have been shafted out of hosting in 2010.
The real flaw of the event this year which became slightly evident last year and now is a huge problem-is the spiralling cost of ticket prices. In the early years of the event seats cost pretty much what they did on other days at the host track. Probably $2,50 or so. By 2003 seats at Santa Anita’s Grandstand-around Section N were $50. Now the same seats were $200 for both days!! which left huge chunks of the top tier of the Grandstand empty-i watched the Classic in a row with probably no people 100 seats either side of me. For around the same price as a pair of Grandstand tickets for the 2 days-you can buy over 20 Grandstand passes for the whole of the 36 Saratoga meet.
There are also not enough things for regular fans to go and do and i’m afraid that many believe that the ramped up ticket prices for the many are funding the entertainment of the few. All sorts of Breeders’ Cup events for the few-including a party with Maroon 5 playing live for about 45 minutes…. What’s happened to the Fan Fest which was a huge event that anyone could go to? What happened to those superb little earpiece radios they sold at Monmouth for the first time last year?
Why’s it not on tv today? It’s not on Racing UK, channel 4, or bbc 1 or bbc 2, bbc 1 has Wimbledon, so you can let them off there, but bbc 2 has some absolute tosh music programmes!?
Royal Ascot is on BBC2 from 215 until 445.
Which means that 24 of the 30 races from the meet will be shown live on the BBC
Agreed with too much fashion and that Sherwood shouldn’t be on at all-but perhaps it’s a small price to pay when you consider how much coverage the BBC put on over the 5 days. Must be in the 16-18 hour range in total.
Yes I agree that do we need all 5 Royal processions-and that showing the 6th race instead would be a trade off that most of us would sign up to.
But despite Royal Processions, James Sherwood, other distractions etc-perhaps we should think instead that we’re very lucky.
Last Saturday Breeders’ Cup/Dubai World Cup winner Curlin made his 1st start after Dubai in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs. Normally a $750,000 race the purse was boosted to $1 Million because Curlin was there and there is always a good undercard with Graded and other Stakes races
The race was not shown on national television.
A lot of other big days are and besides the BC and the 3 Triple Crown races-racefans sit in terror watching Arena Football, Little League Baseball, College Tiddlywinks…. praying that these games don’t go into overtime and they get the dreaded announcement that "the horse racing (which probably only has an hour slot anyway) will follow the completion of the game"
I can think of a few times that our schedules have been messed around with to accomodate other sports. The 1996 Derby was moved to be run during Half-Time of the Euro 1996 opening game between England and Switzerland and the Cheveley Park was held at a strange time for a few years because of a certain persons diatribe at Labour Party Conference
But basically compared to American viewers "you’ve never had it so good"
Enough said about James Sherwood.
Other than wall to wall racing in the for the next 2 months-one of the things i’m looking forward to is not seeing Adrian Chiles and Julia Bradbury on television nearly every day.
The One Show
Watchdog
The Apprentice
Wainwright Walks
Match of the Day 2
Royal Ascot
Some travel programme she doesHave I missed any out?!?
Well we now know that Curlin is banned from racing in New York-so the Man O’ War Stakes on the Turf and both of the Grade 1s on the dirt at Saratoga and the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont in October are all off the agenda.
If they don’t want to head west and test him on the Polytrack in the Pacific Classic-then really a switch to turf with a 1st run or two at Arlington Park is looking one of the few options.
The prospect of an attempt at the Arc has probably increased-but what are the rules about licencing owners in France?
I hope so too.
More money’s always useful At least we know he’ll be handled better than the woeful way that Deep Impact was trained up to the Arc.
I made a packet that day. How about you?
I’m surprised that the BBC haven’t gone down the Wimbledon and Open Golf route and offered a selection of things to watch using the Red Button.
We could have 3 1/2 hours of fashion only or 3 1/2 hours of racing only.
If he comes, he loses. Sheer arrogance to think he can translate dirt form to top class turf.
Obviously our dictionaries contain different explanations for the word arrogance.
They are going to try him probably in a Grade 1 there first. Then they are going to come over and train up to the Prix Foy. A failure at both points will lead them not to pursue the challenge any further.
And they really have a big advantage over most other American challengers coming over to Europe-in that the trainers brother is an Arc de Triomphe winning jockey and was based in Chantilly for years.
Surely arrogance would be to rubbish your opponents and turn up only 3-4 days before the event?
If Curlin comes over for the Arc, how difficult will he find the transition of the American way of training and stabling to what happens over here?
They obviously have an Ace up their sleeve in that Cash knows every blade of grass at Longchamp and in Chantilly but as for stabling is there an equivalent stable in Chantilly (i don’t know the stable locations at all) to the one in Newmarket where the American horses go-or is Curlin going to have to go onto the public highway to get to the gallops etc?
