Arse Cup

Arkwright said:
Er Jim,Chapoturgeon is a grey so how the f**k can it be Watch My Back who fell
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Poor indeed - his constant assertion that Chaninbar "stole the race" is up for some debate too - as far as i could see he went very fast indeed with Pret A Thou and the field just struggled to lie up.
 
rorydelargy said:
The Clare Balding baiting on here is pathetic - that is possibly the most ignorant comment I've ever read.
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I assume you mean this and not all comments (i.e. - mine) related to Ms Balding? I couldn't care less whether she prefers women, men or giraffes - I think (in contrast to many it seems) she is a rank bad presenter, whose tone is condescending to those with even a mild knowledge of the sport (yes, i am more than aware of the tone BBC are aiming at) and offers absolutely nothing in terms of charisma, racing knowledge or generating excitement for the raceday at hand. I personally believe her family connections have paid off handsomely for her - there are many better, more suitable presenters available. Racing should not feel the need to connect - no other sport panders, or attempts to pander to those who are not genuinely interested in the sport (cricket the best example here).
 
Hamm said:
I assume you mean this and not all comments (i.e. - mine) related to Ms Balding? I couldn't care less whether she prefers women, men or giraffes - I think (in contrast to many it seems) she is a rank bad presenter, whose tone is condescending to those with even a mild knowledge of the sport (yes, i am more than aware of the tone BBC are aiming at) and offers absolutely nothing in terms of charisma, racing knowledge or generating excitement for the raceday at hand. I personally believe her family connections have paid off handsomely for her - there are many better, more suitable presenters available. Racing should not feel the need to connect - no other sport panders, or attempts to pander to those who are not genuinely interested in the sport (cricket the best example here).
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I wasn't referring to your previous post Hamm - that is a case of a validly held opinion. I think you're enormously wrong in your assessment above though!

Eswarah - there's a difference between voicing an opinion and being ignorant. I'm not asking that everyone should love her style, but the suggestion that Clare Balding knows nothing about the country's top steeplechasers is simply ridiculous.
 
Over a period of years Balding has got away with being the Queen of the soundbite. She had some excellent training from Inverdale on 5 Live's Wimbledon coverage. I doubt that she has much more than a very average knowledge of racing, tennis, rugby league or whatever other sports she presents. Unfortunately, it appears that she is the kind of presenter that the BBC somehow see as the future. These days the likes of Julian Wilson wouldn't last five minutes.

The number of presenters/hangers-on being used today could easily have been trimmed in half.
 
You know everyone's selections have gone East and West when all the forum's experts can do is bitch about presenters!
 
Maybe working as a presenter on the BBC requires him to look like a muppet, dress like a muppet and talk like a muppet, even though he isn't a muppet.

The muppet I had in mind was Richard Pitman.
 
Balding as a presenter is fine; she is not an expert about horse racing. I am not claiming she is, neither would I think would she.I don't actually have a problem with her at all. Just because she is related to people who work in the industry doesn't make her an expert. It is the programme makers I have the beef with. She is just doing what she has been told to do. She is a presenter; she presents programmes which are are sports, and dogs, and countryside activities. She is the link person between those who are supposed to be experts. She is the 'waffle' between the facts. If she says IC looks great, there will be 30 people within a 40 yard radius who will disagree with her. She as everyone else is entitled to her opinion. The problem with the BBC is that they have too many so called experts, who actually are not, who comment about 4 horses when 10 are running because the programme trying to be a lot of things to a lot of people, and not just horse racing and they are using peopl, like McGrath, who are past their sell by date.
 
There is some serious nonsense being talked here - Balding was a leading lady rider , indeed if I remember rightly she was champion amateur for a year or two . She was born , bred and brought up in racing and is extremely knowledgeable. I think what is being confused here is her ability and knowledge and the dumbed down presentational style that the BBC requires her to adopt.

She is very much an expert.
 
She was a successful jockey, albeit from a rather privileged background.

She is a very good presenter. I think the producers and directors are doing her a disservice by trying to pander to the non-enthusiast.
 
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