Cheltenham Coverage

They finally remembered the Albert Bartlet, as the runners are making their way down to post.

What incredible coverage!
 
I wish people would stop bashing C4 coverage, we genuinely should feel lucky - name me a single other sport which has live coverage every single week on free-to-air tv?

That said, Nick Luck must put SO many people off racing, with all this talk of racing for change etc imagine what impression his toffy-nosed, arrogant, sarcastic face must give to the general public?
 
Woppit said:
I wish people would stop bashing C4 coverage, we genuinely should feel lucky - name me a single other sport which has live coverage every single week on free-to-air tv?
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I couldn't care less if they were on every day of the week - if they dish out trash we'll say it. Could you imagine Wimbledon, Silverstone, Champions League etc being dumbed down and covered to the extent of what BBC and C4 have done to racing? Appealing to the masses my arse - keep the actual fans interested.
 
That guy with the cigar was a prick.

I may not watch for the next 20 minutes, can't deal with this build up.
 
That's wrong Galileo, and i think you know it - they have to strike a balance between genuine, current fans and making it accesible to the uninitiated. If terrestrial racing wasn't fun and accesible people wouldn't get interested.

Anyway i think wimbledon coverage for example is less technical and features less interesting interviews, geusts etc than C4 racing.
 
Woppit said:
That's wrong Galileo, and i think you know it - they have to strike a balance between genuine, current fans and making it accesible to the uninitiated. If terrestrial racing wasn't fun and accesible people wouldn't get interested.

Anyway i think wimbledon coverage for example is less technical and features less interesting interviews, geusts etc than C4 racing.
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I am a tennis fan 12 months of the year and the Wimbledon coverage BBC come out with does just what you say - strikes the right balance between tennis fans and keeping those less interested also engaged.

Channel4 does not even bother - it has dumbed down to a ridiculous extent and adds nothing to the festival. Were it not for Holt I would not even turn from RUK.
 
What do you think would make it better? Or should be taken away? I must say I do find they overdo the emotional things with jockeys looking misty-eyed and serious.
 
That is all very well Woppit but I don't think that the interview with the Vicar was remotely relevent. The features between the races on Channel 4 this week have been awful. There was nothing in them to encourage those who are "uninitiated" to become regular fans.
 
How endless a build-up do you want, or need? Racing adherents will have followed the horses throughout the year - they know where they're trained, who's going to ride them, and probably the most ardent will have every nuance of ratings, going preferences and other arcana on their Excel spreadsheets. If the Festival is going to essentially receive nonstop days of free advertising (because that's what it amounts to), then concentrate on the main races' favourites, visit them for a look round the yards and a quick, insightful chat with their trainers, meet their adoring grooms, and have a very brief chat with their jockeys. End of - woefully irrelevant reminiscing by has-beens over dinners, early morning rambles (in all senses) round the gallops, twitting on about how good this or that looks, etc., do absolutely nothing to entrance newbies, and just bore the knickers off the knowledgeable.

It's the raceday itself which sells - or doesn't sell - to the 'general public'. I doubt that Cheltenham needs to sell itself, any more than Aintree, Royal Ascot, or Glorious Goodwood. People who don't usually go racing go to these events to be part of a huge, sociable crowd - something to tell their friends/impress the neighbours, whatever, or just to try something new. Plus, there's enormous hospitality uptake at these events - local and not-so-local companies will have been bombarded by the courses' Sales & Marketing people with e-mails, letters, and cold calling for months, as well as getting slots on local radio to keep up the commercial pressure. There's no need to keep wasting time on fawning 'interviews' which reveal absolutely nothing.
 
Which is why everyone should email both RUK & C4 and complain about the lack of horses during the build-up.
 
I like Nick Luck but for feck sake he has talked 3 hours straight like Alaistar Down writes - it can be a bit much.
 
I spent half of RUK's coverage of the race looking at a support vehicle, and the angle they had of Kauto's first mistake was from behind the fence, so all you could see was Ruby bobbing around on the far side. Very odd.
 
Why must there be a feature between every race?

What is wrong with actually looking at the horses in in the paddock in real time, not just showing a few of them just as the field is actually lining up at the start?

Once they've shown the paddock, then they can have a chat with Tom, Dick or 'Arry, before turning their attention to the real business.
 
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