Exeter Commentary

rorydelargy

rorydelargy

At the Start
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I'll start this here, as he is an occasional poster on TRF, but I must say that Lee McKenzie's calls at Exeter today were poor. He does come across as a very nice bloke, and used to be perfectly adequate, but has morphed into a combination of "shouty" Johnston and the Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show. I'm getting a bit fed up with his bizarre mid to late race crescendos, which include no information other than an increase in pitch and decibel level. Am I alone?

In saying that, he's not as bad as the execrable Graham Goode and the hugely error-prone Dave Smith, who many will be delighted to hear are on their last legs and will be replaced by December 1st.
 
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Bar Holt and Hoiles I think the standard of commentators is really desperate. I watched Exeter today and completely agree with your description.
 
There's a McKenzie commentary on a race where several horses come to grief over the last couple of fences on You Tube, a more over the top shouting performance you'd struggle to find, unfortunately I couldn't find it on there!
 
I don't think Thommo's a bad race caller at all - thank God he spares us these operatic histrionics. Lee's a lovely fellow, good fun, but he's got bitten by the shrieking bug and was awful today - so much so that I hit the mute several times. John Hunt is the one who makes my ears bleed. He has a naturally very harsh voice and, once going at full bore, could probably take out Taleban positions at four miles.

But everyone is shouty now - true, our news reports are yet to be shrieked at us, but I find a lot of people SHOUT at you instead of just talk to you. Three weekends ago, I thought I'd need reconstructive ear surgery after two all-shouting, all-bawling sisters celebrated their other sister's 70th birthday. None of them are deaf, but I left shell-shocked after the racket.

Simon Holt was calling Plumpton yesterday, where we locals got pretty worked up on behalf of Gemma Gracey-Davison's two rides (one win, one second on the evergreen 13 y.o. SPIDER BOY). But he didn't try to outshout the crowd or scream hysterically the bleedingly obvious results we all could see.

I'm exhausted by it all. Bring back Sir Peter!
 
krizon said:
I don't think Thommo's a bad race caller at all - thank God he spares us these operatic histrionics. Lee's a lovely fellow, good fun, but he's got bitten by the shrieking bug and was awful today - so much so that I hit the mute several times. John Hunt is the one who makes my ears bleed. He has a naturally very harsh voice and, once going at full bore, could probably take out Taleban positions at four miles.

But everyone is shouty now - true, our news reports are yet to be shrieked at us, but I find a lot of people SHOUT at you instead of just talk to you. Three weekends ago, I thought I'd need reconstructive ear surgery after two all-shouting, all-bawling sisters celebrated their other sister's 70th birthday. None of them are deaf, but I left shell-shocked after the racket.

Simon Holt was calling Plumpton yesterday, where we locals got pretty worked up on behalf of Gemma Gracey-Davison's two rides (one win, one second on the evergreen 13 y.o. SPIDER BOY). But he didn't try to outshout the crowd or scream hysterically the bleedingly obvious results we all could see.

I'm exhausted by it all. Bring back Sir Peter!
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I think Lee could take the hint and try and curb it a bit..constructive criticism is a good thing..at end of day if the shouting is his only prob its not hard to correct..whereas GG..thats whole different ball game:whistle:
 
Some of the callers have brought novices with them from time to time, to school them. I just hope that if they ever do take over (no signs yet), that they will be taught that accuracy and clarity are all racegoers - onsite or at home - are interested in. Banter with the tv presenters if you must, but leave the screaming to the massed hordes or, in the case of Kempton AW, those six guys down at the front.
 
I agree - Mackenzie also has this awful habit of feeling he has to list all the horses in order and then misses some important move - by the time he is on the horse in 9th , someone has made a cut for home or is making rapid headway and he has missed it .

Thommo is execrable - he just blithers on about Dettori much of the time.

I like the callers that do not draw attention to themselves like Enzo and Martin Harris .
 
Simon Holt is top class, the best by a country mile.

I quite like Mackenzie to be honest, his OTT finishes amuse me. Ammunition's win the other week was something else.
 
Ardross said:
I agree - Mackenzie also has this awful habit of feeling he has to list all the horses in order and then misses some important move - by the time he is on the horse in 9th , someone has made a cut for home or is making rapid headway and he has missed it .

Thommo is execrable - he just blithers on about Dettori much of the time.

I like the callers that do not draw attention to themselves like Enzo and Martin Harris .
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yes going through every horse with about 3f to go is so annoying..and isn't a good ploy at all..we want to know whats happening mid pack to front at that stage

I think that is more annoying than the shouting sometimes
 
I don't think Kri's eardrums were helped by some loud mouthed tone deaf Yorkshireman at Plumpton yesterday,now who could that be?

Can't agree on Thommo.

There is no need to name drop every Z list celebrity that has a runner when he is commentating or to mention the fact that 'x' horse is the favourite every two seconds.
And don't start me on 'that's a photo,one for the judge' when it's clear that the winner has won by at least a neck.

Surely he & Aussie Jim have to go next if they cull two per year.

New kid on the block to replace those two is David Fitzgerald who has had a couple of goes commentating on AWT races in recent days and I thought did ok.

All I want is a good,clear concise commentary,telling me what is happening in the race without any pointless fillers and the caller deafening me even further.
 
Nothing, nothing is more annoying than Thommo's "it's the pinnnnnn uppppppp girllllllllllll" when Hayley Turner looks like riding a winner.

Jim McGrath is a joke even within the commentating game. He has to have people with him to point things out.
 
Hanagan the Managan is awful,still he may have to change it to the 'champ' after the weekend.
 
God help us if Mystic Meg's on duty and his performance at Brighton in June when operating in a raceday presenter type role was certainly something different.
 
Steve T said:
There's a McKenzie commentary on a race where several horses come to grief over the last couple of fences on You Tube, a more over the top shouting performance you'd struggle to find, unfortunately I couldn't find it on there!
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You might have to log in to watch..... HE'S GONE!
 
IS: did you see him (Thommo) running the poor camerawoman, Donna, absolutely legless? She was worn out at the end of the day, but the crew actually like him a lot, as do a lot of the general racegoing public, as against curmudgeonly old farts like us on here. (Or even curmudgeonly young farts.)

Arkers: I've had a hearing test today and I'm told I should be all right in a couple of weeks, when the ringing noise stops. Next time I'm going round the track with you, I'm borrowing ear defenders off one of the horses! How did the pix come out, by the way? We certainly found some great spots for them. Top o'the hill will be my favourite for a long time now.
 
Thommo makes laugh tbh in a similar way to David Brent..its cringeworthy but funny...he's good for the game outside of us picky gets like Kri says.

when he slipped over on the slopes of Chester a few years ago it was TV gold for me
 
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I like Thommo. He is what he is and his commentary if funny. "Where is the favourite". Where indeed.
 
Oooh, there's a lovely thought - a David Brent presenter! Mind you, I thought we'd nearly got one today with Bob Cooper constantly finishing Paul Nicholls's sentences for him. Ask a question, and don't wait for the end of the reply. Nice. I don't know why ATR bothers with him, he's so blithery and loses track of what he's talking about.

By the way, - wowee, I thought Gary O'Brien was going to end up battering his constant companion at Fairyhouse today over the Davy Russell ride! Jeez, talk about terrier-with-a-rat stubborness - he just would not let go of the opinion that Davy should've PU rather than have ridden the horse a wee bit tenderly, notwithstanding that it'd stumbled several times, lost its action, and was in the final race before the meeting was pulled due to unsafe ground. We had thirty minutes of having our ears bent by the same remarks from him and his co-presenter (whose name I always forget - ex-jockey), missing the start at Chepstow, for goodness sake. I've never seen 'The Voice of Ireland' quite so belligerent about his view being right 'on behalf of the punter' who, he implied, should be taken into account before the safety of the horse, the rider, and the happiness of connections. Hell's teeth, Gary - have a stiff drink, dearie, and calm down!
 
Kevin O'Ryan is a smug prick. He was a useless jockey as well. He has been on the end of the Irish mob of punters holding losing dockets when on his way back in from the course and that is probably behind his stance today.
 
Ah, thanks for reminding me who he is and what he was, Gears. In fairness, he did explain why Davy Russell would've held the horse together for a bit, although when they replayed the race (shot through what appeared to be encroaching fog), I didn't think it really 'stumbled' - might've just done a false step, but then so many do once ground cuts up a bit. However, the horse never even got a weeny tap on its botty once they were onto safer ground, so there's probably a bad taste left in the mouth of the losing ticket holders. If I owned it, I'd be glad he got it back home even 3rd, in one piece. If I'd gone in large, I'd have wanted to have seen some firmer late action. But there we are, that's the beauty of it all!

Why does ATR have KO'R on board if he was useless? Isn't there a better retired jock who could co-present with Gary? I like Gary a huge amount - his contentiousness today was really quite strange. I thought he was about two seconds off clocking O'Ryan.

Bar: it was his ride on FIRST LIEUTENANT - sorry, I said the race before the abandonment. In fact, it's two races before, the nervous hurdle at terrible odds like 10-11 or something. The horse was going quite strongly until in the back straight it begins to fade back. Unfortunately, the field's too distant and the weather too bad to see details, but O'Ryan avers the horse stumbles three times and that would be enough for Russell to take it easy. Gary felt it would've been better to have PU and explained on return that the horse was not handling the ground. That's where the two of them began a bit of a concerted effort to batter the other into submission, O'Ryan going quite red in the face, and Gary's mouth getting tighter than a tortoise's arse. Pity, really, that they didn't make a quick close on each other, and a rolling brawl. It would've livened up the afternoon a bit.
 
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Gary O'Brien is a class apart and he would make a lot of people look cluseless. He does not have to try hard with Kevin O'Ryan. At the end of the the horse was not ridden to obtain the best possible finishing position and punters are entitled to be seething.


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