TV coverage

Surprised Simon Clare didn't put himself in at a mischievous 3/1 to try and draw some money onto him

Never quite sure where a presenter and a contributor cross over?

Stupid book anyway. Pair John McCrirrick with Katy Hopkin and been done with
 
Ant and Dec probably aren't a bad guess the amount they do! . Losing horses and jockeys get eaten by the others....

They'd do better to get Luke and jason to present it all....
 
Last edited:
an capall said:
Turned on ML this morning. Great - Lizzie Kelly, bright, articulate, opinionated, professional, multi-dimensional new face. Successfully jockey, university student.

1. Persad makes some kind of joke regarding using her whip on Fitzgerald.
2. Fitzgerald makes some convoluted comment about using her status as 'just a girl who knows nothing' to fool the other jockeys at the start.
3. Reading tweets, Persad opens with the fact that many of the correspondents are looking for dates with Ms Kelly.

They should just get Sid James and Kenneth Williams impersonators to run the thing. How the feck will this stone age mysoginy get new young viewers?
Click to expand...

I take it you weren't watching on Boxing Day then when she won on Tea For Two? They showed a replay from her headcam whilst making some reference to her having an orgasm because she was shouting so much. Think it was Cunningham.

I see Inverdale is in the betting, the king of chauvinism!
 
TheBear said:
I take it you weren't watching on Boxing Day then when she won on Tea For Two? They showed a replay from her headcam whilst making some reference to her having an orgasm because she was shouting so much. Think it was Cunningham.

I see Inverdale is in the betting, the king of chauvinism!
Click to expand...

They made reference to the tweet which she made after Tea For Two won it's previous race, which said simply "ORGASMIC". Any inference from the shouting was entirely your own (and mine), the presenters didn't voice any link between the two.

Personally my money was on it being a bet.
 
simmo said:
They made reference to the tweet which she made after Tea For Two won it's previous race, which said simply "ORGASMIC". Any inference from the shouting was entirely your own (and mine), the presenters didn't voice any link between the two.

Personally my money was on it being a bet.
Click to expand...

They were giggling like a bunch of teenagers and I'm sure Nick Luck had to warn off Cunningham with some comment about it being before the watershed. She may have published that tweet but they certainly made the link for a cheap laugh. Why else would they play the clip at the same time as mentioning the tweet?
 
Venusian said:
Harry, to say that coverage on a mainstreamfree-to-air television channel isn't important any more is just plain wrong, imo.

In the mid fifties, tv was seen as something new and strange, maybe a bit of a fad, and so not really something to get involved with.

But all that soon changed as a mass increase in television ownership completely altered everything.

Today, though, it's almost the other way round. The change over to social media (as an example) as a way to be made aware of sports and other entertainments will be more gradual, and I feel it will be a long time before the majority drag themselves away from free-to-air tv as their main source of exposure to sports and sporting events.

Probably in 10 or 20 years things will have changed, but meantime, broad tv exposure is absolutely vital. Just look at what's happened to cricket's profile in this country over the last few years since it's gone from free-to-air.
Click to expand...

An excellent point about cricket . In the free to air days it would have been a million to one that a player like Joe Root would not have been in the sports personality of the year line up .

I suspect ITV will go back to Highflyer but if they do and they just resurrect the old C4 team that will be an error . I suspect despite everything Tarnya will survive the move .

The real problem for racing is that they appear to have agreed to a vast cut in the amount of racing on one of the old big four channels . Heavens knows what will happen to viewing figures marooned out on ITV 4 . What does ITV1 show on Saturday afternoons anyway ?
 
TheBear said:
They were giggling like a bunch of teenagers and I'm sure Nick Luck had to warn off Cunningham with some comment about it being before the watershed. She may have published that tweet but they certainly made the link for a cheap laugh. Why else would they play the clip at the same time as mentioning the tweet?
Click to expand...

The bet aspect I mentioned actually related to Lizzie Kelly (I didn't make that clear). You stick up a tweet saying orgasmic and then ride a finish wearing a jockey cam screaming from before the last to the line?

Were they giggling about it, yes, was it tongue in cheek humour (as opposed to mysoginy), yes - let's not forget that even dear old auntie made a fair few cracks about Mick Fitz's "better than sex" comment after winning the National.
 
Ardross said:
The real problem for racing is that they appear to have agreed to a vast cut in the amount of racing on one of the old big four channels . Heavens knows what will happen to viewing figures marooned out on ITV 4 . What does ITV1 show on Saturday afternoons anyway ?
Click to expand...
I don't see this as a problem, quite the reverse.

By restricting ITV1 coverage to the most important 30 days of the year, you're at least getting some definition to the season, signposts for fans and newcomers alike, rather than just seemingly more of the same old stuff that goes on 52 weeks of the year, the bland arrays of racecards in our national dailies that say to page-turners, "Keep out, nerds about".

The cards yesterday and on previous days at Cheltenham were interesting to us addicts, but not remotely likely to draw in casual viewers (future fan potential), with no champions in action and all the races called 32Red something. ITV4 is an appropriate home for this second rate fare, much as we might wish otherwise.
 
Last edited:
Lydia Hislop to anchor and try and get the SkyBet boys, plus Jamie Lynch, and Oli Bell would do it for me. If you've been to any of their preview nights they're good value and provide perfect balance for genuine racing fans. The big bonus is the chemistry is guaranteed.

I suspect Ardross is right though and they'll return to Highflyer. The alternative is to do some kind of deal with Racing UK.
 
The more I think about it the more I think it could work well - chiefly for the reasons that Ven has said above. We don't have a crowd puller horse or jockey at the moment ( though Lizzie Kelly could well step up to that plate a bit in the future), so nobody outside the racing world is really that bothered. Big up the big meetings the amount they deserve, make it exciting and it could be fantastic ( of course, bugger it up and it will be ****, but that's the risk they need to take!)
 
I agree also.

It would also help if they covered the juvenile and novice hurdles at the start of the card, or extended coverage for the complete card. I'd rather see them than the handicaps. I want to see the future stars, rather than from the last hurdle after the event at the start of the programme.
 
That annoys me too - if you're showing the racing, show the racing!! I don't mind a fashion slot here and there ( though get someone proper bitchy in to do it so it's fun!) but not too much and same with going to see the horses at home - it's nice to see, but not at the detriment of the actual racing. Extend the program if you have to, but it's no good just showing the last three furlongs, too much else can happen before!
 
Last edited:
Venusian said:
I don't see this as a problem, quite the reverse.

By restricting ITV1 coverage to the most important 30 days of the year, you're at least getting some definition to the season, signposts for fans and newcomers alike, rather than just seemingly more of the same old stuff that goes on 52 weeks of the year, the bland arrays of racecards in our national dailies that say to page-turners, "Keep out, nerds about".
Click to expand...

This is not such an issue for the flat season where the big meetings are evenly spread out culminating in Champions Day. After that though ITV1 isn't likely to show another meeting until Cheltenham from what I've read.

Looking at it as an average member of the public they're likely to recognise and have some affection for flat horses who they've seen 3 or 4 times that season rather than a NH horse who they'll first be introduced to in March. It's yet another kick in the teeth for NH racing which has accounted for the vast majority of horses the public have taken to their hearts because they come back season after season. Now they'll be losing out to these one season flash in the pans!
 
After giving this dilemma some thought, I concluded an approach is needed that combines informed analysis with graphic presentation. Racing needs to generate a rolling narrative of drama and suspense building towards a climatic finale. We need to move away from tivialising things with feigned 'personalities' and reinforcing age old stereotypes

So I give you strip punting

It would work

For every tip that the hapless team get correct, the designated female (and it would have to be female) loses a clothing item. Dead easy, and 10 million viewers guaranteed within a week
 
Last edited:
An interesting angle there Trudi. You're suggesting a sort of lay a market leader to 'keep 'em on' - yep that might work
 
One aspect that hasn't been mentioned is the fact that thousands of people in remote areas, who don't receive anything other than the Big 5 + BBC channels, will no longer be able to watch mundane racing if they were of a mind to (without paying for Sky). Apparently as the BBC are only obligated to relay ITV, Ch4 & Ch5, that's all they do relay.
 
Interesting views from Alan King today in his [always excellent] Weekender column:

There is far too much analysis - I want to watch the race and then see a little replay, but they go through it over and over again.

If racing professionals are finding it dull it is hardly surprising that it has been a turn-off for viewers.

I'm not sure I agree. He is a professional. He can analyse a race as it unfolds. Listening to the likes of him and (in particular) Mullins and Bolger after a race is almost frighteningly educational. Joe Punter needs help to do that.

King can switch over and miss nothing; but a good, engaging analyst can enhance ordinary people's appreciation of what they're seeing.
 
Oh good god, I've just had a daymare ... [emoji33]

Chaparse, Big Mac and Batch.

Would free up my Saturdays for anything other than watching the racing I suppose....

[emoji32]
 
Last edited:
I also think we mistake ourselves as being representative of the wider public watching the sport and therefore imagine that what we want to see is what people in general want to see, or that we know what Joe Punter wants. We're not.
 
Back
Top