TV coverage

Steve Cauthen :<3:
Just loving him being on today. Of course I had a serious crush on him from the age of about 13 (he was 16) and was intent on marrying him once I had let my pony know he wasn’t the intended....:lol:
I actually met Steve on several occasions, the first time being after he won the Derby on Reference Point and I was Secretary for a Charlie Nelson. Steve rang from Epsom to say he was coming back to Lambourn and invited Charlie out to dinner so I was invited too. I told Charlie of my crush so of course he wound me up and plied me with so much alcohol by the time Steve arrived, we were plastered and I was confident enough to nearly propose...:whistle:. I sat at dinner between Steve and my other hero, Johnny Francome...I was in seventh heaven!
I got to know Steve quite well over the next few years as he often popped to the yard and he is the loveliest guy (except we never did get married..:mad:). And many years later I bumped into him in Newmarket, he still remembered me and knew I had been working in the US. A top class guy.

Fake News. I've met JJ and she couldn't have been born before Slip Anchor won the Derby.
 
ITV certainly got their money's worth out of Steve Cauthen yesterday. I thought he carried the whole programme, keeping his humour when being put in a somewhat difficult position by questions, because of his lack of knowledge of recent form, it was almost impossible for him to answer. Seems we'll have him at Ascot as well, something to look forward to.
 
I like ITV racing as I am pleased that the main thing is they are covering all the good racing flat and jumps.

I think people give them a lot of stick on here, almost as if ITV racing should be made in our own individual image which is impossible given the different type of demographic it reaches not just in the U.K but the wider world.

I hear Francesca had her baby. Congratulations to her and family.

Keep up the good work ITV and I hear the Queen will be watching today.
 
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Double post again - I hope admin can sort this ongoing problem out.
It's a constant pain, Marb - reckon it's because it's so slow to accept new posts. You can edit them away, but that's a repeat of the same painful process.
 
Double post again - I hope admin can sort this ongoing problem out.
It's a constant pain, Marb - reckon it's because it's so slow to accept new posts. You can edit them away, but that's a repeat of the same painful process.
 
It's a constant pain, Marb - reckon it's because it's so slow to accept new posts. You can edit them away, but that's a repeat of the same painful process.

Yes it's no good for the forum, Reet. It starts to look uncared for. I hope they get it sorted.
 
It's a constant pain, Marb - reckon it's because it's so slow to accept new posts. You can edit them away, but that's a repeat of the same painful process.

Yes it's no good for the forum, Reet. It starts to look uncared for. I hope they get it sorted.
 
I don't like the way they were switching to a head on overhead shot towards the end of races yesterday.

I had a recent email conversation with a Timeform chap about sectionals and how difficult TV angles made calculations. I got the impression Timeform were not the biggest fans of TV coverage.

The TV producers aren't interested in showing the races in such a way as to be meaningful to form students; they want the images to appeal to a wider audience who are largely clueless. I can understand the approach and reasoning but it annoys the shite out of me.
 
God, I do hate seeing horses manhandled into the stalls, especially when the jockey heaves on the poor things tail and nearly pulls it out by the roots. Not an edifying sight and I think if trainers can’t train their horses to enter the staffs with a minimum of fuss then they shouldn’t be racing.
 
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Completely agree! I never had a single horse give a problem with stalls simply because I did plenty of education with them. When I worked for one big trainer (who notoriously used to have loads of issues) he used to remember the week before that they had never been in a set of starting stalls!
 
Completely agree! I never had a single horse give a problem with stalls simply because I did plenty of education with them. When I worked for one big trainer (who notoriously used to have loads of issues) he used to remember the week before that they had never been in a set of starting stalls

Remember reading an article about Jack Berry the supreme trainer of 2-y-oids who used to canter them in a bunch and then put them through stalls!

Steve Cauthen was terrific, why do ITV waste money employing most of the rest?
 
Completely agree! I never had a single horse give a problem with stalls simply because I did plenty of education with them. When I worked for one big trainer (who notoriously used to have loads of issues) he used to remember the week before that they had never been in a set of starting stalls

Remember reading an article about Jack Berry the supreme trainer of 2-y-oids who used to canter them in a bunch and then put them through stalls!

Steve Cauthen was terrific, why do ITV waste money employing most of the rest?
 
Gawd I get annoyed with the intrusiveness of ITV's coverage. Rishi has had the job (mostly) this week of interrupting discussions between connections (I know I'm old but that was once regarded as bad manners) and having to question the winning jockey before they've got their breath back and with their adrenaline still pumping, doesn't seem fair to me, especially with Hanagan after that disaster in the Norfolk.
 
Yes and no.

I do squirm a bit when I see the paddock presenters interrupt connections. As you say, Colin, it's manners as much as anything. Some are worse than others and Rishi is particularly intrusive. I'm pretty sure I've also seen him and maybe Molly Bell take an owner or trainer by the arm to lead them away from the conversation towards the mike. In fairness, most connections are okay about it; most are happy to have their 15 seconds of 'fame'. Trainers are a bit more irked by it and rightly so.

But I'm all in favour of the immediate post-race interviews with the winning jockeys. It's because they're pumped up in the moment that they sometimes say more than connections would probably want them to. You can pick up some nuggets then. Same with trainers.

We now know Thesis is the Charltons' best 3yo, for example.

The brother was on the phone on Wednesday evening to tell me the eldest brother was on Dark Shift in the Hunt Cup because immediately after its last win the trainer had said they'd be keeping the horse off the track to preserve its mark for the Hunt Cup. I'd completely forgotten that.
 
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I accept that that can happen, DO, but I can't believe that connections would be happy with the rider saying too much because he is pumped up. I can see the advantage to punters but they ain't the ones paying the bills.
 
They just need to be more disciplined, like the wonderful Ryan Moore. He makes Lester Piggott look like Isa Drennan.

It's up to connections to kick his/her arse up and down the car park for blabbing. Or not use him/her again.
 
Talk about a stuck record. I’m getting sick and tired of the “what does it mean to you” question that’s tossed to everyone.
 
Yes, every so often one of them comes up with a phrase that is latched on to and by the end of the day is a cliché. Not long ago it was, "Put into words for us..."
 
Racing TV interview with Sir Michael Stoute well worth a watch.
While he has little enough to say about his horses, the final segment where he discusses his jockeys is truly fabulous .
His comments on Gary Stevens and Greville Starkey are particularly illuminating.
 
Interesting to hear a fellow forumite being referred to on RTE's coverage today.As he is a shy and retiring type I won't mention his name. NKFA.
 
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