The Channel 4 racing today made their fair share of errors, eg referring to Zero Money as the 9/4 beaten favourite when, in fact, it was neither 9/4 nor fav; and neither was the favourite 9/4. The irritating advert with McCririck fighting off the most irritating imbecile on TV has me reaching for the remote. But to show all the greats, starting with Ribot, and to introduce him as the winner of 15 of his 16 races is nothing short of disgraceful. I was fuming. How can a racing channel make an error like that with such a famous race horse? Of course it was all overshadowed by the brilliance of Frankel; but I will be filing my complaint tomorrow. Truly shocking.
One thing that has always puzzled me when it comes to the racing being shown on tv is the lack of a highlights package. We got a small half hour 'round up' for this years Cheltenham festival every night, about 11.45 when it was shown, but they didnt even show all the races for that day. BBC did put a highlights package on but Channel4 dont. If the Racing For Change people want to get more people to watch racing then i suggest that they have a word with C4 and get them to show something. Not all people can watch the daytime running of racing and without subscribing to Sky you wont see any. I know its not going to be a Match Of The Day type of thing but when its a big festival like were having right now in York, you would think something would be done to show the racing. How many people actually watched Frankel yesterday - Lucky beggars if you were there mind - but would liked to have seen a little build up then the race in all its glory. Instead your left with a 30 second montage on the news of one of the greatest sporting images your likely to see... Im right behind you Ron on this... Channel4 is pathetic and needs to pull its collective socks up...
I didnt even notice any of this Ron, probably because I only switch over for races, racing coverage is a joke, atr and ruk included.
One of my biggest gripes with the racing industry is how difficult they make it for people to access their product. If it's not a big mid-week racing or Saturday then there will be no coverage on terrestrial TV. At least ATR is (I believe) free if you have the Sky package, but Racing UK costs money. Via the internet there is no free coverage, you have to either have a bet with an online bookie to watch the race, or subscribe to RUK / ATR online coverage. For a sport that is trying to increase it's popularity and attract more fans it certainly is an odd way of going about it. I like the idea of a highlights programme in the evening and would echo the sentiment that CH4 need to do better on their Cheltenham highlights. One of the greatest races in living memory for me was the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual at this year's festival, where Bellvano was given a genius ride by Paul Carberry to collar Geraghty's mount on the line and complete a 1-3-4 for Nicky Henderson in the race named after his father - was there any coverage on the evening highlights? Or of Quevega running away with the David Nicholson again earlier in the week?
I'm like Boris in that I only switch over for the race itself,especially at the weekend when there are sports on other channels.The test match last Saturday for example. If I'm out or playing golf I sky+ and ff to the races only. The presenters interview trainers with glib and inane posers which nulifiy the possibility of an informative and incisive answer.The only significant question asked in the whole production is that aimed at the winning jockey of the first race re ground conditions. I buy/access the racing post and really don't need to sit through the paddock analysts regurgitate it's comments verbatim. I'm not totally soulless and really do enjoy some after race scenes such as yesterday and at at the Festival etc...they don't need any accompanying words. It is also fair to say that some of the between race fillers are interesting such as stable visits. I'd better be careful here...i'm talking myself into a C4 racing lover!!
Oddy, Freefootball are advertising a racing broadcast today. I don't know if they'll follow through but the link is below if you want to have a look later on. http://www.freefootball.ws/
Whilst the between race stuff on C4 is mostly pretty tedious there was a brilliant 10 minutes or so with Sir Mark Prescott yesterday recalling his 4 favourite races of all time. That bloke can tell a story.
Whilst I do agree with your comments on this specific issue Ron I'm afraid it's symptomatic of all sport and current affairs broadcasting. The number of factual mistakes made by the BBC and Sky News during the olympics was appalling and commentators regulalrly get it wortng on the football. Only last week someone on the BBC called Manchester United the reigning champions. I'm not sure whether it's a driop in standards or just that as i get older i get more cantankerous and pick up on any excuse to have a good old rant - cheers for starting this one
A few points: 1. Channel 4 get their prices wrong numerous times especially if that lump is in the betting jungle. 2. I find it tragic that not one of the C4 team welcomed Derek Thompson back! Even if people aren't keen on him, it's always nice to make people feel part of the team. 3. The colour graphics during the race to indicate the horse's position are so inaccurate, it's a waste of time having them on. Agree Oddy with RUK. We should not have to pay extra and to be honest all of the horse racing should be on 1 racing channel. It's disgraceful that it's on 2 separate channel and having to pay for one. Those of you mentioning papers, the cost of the Racing Post is bloody highway robbery. I will never buy that paper ever again! I like the idea of the highlights programme and even if that was put on More 4 that would be no issue with digital tv coming into force.
Thats my point really Sparky... Channel4 has so many channels that it wouldnt be out of place to have a highlights programme...
The camera work on some of the races yesterday was awful. In the first televised race the only near shots you got of the horses was after they had crossed the line. Don't like all the "info" that they have started putting on while the races are on. I can see the colours of the runners and I don't need to see how far they have left to go. I hope the IMG production at C4 next year is better. Apparently Clare Balding was the lead presenter for all the bids that were put in!
I don't agree with some of the info but I find it useful to see how far they've got left to go as it tells me whether or not to tear the betting slip up. There's no doubting CB's knowledge but I do feel she's been made to dumb things down on the BBC to the point that it's like watching a real life tabloid - she's not alone of course and it's clearly not her decision. I hope things improve if she takes over. I also fear that C4 may have its work cut out next year as there'll be so much racing for it to cover. You can imagine them cutting short the National coverage to show a race at Lingfield because it's in the scoop 6........
I wouldn't worry Dan. I think they will have everything covered What I will ask you is are you bothered if they cut the national coverage short by 5 mins to show the race at Lingfield. One thing that drove me mad was the constant repitition of the runners and riders by the BBC on National day. Surely 20 mins build up coverage to the National would suffice? The only slight concern I believe for next year is constantly having to switch from C4 to More 4 etc. Similarly, does anyone know whether C4 have taken up the rights for Welsh National day and The Arc at Longchamp? I've never heard these mentioned during the transfer from the BBC to C4
Personally i'm not as I hate the national but I suspect many people would be upset. I would not be too happy if they releagted the Derby to jsut another race though.
