Rishi Persad

I know he's not the forum's favourite presenter but surely he gained some credibility yesterday as he rode over the Cheltenham course in a race, for charity. If any of you saw the training he had and then how he managed to stay on in the race when his saddle slipped he must have won a few points. And his interview after when he was absolutely full of it, saying it was the biggest buzz ever. I just thought that, given the stick he has had on here, credit where credit is due. After seeing that my first thought was "I wonder if our forumites will give him some credit".

Rishi Persad
Born: 26th May 1973

Rishi began his broadcasting career in May 2002 when attheraces was first launched. This was followed by a move to Racing UK where he introduced their first show in May 2004 from Kempton Park Racecourse and has continued to work for Racing UK since that time.

Rishi’s debut terrestrial appearance was for Channel 4 Racing at Haydock Park in January 2003 which saw him join the channel’s award winning coverage of that year's Cheltenham Festival before being recruited by BBC Sport in the spring of 2003.

Since then, Rishi has worked at some of the greatest sporting events in the world including the Olympic Games in Athens, Beijing and London, the Commonwealth Games in Delhi 2010, the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean and the sub-continent in 2011, Wimbledon Tennis Championships for the past decade and recently joined the BBC's golf team covering the Ryder Cup at Medinah in 2012, the US Masters at Augusta and The Open at Muirfield this past year.

Horse racing remains closest to his heart where Rishi has been fortunate enough to cover many of the major international racing events including the Breeders Cup at Arlington in 2002 and Santa Anita in 2003, Hong Kong International Meeting in 2004, The Dubai World for the past 12 years, The Prix De L'Arc De Triomphe, The Grand National, Cheltenham Festival, Derby Festival, Royal Ascot and QIPCO British Champions Day.

Rishi’s family bred and raced thoroughbreds in the West Indies and that is where his interest for the sport began. This was fostered by his father who encouraged Rishi to spend more time studying form and pedigree than anything academic!

Rishi lives in Surrey with his partner Holly and daughter Evie.

 

Absolutely agree Ron fair play to him. I did wonder whether maybe it was one of his detractors who saddled up the horse. Maybe Graham Cunningham could be persuaded to have a go next year. I'll stick my hand up for saddling up duties.

 

To be fair to him he dos know his stuff, and is very knowledgeable, but he asks some really strange and dumb ass questions at times at that gets me with him... Both on the horses and when he dos the snooker on the beeb...


Fair play to the bloke though, he has done something that will live with him for a long time, and maybe now he will improve as a presenter for it. But he still dos me head in...

 

I thought he did a fantastic job and fair play to him for keeping kicking on when most others would have pulled up.

I know the man that gave Rishi his media training, a guy called Laurie Brannan who also helped Claire Balding out when she began her career. He said when he came to work for him he was a quiet lawyer-type and he wasn't sure he had what it takes. However he watched him at the office Christmas party and he was cracking jokes and basically the life and soul of the party, and he decided he could be a great sports broadcaster so set to work on him!

 

You can't fault him for his enthusiasm. What a shame the saddle slipped but good on him for finishing the race.

Just wish he would stop asking some downright daft questions!

 

The thing with Rishi is that he wants to be the trainers, jockeys friend. There is a balance in doing his job where by you need keep the people you interview week in week out onside and this means you cannot piss them off too much and be too confrontational as they will simply not interact with you. The other side of it is that the sport of racing is all about opinions, from the right race, tactics, ride etc and these things need questioning when things don't pan out as expected and the viewer wants someone who will ask the difficult questions. It is an incredibly difficult tight rope to walk but in my view Rishi does not even attempt strike a balance he simply plays safe and asks very little with any point whatsoever.

Matt Chapman is of course the one who risks most whilst some on Attheraces will never be critical of a ride regardless of the fact that they can be reading out 50 e mails from punters all noting the same thing. I think there is definitely a gap in the field at present for someone with a little more charm and finesse than Matt Chapman but willing to speak more candidly and ask the questions that a punter would after a race. Rishi had this slot open to him but will never risk being unapproved of by the people he interviews to step up. I bet the trainers love him because he is never going to put anyone on the spot. Juxtipose this with the questions football managers get after a match, those presenters would never get away with asking such banal questions.

 

Never found him a bad guy at all. It is tough to ask even half-assed intelligent questions time after time to jockeys after each and every televised race? In this respect he doesn't do a bad job at all. As for the charity race he took part in, applause for him!
(Anyway, he lives in Surrey, so he must be a good bloke!).

 

As a professional at his job he brings little to table IMO. Credit him for doing that and hopefully raising lots of money too

Perhaps I'm being harsh but I'd liken him to the village idiot, he's hard to dislike

 

I would say that is a bit harsh, he's no idiot, for sure.................Erm, what sort of questions would you ask a jockey after each and every race, week after week? And you've got time now to think about it too.

 

The man comes across as a sports broadcaster rather than a sports fan, and with horse racing that really grates on many. He isn't a bad presenter, but he doesn't have the composure or tact of many of the best broadcasters. When he is talking about horse racing I don't believe what he has to say, and what is worse, most of the time I don't think he really has an interest in the sport. Compare that to the way Matt Chapman (who I dislike for other reasons) or Clare Balding are with the sport and their understand and expertise shines through, they are believable.

As for his ride, didn't see it, I was on my way home, and to be honest fair play to him for doing it for charity.

 

full credit to him for doing the Charity ride BUT his inclusion on the channel 4 racing team sums up the problems at channel 4 - it is all just a little too safe and boring.

last week I ended up watching the races but mostly listening to radio 5.
they covered the event much better IMO and they had the announcement of the Gold Cup result following the stewards inquiry LIVE as opposed to channel 4 who announced this on delay.