ITV wasn't as professional as BBC because of the people they had fronting it but there was loads of coverage. It was not unusual for every Saturday meeting that they covered that they also covered the Friday as well. So you'd get 4 races with no breaks except adverts and a thorough examination of the race (or as thorough as he could make it) before and after it was run. After a race jockeys and trainers were interviewed. So racemeetings on Friday from Ayr, Sandown, Newcastle etc. were shown throughout the year.
sounds fantastic! I can see why current coverage gets so much criticism then nevertheless I still think it is good that channel 4 provides a terrestrial presence for racing every Saturday afternoon. without it the sport is finished in my opinion
Bustino, you and I must be too old! As a friend said to me a while ago...."We're just dinosaurs." The more I think about it, the more I agree with him. I know the flaws in thinking that the grass was "greener" then, but I do miss one thing from the fifties and sixties......the clarity! It's frighteningly ironic that I think the best LP ever made was Paul Simon's Bookends. If you've never heard it, Bustino, play it. It has everything. Magical!
I think today's broadcasters make the mistake of assuming viewers have no attention span. So instead of analysis of the race we get some daft item which takes us up to the horses going into the stalls. We should be seeing the principles in the paddock and going down to get an idea of how they are looking and behaving before the race. Clive Graham was brilliant and a fine tipster (he was Scout in the Daily Express, I believe).
Yes you are right FF. Clive Graham was the Scout in the DE. He died prematurely in 1974/5 I think. He was the only tipster to give Brigadier Gerard in the 2000G. I'm probably hard on John Rickman on ITV. He actually knew a lot about horseracing. There was just something 'loose' about him as if he'd stumbled off the set of Crossroads and that Amy Turtle would suddenly hand him a cup of tea. Tamerlo you must be Faking It. The thing you should have mentioned is that Burnley were one of the best sides in the country for the whole of the late 50s to late 60s. And the number of absolutely star players they developed was almost beyond belief.
Bustino, now you're getting to the core with Burnley FC. Yes, they had a tremendous team - largely due to great scouts (Dave Blakey, Jimmy Hixon, etc) and most of their players were either Geordies, Scots, or Northern Irish. The total cost of their 1960 Championship team was only £11000 (for McIlroy and Elder from Glentoran) and their reserve team could beat most first division sides at that time. Shame that I never saw them win the FA Cup- they just didn't play their best against Spurs in '62. My nephew is still mad on them and sells Burnley memorabilia. Who's your favourite team? No disrespect to you (or your age) by the way in my previous comment- I was just being reflective and nostalgic.
Steady on Tam, you'll be getting tearful next. I suppose I support QPR. They were the local side and a number of the players coached us at our Grammar School. I used to go to see lots of teams up until '66 (Spurs, Chelsea, Fulham, Brentford) and then I discovered Rodneeeee and I couldn't after that support another team. I'd say you have just a few months on me.
Yeah, Rodneeee was pretty good but, from those teams you mentioned , obviously I remember the sixties Spurs the best- I reckon there wasn't a gnat's whisker between them and Burnley at their best. If we'd had Norman instead of our centre half, Cummings, I reckon we'd have won a lot more. Also, I have one vivid recollection of Fulham ..In '62 I went to Villa Park when Burnley played Fulham in the FA Cup semi-final. Burnley beat them in the replay, but at Villa Park they were the luckiest team alive to come away with a 1-1 draw. Leggat ran the rings round Elder, our full-back, and everytime he crossed the ball it looked like a goal. I think Fulham put their centre half up tp centre forward and Cummings couldn't handle him. Do you remember his name? It was snowy that day and Kilmore won the National-they announced it over the loudspeakers.
QPR were third division, so it was love in the eye of the beholder and nothing to do with class (although few sides that year would have beaten QPR: we beat 3 1st Division sides to win the League Cup). The Fulham side of that era must have had Macedo, Cohen, Lowe, Haynes, Leggatt, Chamberlain but I can't remember the centre half. Marsh didn't get on with Haynes apparently as they thought him a clown... he was: a very entertaining one. And for £15,000 he moved two miles further west.
Bustino: I've been a QPR fan since I was, erm, 10 or 11-years-old, so that makes me 104. Was at the epic 1967 League Final with WBA. Saw all five goals 'cos I was standing in the right corner, just adjacent to a huge bunch of WBA fans who were fenced-off from us (seats, they paid more). I was exactly in-line with Rodney's great equalizer which was a pure billiards shot, nothing else, a perfect in-off the post. I'm biased of course, but QPR had to be the best 3rd Division side ever. The whole team had incredible charisma, and were talented too. Clive Graham and Peter O'Sullevan were the best ever, they were halcyon days for BBC racing, black-and-white or not. John Rickman (Robin Goodfellow of the Daily Mail?) was OK. My Mum liked him a lot 'cos he always doffed his hat to the ladies....impressed the hell out of her....
Well I was near you in C enclosure. When Rodney scored I fell down about 5 sections in the standing area as everyone went up at once.
Bustino, the name of the Fulham player has just hit me in the head- it's Maurice Cook, but I might be wrong about him being the centre half. He might have been no. 9. He had a great game that day and powered headers onto the bar and others that missed by inches, etc.
Tam,they were FUN players,Andy Lochead and Brian(buda) Oniel.Hard or what. Bustino,what a star he was Tosh Chamberlain
Bustino, the mention of Lucyrowe takes me back.Myself and the late P.O.were very good friends with P.Walwyns travelling head lad,a guy called Tony Driscoll,was a lovely man.One day we went to Epsom and ended up in Lambourne in a horsebox.
What a great story Linden Tree. Lucyrowe was a very good filly winning the Coronation, Nassau and Sun Chariot. I always remember the Nassau when walwyn also ran Seventh Bride in the and Lucyrowe just scraped home. Lucyrowe was a bit of a flop at stud while Seventh Bride bred Polygamy and One over Parr. But then Seventh Bride and those two then died young as mares.
I also knew Tony Driscoll, Linden Tree. He was travelling for PW when he was having his big winners. By the way, I think I am right in saying the equine Linden Tree beat a hotly fancied Irish horse called something like Minsky in what used to be called the Observer Gold Cup. Not sure when it was but could have been before the Eddery era - mayby Duncan Keith rode it. I do not have any flat form books for that era - can you confirm if my memory is still up to scratch? I remember Walwyn's lads being cock-a-hoop at the time.
Yes you are talking about the 1970 Observer Gold Cup. Minsky was a full brother to Nijinsky and all sort of unreasonable expectations were put on him. He ran in the 1971 2000G and was a distant 4th, can't remember anything about him after that. Not quite the Eddery era. Keith was having problems with his weight and his kidneys I think. So every now and again missed periods of the season. I think Eddery became stable jockey in '72.
Thanks Bustino. That would explain why Minsky was considered such a big scalp at the time. I can't remember what Linden Tree did as a three year old either but I'm sure his namesake will tell us!
FFI,m afraid I only "played" at horses way back,and was more interested in the fillies at that time.. I believe Linden Tree finished 2nd to Mill Reef in the Derby.I was also friendly with Ron Smyth and his family who were lovely people and one of his daughters married a guy called Giles Pritchard-Gordon,and he got me a share in a horse called Sad and Saucy that won at Bath and I had to lead the horse into the winners enclosure. I think I can put this on the "old knackers thread" it was 1971 that I played in the ECWC in Athens against Real Madrid with us winning 2-1 I,ve been blessed in life.
That's an amazing thing Linden Tree. Not a lot of people could say that. Think your namesake won the Chester Vase (?). Think Irish Ball won the Irish Derby although soundly beaten by LT at Epsom into 3rd. Soon after LT retired with out running again.
