Question Of The Day

[BillyHills]

Ok guys, some days are pretty dire in the horse racing world but news happens all the time; Today we here that Channel 4 has secured the rights to the Grand National, Derby, Champions Day and Royal Ascot from 2013. So what do you think? Is it a good move that now all Racing will be on the same channel? Have BBC gone too far in their cost cutting and losing the plot completely, don't forget this is hot on the heels of F1 going to Sky? Is the license worth it anymore? My view; Must admit I have always liked the BBC's coverage of Racing, at this point i must stress that I HATE adverts with a passion, i have to record everything so i can skip the ad breaks, i end up watching things half an hour after they have started so i can skip the dam things. Anyway i don't know if its because i'm of the older generation and been brought up with the National on BBC dating back to the years when Des Lynum used to do the interviews and Peter O'Sullivan the commentaries that i'm a BBC fan but i think its a sad day when they finally let go of even more top events. To be honest many won't probably care as they are used to watching racing on the ATR or Racing UK but i do see the need for Racing to be on terrestrial TV, it does reach a far wider audience and that can only be good for Racing in the long term. So what about C4, do we like their product at the moment, is it good that they have the monopoly now and can relax and will this effect their input. I'm sure there are things to like and dislike about both channels, the presenters can be annoying at times but like all things they will evolve with the show. I think C4 did a fair job at Cheltenham, they seem to be lost between races for me whereas Racing Uk for instance use that time to interview connections and they are very helpful and informative, more than Thommo just cracking a joke and not even listening to the answers. The interviews of the winning jockeys with a microphone on a stick is tedious to me, they are all the same, both questions and answers! ATR just simply try and show too many races, its really a shame as they they try their best and usually cock up two races instead of recording one and letting us watch both with clarity, sorry guys but i don't want to see half a page of Navan and half a page of Chepstow. Again much better on play back unless your betting in running and the split screens really help you there don't they! At the end of the day if the BBC are skint or just want to bring more cooking programmes to the nation then thats their prerogative but i find it increasingly difficult to defend what should be the pride of British TV, we are all different but in the last two years they have now given up on my two favourite sports, Racing and F1, god knows how cricket fans feel these days. Best of luck to Channel 4 and i suppose we should thank them for giving our sport a lifeline, lets just hope they don't have to cock up the race times too much so they can fit Countdown in at 4pm, if there going to take over then do it properly! Thoughts?

[richard-westwood]

Re: Question Of The Day personally .....im glad to see the back of willie carson and his box !!!! great jockey ....but presenter ....no !! i think channel 4 could have done more with cheltenham .......i personally like it when they play good strong instrumental music (like the grand national ) and really go in depth on all runners ......(in some races they never even mentioned the winners ) .....it ramps up the excitement for me and i found this years coverage a little ......flattish from that perspective especially gold cup day where most of the program was devoted to 2 horses .....and neither of them won !!! cant stand thommo personally .......i really cant see what he brings to the table and his tipping ability is poor to say the least ......he just seems to have a racing voice and thats it for me .channel 4's coverage is relatively good but it can seem like an eton boys racing club at times .....(narf narf) and only john francome seems to break through this for me and i genuinely respect his output and if he were to stop doing it ...my interest would plummit immensely . but if you can ignore the bad bits then their coverage is more than ok and better than the bbc's from a normal punters point of view ......but now they have a bigger share (and budget hopefully) then maybe they can do more with it