RUK pictures of the Foxhunters were'nt that good either, despite the camera car being just in front of the field they kept zooming in so you couldn't make out what was happening behind
RUK pictures of the Foxhunters were'nt that good either, despite the camera car being just in front of the field they kept zooming in so you couldn't make out what was happening behind
Really disappointed they made so little of the winner of the Foxhunter. Trainer Mickey Bowen (brother of Sean and James, and son of Peter) is all of about 18 and had only about 7 or 8 horses in training. Pretty good performance despite his connections.
tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito
edgt (6th April 2017)
I thought they made plenty of it, jinnyj. Shame about the rest of the coverage.
Just got it all on in the background as I work on tomorrow's card. Enjoyed the chat with Francome, O'Neill, Scudamore and McIlvanney about old Nationals.
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Coverage is superior to Ch4-really liked the feature with Jonjo,Scu and Framcome and more importantly the complete absence of pr bullshit from bookmakers.
I just finished watching the Cheltenham coverage this week and in my opinion this is as good as it gets on terrestial tv.
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Angus McNae gets right on my Eartha's, but RUK is otherwise doing a first-class job with their National build-up. Fair play.
"Beat the price and lose. It's what we do".
SlimChance, March 2018
Mrs DG got Stellar Notion in the RUK sweepstake earlier
trudij (8th April 2017)
This late national time is very possibly a trial run for a Cheltenham gold cup of the future
Some people say he’s the best since Arkle and that’s certainly true when you look at what he’s done
Doubtful - it's still dark at 5pm in march?
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#YourStorm
Mr Brightside
All posts are based on the following:
I know what I'm talking about/ I'm having a stab in the dark
I'm bored/ You're an idiot and I'm poking you with sticks
Ooooooh - horses with headlights !!
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#YourStorm
Mr Brightside
All posts are based on the following:
I know what I'm talking about/ I'm having a stab in the dark
I'm bored/ You're an idiot and I'm poking you with sticks
I've come to the conclusion that Richard Hoiles is not much of a commentator, or at least not where big fields are concerned. If you miss the lead-up to races or don't know the colours of your horse you'd struggle to know where it is in the race going by his commentary.
He also got it quite wrong in saying Roi Des Francs was out of the race although he corrected himself quite quickly. Then he was calling Wonderful Charm in the race for the places from some way out, only correcting himself when he saw the replay.
I don't think One For Arthur got a single mention until about three out. I'll need to watch the race gain to check that but watching it with the family those of us who backed it were saying after the race they thought it must have exited early as they never heard it mentioned until it made its move into the chasing group.
Ian Bartlett and Stuart Machin are far better commentators and convey more drama through a race.
Chapman was awful on Saturday. He's just not getting any better and his forays into the crowds are embarrassing. At one point I was missing Derek Thomson.
The analysis re-run was very poor compared with what the BBC used to do. I didn't mind that they interrupted it to interview the rider of the runner-up but to then interrupt it later to interview one who was nowhere was totally pointless.
On Sunday I watched the race on the Jockey Club website - the RUK coverage - and thought it was much better. The camera angles were better in that ITV's cameras seemed to be low and looking into the sun so a lot of the runners were silhouetted (if that's a word) whereas RUK's view was from a different and higher angle and you could better see what was happening.
It was good to see that both coverages caught Becher's from the head-on angle. It remains the iconic angle for that fence, if not for racing in general.
Last edited by Desert Orchid; 10th April 2017 at 4:07 PM.
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I agree with a lot of that DO. I tipped One For Arthur to the people in my office and they all said that they'd thought he'd fallen due to lack of a mention. I was getting dogs abuse on What's App during the race until it appeared he'd jumped in with 2 fences to go. I was then the greatest thing since sliced bread!
I was in a pub myself so couldn't really hear the commentary but in their defence it's not often the winner comes from so far back (in fact I'm struggling to think of one) so it's highlighted the fact that they've not really got any further than half way down the field. The opportunity is usually after The Chair before they jump the 1st again but I couldn't hear who was commenting at that point.
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Almost totally agree apart from the bit about missing Derek Thompson
It was embarrassing really that Hoiles didn't notice Roi des Francs getting back in the race and his lack of preparation is there for all to see
The sight of Matt Chapman telling us all he wanted Yanworth to win to wipe the smile off (Star Sports) Ben's face was rather unpleasant
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Last edited by viking; 10th April 2017 at 7:13 PM.
Always liked Hoiles but agree that he hasnt been great on ITV.
I think one of the factors though was the new zany camera angles chosen by the directors. Its the one race where you can accept that commentators will be using monitors rather than binoculars. There were several camera angles that weren't used before and crucially seemed to concentrate solely on the leaders/first group. Having played a few computer games in my time, they were very close to that sort of approach. Valentines from the far side, the chair from the inside, all window dressing. Its the one race in the year where you have newbies watching horses 3/4s of the way down the field and tracking their progress independently of the commentary. Not providing the camera angles to allow this, or the commentator the ability to inform meant that several horses just didnt get a mention. Lord Windermere was another given a quiet ride but not getting a mention until the melling road.
The rerun - worth a replay to see how many time Mick Fitz said 'it certainly does'. Absolutely no insight. 'They always go down too fast to the first' 'They will begin to start thinking about Bechers now' 'Watch them now pull wide to get an angle at the canal turn, can be the winning and losing of the race' etc etc
Especially when it was one of the great National rides in my opinion.
The Lord Windermere point says it all HW. Gold Cup winner with 10-10 looked to be swinging in behind and was effectively never called.
"And still they gazed and still the wonder grew. That one small head could carry all he knew.
And that small head knew that Impaire Et Passe would win the Champion Hurdle."
It was near-mayhem at the family party for the race so during the live action it was hard to know if it was all the 'emotion' of the domestic audience that was the problem (but also the fun!) and only on re-watching it several times have I realised just how poor the commentary is. I've maybe watched it six times now and am only getting a flavour of what happened. I plan to watch it several more times imagining I'd backed this or that to see how it was ridden or how unlucky it was.
But I might have to do so via the Jockey Club/RUK recording as the ITV one was so unhelpful.
Last edited by Desert Orchid; 11th April 2017 at 9:18 AM.
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Watched the ITV reply today as didn't see it live as was watching Damien Lewis have an affair with a goat........
commentary was terrible. So many horses didn't get a mention at all because Hoiles in particular, spent too much time padding in-between naming who was where. Consequently 4/5 horses named as they jumped/approached a fence......padding......next fence 4/5. Really poor generally and I usually don't mind RH.
Geoff Banks was never my cup of tea tbh when on C4 but has some straight talking views on the ITV coverage
https://geoffbanksracing.com/2017/04...g-or-lorraine/
He strikes me as someone with his own agenda.
I could agree with a lot of what he says but anyone who can suggest McCririck is good for the game doesn't deserve to be listened to.
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