James Willoughby

When he disappeared thought they might get a good replacement, but no he's back and telling us why the winner should have been backed after its won.

Based on a theory that horses with nosebands run 0.63 seconds a furlong slower than those with nosebands, and that more horses win in a visor when it's sunny than when it's raining. Wondered where I was going wrong.....

I thought he made some terrific points the other night when going through the Longchamp action. To be fair he has always said that he is not a pro punter.

Dont agree with his comments on 1,000 gns. Maybe different class over 7/8 furlongs imo

BernieUnc 08 Oct 11 16:59 
Another day of paralysis by analysis.

A great desciption had me laughing out loud, biggest bluffer in racing but if you can pull off the bluff with big words you can net quite a few fan boys.

for the last time willo and the captain drooled over 2 performances for months,
hawk wing winning a soft ground uncompetitve lockinge by 10 lgths
gladitorus winning a race in dubai amongst the other dogs and reprebates

give both figures rating them the best in the workd by miles

RESULT , yes never won a race between them again,NUFF SAID

As we all know the only reason STS beat Fame and Glory at Epsom was the lack of pace, fast forward to an odds on stroll in an Irish Derby not much more competitive than an egg and spoon race was all the proof we needed that lack of pace was the sole contributer to his Epsom downfall, and we now know that when STS met F&G in the Irish Champion and the Arc he beat him by even futher each time with all the pace in the world.

Clueless bluffer...

Pretty much agree with most of the above.

He ducked RUK's play and lay today and clearly knows he can't tip. Given that the problem I have is the intensity of his views and how he appears to be constantly trying to say something different (however relevant or otherwise) in an attempt to show himself as a couple of steps ahead of the audience. To me it amounts to little more than a load of waffle about times and breeding. Then you get stooges like Luck lapping it up as if he has just re-discovered the wheel.

Guys----you've all hit the nail on the head---------all these pundits have created a mystique around them that is based on spewing out insignificant, and often totally misleading facts, that only they can be bothered to research,(because they get paid for it)---------its an incestuous gravy train of failure, a bit like the bankers.-------I keep an eye on Mr Taylor(about 75 points down in the last 30 days, FFS ! )-----and the Racing Post press challenge, which is just desperate also----------------in fairness, I would definitely do just as badly if I had to do it, --but then again, I don't claim to be some sort of "second coming" of racing intellect---------good luck to 'em if they can milk it for all it's worth, and God help those who take any bladdy notice!----

Disagree, he is far from the biggest bluffer in racing. He analyses but doesn't do so under any pretence to being a pro like some of the others do.

GC is biggest bluffer on RUK imho

Oi, the paralysis by analysis was my line!  FFS.

Willoughby unpretentious?, c'mon he must be the most pretentious pundit ever to grace racing, I struggle to think of anyone apart from Mordin who would come anywhere close.

All joshing about Willo's over-egging the pudding aside, Mordin is in a different fkin parish to be fair.

Widow Twanky lookalike who would struggle to tip water from a bucket.
Always over complicates even the obvious.

to be fair he dosent profess to be a tipster,hes a pure sport lover,he analysises which horse will win ,not to bet ,but to discuss the sport - hes a pureist

I would sooner watch paint dry than listen to him.

Is it just me or does Willow apply eye make up.

I thought his analysis of the Strong Suit race was absolutely first rate carp. Somehow managed to work out that his victory was a major leap forward, and that he had stepped up majorly on everything he had done before to "join the elite".

Chachamaidee aside, who has had a busy enough time of it lately, this was an absolutely shocking Group Two and he won as well as he should have done. I'd put it behind his last three runs in terms of raw form value.

It's nonsense like this that really irks me the most with Willoughby. I actually can't stand him (although accept that a lot of it is personal, which is a little unfair) but could forgive him his wacky angles and over the top interpretations if he was consistent. He will gladly spend 5 minutes talking about how wet weather means the George Margarson horses are less willing than when it is sunny, and then jump to a ridiculous analysis that has Strong Suit in the elite of his generation after beating some very average horses for the grade under ideal conditions. Just a total waste of time, and a really painful listening experience. Like Cher Lloyd. But Willo's old enough to know better.

when Willo and Luck are analysing a result, RUK should put subtitles up for us mere mortals.

Willo might not be much good as a tipster but he is at least funny, his diagram of the

aerodynamics of a horse will stay with me forever.   Willo is worth ten of Lord Snooty

and Baroness Grumpy combined.

Agree wee eck he is funny at times but he goes far to deep in fact i think he makes it up as he goes along.

dod I have subscribed to RUK since its inception but after years of listening to what I

consider balderdash from its experts and pundits until Willo appeared I  had the mute

on 90% of the time.

Even Willoughby's supposed wit is all contrived, everything about the guy screams "fraud"

Anybody that can come out with balderdash like "Equine Flow Psychology" should be given the widest birth possible.

Equine Flow Bullology...

I don't mind Willo and i do not take tips. When he talks i'll listen in because even when its tripe, as it often is, he is entertaining. Luck, however, is hideous - never seen anyone with a bigger ego, never seen anyone who hypes it up as much, never seen anyone as sychophantic, never seen anyone name drop as much as him, never seen anyone as contrived, never seen anyone so knowing in all my life! I'm afraid when he tunes in the sound goes straight off, he suffoctaes it for me with the constant forcing of his superior views on it. He wants to be both the anchor and expert.

Never known as much thought and time go into picking losers. How do they all get away with peddling such rubbish.

He reminds me of Des O'Connor harmless rich tea of a bloke.

I quite like sam turner normally but when he comes on RUK he talks the same pretentious shyte as all the rest of them.
must be written in to their contract that they have they have to spout really annoying bollox all afternoon

He does risk disappearing up his own arris but at least like Matt Chapman he is entertaining and it seems like he is making an effort and not a gravy trainer, I'd take him over the likes of Catt, Emma, Francs, Enzo, Boycey and the rest any day of the week.

I watched bits of RUk yesterday and I thought Willo did one of his better shows. I think when the quality if high he tones it down and gives analysis thats interesting. RUK also tried to show more horses to post that is vital for my betting. I was interested in Bronterre, but having watched him to post stayed well clear.

Willo and Luck on big race days are a very good combination, willo is original and that puts him apart from the rest but he can also let himslef down when he gets bored.

I watched bits of RUk yesterday and I thought Willo did one of his better shows. I think when the quality if high he tones it down and gives analysis thats interesting. RUK also tried to show more horses to post that is vital for my betting. I was interested in Bronterre, but having watched him to post stayed well clear.

Willo and Luck on big race days are a very good combination, willo is original and that puts him apart from the rest but he can also let himslef down when he gets bored.

Carver , think you are very unfair on Luck. He does know his stuff , does his homework and is an excellent presenter ( the only one that US tv racing employs btw ) Who would you rather have ? Cattermole ?

howard, Willo, for me.

will-o'-the-wisp - an illusion that misleads

Same old same old from the Willo bashers.  Dread to think what would come out of your mouths given a four hour transmission from Newmarket, where post-race opinions are demanded instantly with no real time for second thoughts.  That is, of course, assuming anything would come out at all while we waited for you to stop **** yerselfs.   

He's a legend imo.  But hey, it's just an opinion!

Back again today and opening up with a couple of useless puns - bit worried they might have lost The Headmaster who has probably passed out laughing.

why would you listen to pundits baffles me ,the form book , race reading , my computer are all i need , you only have to look in the racing post verdicts or sportinglife to know they spent limited time studying these races ,some of the things they miss are amazing eg horse been off x number of days will need the run guessers

stopper....sounds as if you should apply for jamess job...you sound as if you would a big asset to RUK

be a  big asset*

be a  big asset*

fred gone quiet after he puts up 13/2 winner in the opener

Being entrenched in poverty I cann't afford RUK but I quite enjoyed the articles he'd write in the RP.
His theories are quite interesting and thought provoking ,in a way similer to nick Mordin,  which is
surely the sign of a good journalist.
Lets face it if you had to talk about a mid week card at Pontefract for 4 hours it ain't going to be easy
to not talk waffle.

If someone gave me a flight ticket to the Breeders cup I'd sit next to him for half of the flight.

i would the 2nd half ,after someone through him out at 30,000 ft in the 1st half

We're all ignorant because we see right through the biggest fraud that ever landed on racing

I think you should speak for yourself sivergreaser as I, for one, do not agree with you at all ....

He calls himself the Prof on twitter that's all you need to know about him not short of confidence but useless all that analysis of pedigree and sectional times and for what? no winners any more than the majority of us.

The man never stops trying to be something he isn't, fraud?

Calls himself Professor Hindsight,do not pick and choose facts to make your point seem stronger as this is unfair.

thought JW called it a day not long ago?

holly willoughbys big sister

The guy might actually be likeable if he wasn't so entrenched with been superior?

Its called pseudo intellectualism....

I quite like Willo. I can get all the basic information I need because it is readily available. It's those strange little nuances that can be gained from listening to others. Things I hadn't thought of because I, for one, don't know everything.
Similarly I don't expect a good pro punter on the tele because he will be too busy making money. And I don't think I could stand some smart a r s e picking winners all of the time.
No, I quite like some of what he says, the rest I can leave along thank you.

On the other hand the Admiral, or Captain or whatever you call him, I cannot stand listening to him and his tone of voice or his false amusement. No sir, not for me.

Sorry for the late reply Howard. I agree Nick Luck knows his stuff, but the problem is he strains every single sinew to let you know it. And name drops. And overhypes everything. And hero-worships virtually every big name in the game (virtually everyone is 'wonderful this, wonderful that...'). And never lets the action speak for itself - sometimes the action is that good it does not need his gas. And yes, they may employ him in the USA (i've never trusted the Americans on matters of taste btw) but I think they have over the yrs also employed McCririck, and he is an even bigger disaster on TV (if not for the full night, certainly to dip into their coverage).All of the above said, when Nick Luck anchors it from the studio, i quite like him. When he anchors from te track, he just grates horribly.

If you want hero worshipping is there anyone better than Matt "I simply get so sexually aroused at the sheer mention of a jockey and trainer" Chapman?

He is missed on the american racing.
The battleships exacta grid , crusty and the good old boys are desperate for a run.

Never a dull moment when Willo is on, and it's often a laugh-a-minute. "The King of the One Liners", as Richard Hoiles once described him. Great to have him back on doing the punditry with his 'crazy' and alternative take on events. And for those of us who follow the AW as much as the jumps, good news that he'll be "Mr Wednesday Night" and covering Kempton through the winter.

Stress the word "DULL" the so called comedy is almost staged, give me natural comedy anytime not forced contrived look at me I'm so witty fake humour?

You sound very angry, greasy.

silver is there anything that you will talk to me about that you are not angry about,whats your fav holiday destination.and dont say bloody foreigners

Always get confused between him and luck and cunningham.
Theyre all pompous annoying tw@ts who couldnt tip shyt from a bucket

By the way, has there ever been a TV pundit who tipped winner after winner, and deivered a flawless analysis after each race?

If so, could you please tell me his / her name?

Not to my knowledge

There all freeloaders riding the gravy train

Used to quite like dear old john rickman though.He was a real gent

Not to my knowledge

There all freeloaders riding the gravy train

Used to quite like dear old john rickman though.He was a real gent

wtf

Not angry just can't take to fake people, give me honesty everyday, as for my fav holiday destination, I'm a working class guy with kids and I'd fly back and forth to Salou everyday of the week if I could, perfect working class holiday has everthing children could want and big kids like me.
Never forget or run from your roots

You're describing James as "fake" and "dishonest"?

No, you're not angry, just clueless and a poor judge of character.

I would love see all his critics on here all have a go at the job he does live on TV.

Some people may not like his manner at times, but to do that job you need an awful lot of self-belief or you would just freeze trying to come up with anything 'half relevant'.

The criticism is unfair in my opinion.

Everyone to his own, you think he's the bees knees I don't and I think I left enough clues as to why I don't.

Me  thinks  he doth sport   the fancy feathers of the  literati
  and is what I call  a smarty  Alec !
always  using eleven words  when seven or less will do !!!

Try one word less a day  willo …at least it’s a start ..
I  imagine  like may of his media  ilk he washes but once a week
rises a  ten thirty and strolls along  to the Course , humming   some  little ditty on his way,   no doubt
some  liberal   feminist  squawk  from the  eighties,   which genre he  seems to have a liking  for .

Then it is straight into  what you call  rightly  call his .' analysis  paralysis '  of said races , 
blabbing  on  about some desperate Nag   or other running off a rating of  forty five ....giving us all to believe that  the  beast  has lashings of   thus far  untapped  potential
and  a lineage
going back to Pegasus ....we smash into it  even though  we should know better ... Race over;  he makes light of our misfortune  and turns to his
fellow  pundit ...Nick never brought me any  Luck    Luck !!!! and invites him
to  comment on the  fact that the  female winner  is owned ,trained ridden
and is even  now being  washed down  by a  female
‘sisers are doing it for themselves ‘. he  quips , then  qualifies this rash statement
,'not to themselves'   for some unknown reason Luck  thinks this is
very funny and allows  thirty seconds of air time to go  unfilled
while he recovers  his  composure 


In what way is that of any interest  to the  loosing  punter still perusing  the screen  to see  where  myth of   Pegasus finished up !!!!!! ...he's a definite Wrongun ...get rid of him  is my advice

James need not worry about his few detractors, come Wednesday evening there'll be another mountain of e-mails from viewers who respect him, his opinions, and want to hear his views.

Greasy, you can always press the mute button, but by the sound of things, you hang on his every word.

Its not just RUK george its everything, his articles on the Racing Post sounded more like a college professors thesis, as if to let everyone know how clever he is, hello! we're talking about horse racing here its not science ffs.
But James wants us to think that there is a science to a horse running from a to b, what usually happens the fastest horse wins, hmmm... not much science can do about that eh?

hes not deliberatly annoying,its is defence shield,

he worked is why owt a yuksure,faffer stopped him going down pit.so he worked extra hard,now down here and on the post,he meets alot of people who have been given their place(nick luck)and didnt have to struggle,so he feels a bit beneth them /not worthy,but hes clever and as worked hard ,unlike the res of the people he meets,so to give himself some confidence,he uses big words/more words - why ,because he can,because they cant.its what he does to fit in with the in crowd.because hes not instantly respected ,he tries to urn it with his education.

You summed it up for me comingupthehill, why can't he just be himself instead of trying to be way above his stature to prove what?

Sounds like a guy in need of something, attention maybe?

his 'inside of the inside, inside of the outside, inside if the outside of the inside...' speech had to be heard to be believed!

i dont mind james as a person, but over complicating things is an understatment!! usually resulting in his explaining why (HE THINKS) the winner won resulting in some propostereous formula regarding why horses bred by that particular sire preform better when its under 14 degress C!!

best just to mute as many said, worthless in the long run!

like all the presenters on RUK and ATR, he annoys the hell out of us all by telling us after the race why the winner was the only horse you could have backed, and just like the rest of them, chances are he never even mentioned the winning horse in his race preview.

let's face it, if he and/or any of his presenting mates could pick lots of winners then they wouldn't need to "lower" themselves to speak to the likes of us on TV.

I did email willo once on RUK about a certain racing situation and he just dismissed my email instantly as being nonsense until his co-presenter pointed out that two well known and respected trainers also held the same view.
he instantly switched to talking about the merits of my idea, although I suspect he was talking about the merits of the idees of the two trainers and in his head he still thought that my views didn't count as I was just a nobody.

it's not just willo who treats viewers with contempt though.
it's the old "when did you ever ride a horse" syndrome.
if you're not a trainer or a jockey then you know nothing about racing and you don't belong in our private club. (some of the big wealthy owners and senior members of the BHA are accepted into this exclusive club)

I would like to give James Willoughby some advice after Poetic lords win at goodwood yesterday he said the reason it won was because R Hughes set the right pace in the right place in the race and quickened at the right time in other words he kept it simple,exactly James so why not apply that theory to yourself keep it simple.

he as missed his calling as he would be a great ventriloquist. His mouth seems like it does not move when he speaks. check it out when he is on screen.

Yes, he would probably make a great ventriloquist - gottle o'geer anyone?

I suspect Watchit isn't far wrong and it wouldn't surprise me if the emails are stage managed as well. There was one about the Arc winner just so Luck could pipe up about the Captain and GC tipping it - RUK never miss a trick in the back slapping department.

wee eck     09 Oct 11 09:32 
dod I have subscribed to RUK since its inception but after years of listening to what I

consider balderdash from its experts and pundits until Willo appeared I  had the mute

on 90% of the time.


..is why I have cancelled by subscription. Its all pretenious bullshlt - saying anything to fill airtime - with a manner thats suggests an intellectually superior mind.Its 'emporers new clothes' stuff, and an insult to anyone who has the slightest idea about horses and horseracing.

the only people who stick up for willoughby on here have worked with him at timeform or the racing post imo the people who are against him are the viewer and the punter just a hunch

Can't speak for the others but you've got me wrong, watchit.  I've never been scared of people who use big words and I don't follow other folk's tips so maybe that's where you and I differ.  What I do detest is people reading out the spotlight verdicts from the RP and that, I hope we can agree, is something you could never accuse James of.

"..is why I have cancelled by subscription. Its all pretenious bullshlt - saying anything to fill airtime - with a manner thats suggests an intellectually superior mind.Its 'emporers new clothes' stuff, and an insult to anyone who has the slightest idea about horses and horseracing."

So you're not able to view racing from any RUK tracks (unless on C4 / ATR)?

They are pundits I would rather not have to listen to, so the simple solution is to use the mute button. What matters is that I'm able to view the actual racing, anything else is very much secondary.

"There are"

George B.
Only wish to watch the race I've had a bet in. Can do this on-line with the relevant internet bookmaker.

tbh i dont mind the guy he can be quite funny sometimes and does impart the odd snippet of info that is illuminating, never usually about the winner but seeing as most of them are useless its better than the same oldsame old imo...

Oh, are these the same bookies who have bled the sport dry so we're in the situation we're in regarding prize money, who also limit stakes, close winning accounts, and piss off off-shore to avoid paying levy?


So long as you have got your priorities right...

yeh the ones that employ broonie or tommo or cornelious, Willo might not be the best tipster ever but i dont think he's a fifth columnist

Actually, watchit, from what I've heard the press room and its outer fringes can be a pretty unfriendly place sometimes so don't think people would stick up for him out of loyalty or whatnot.  They'd only bother to post if it was genuine.  Maybe you should just acknoweldge that some of us who don't know the guy just like him, even 'get' him perhaps, and think he's a little bit funny too.  Now why don't you Willo-bashers stop being so nasty and find something more constructive to do!

watchit     10 Oct 11 14:18 
the only people who stick up for willoughby on here have worked with him at timeform or the racing post
imo
the people who are against him are the viewer and the punter
just a hunch



I can just about stomach the fact that you're a chippy little g1mp more often than not, but as I advised to that other dweeb bilbobaggins with his own single-issue obsession, don't flatter yourself and presume to speak for me as a viewer and a punter.

I am willing to post todays P and L
Are you Crawmong ?
I am confident you are a two pound knob
Howz about it then


Pathetic

maybe, but i can see right through you.

this fred is turning nasty and for that reason i am out, which is unusual.....

the best ruk tipster by far and the one who talks the most sense is Steve Mellish,met him at york a few year ago,decent fella too !!