Clare Balding & Francesca Cumani in frame to host C4 racing coverage

Claire will be foaming out the mouth of the prospect of that (me as well )

no not CB she had the most ghastly khaki blouse on today she looked like a jar of colemans mustard

Excellent news. Dump the entire existing C4 team (barring Holt, Hoiles and Machin) and start again.

Francesca Cumani

phwoar

I would imagine Mcririck will be shown the door, Ms Balding wouldn't want him fawning all over her.

n/o Tarnya stays

Hope they get rid of both codes presenter pairings.
Catt and Emms is a vile combination & Fat Al and Alice fancy dress hats is simply horrific.

Build the thing around CB and its a winner, get the old guard out,clean house of all the soup takers and guessers and replaace with a funky outfit that will ask the questions of trainers,jocks etc that we all want answering.

CB is not a winner imo

Thats cool its all about opinions

make much better and wider use of jim mcgrath

he is the only expert on the show

Big Mac MUST stay

Why ?

why AD the man is offensive and a blatent sexist

AD looking for an article 'bigging up' Big Mac so he can cut and paste. May never receive a reply to the question.

Balding keeps playing the ginger beer card, she has got absolutely no personality to speak of and certainly has no charm as a presenter. Typical BBC appointment.

She leaves me completely cold full stop.

slippy,

You make a fair point there, she's not everyone's cup of tea. I would have reservations about her running the show, the current Channel 4 crew with a couple of exceptions are dire.

Young Cumani a very exciting proposal. Cant have Balding, Tanya or Plunkett all very boring.

I wouldn't say Balding lacks charm at all; two minutes exposure to potato-headed charisma vacuum David Duggan should disabuse you of that notion. Agree that most of current C4 team should be sent packing, especially the ludicrous Emma, though Cattermole is quite sweet and I much prefer his commentaries to the likes of 'Declaim Every Finish Like It Was The Ten Commandments' Mark Johnson & 'downright ****' Aussie Jim.
Racing presentation Dream Team: Balding, Lydia Hyslop, Sean Boyce, Gary O'Brien, Hoiles, Lee Mottershead, Ian Bartlett, Simon Holt, Tanya & possibly McGrath, Eddie Fremantle & Steve Mellish for analysis. Minimum ego, maximum knowledge.

splotto     06 Aug 12 01:32 

Racing presentation Dream Team: Balding, Lydia Hyslop, Sean Boyce, Gary O'Brien, Hoiles, Lee Mottershead, Ian Bartlett, Simon Holt, Tanya & possibly McGrath, Eddie Fremantle & Steve Mellish for analysis. Minimum ego, maximum knowledge.
--------------

"Minimum ego, maximum knowledge."

How the HELL - then -  did the totally talentless SCHOOLBOY Lee Mottershead ...

- make his way onto that list?

LAMENTABLE LEE 'laughing stock' - more like!

Sean Boyce,

FFS have you ever watched him.

There's been a few names put up on this thread who I wouldn't want to see in the new team. I'm sure Nick Luck will be retained, interesting in what capacity though. He may find it difficult to play a lesser role, but, hey, you never know once you're on the gravy train any morsels are welcome.

Although Clare Balding is technically a freelance, most of her work is with the BBC and it is not clear how that can be squared with fronting Channel 4 Racing. I doubt Channel 4 would mind and nor would the BBC, officially, but Clare might see those Wimbledon and Olympics gigs drying up. It might be different if she were replacing Nick Hewer on Countdown rather than competing with BBC Sport.

What is depressing is the concentration on presenters, without regard to the programme's content or even what role those presenters will fill. Rather, it is the quick fix mentality: buy in a proven broadcaster (CB) or a pretty face (Francesca Cumani) and viewers will tune in regardless.

It's pathetic, really. The producers may sneer, rightly, at posters on here who obsess about sex and sexuality like middle-aged 12-year-old boys who never grew up: phwoar, I'd give the new French teacher one; careful in the showers, girls, the PE teacher's a lesbian; Catt's standing next to Emma again so they must be shagging. But the producers are equally obsessed: it is not Francesca's decade at Timeform that makes her a candidate, and Catt and Emma were chosen for their looks.

Look at the innovations brought to football and cricket coverage over the past decade or so. More cameras; technology used to enhance analysis and understanding; commentators and analysts who have done their homework. In racing, we mainly get chancers winging it after a quick glance at the Racing Post during the adverts; sometimes drunk, often hung over. Presenters who stumble over their words and talk (or often shout) over each other.

Ah, but Andrew Franklyn is a broadcasting genius, so there is nothing fundamentally wrong with Channel Four Racing. It just needs a new pretty face in front of the camera.

I would like to see Gary O'Brien presenting - one of the few who doesn't seem smug, and he has a great understanding of the game - and throw in pundits who actually understand what betting is all about e.g. Hugh Taylor, Tom Segal.

Kind Regards,

RyanWe talking from Fantasy Island.

surprised no one has mentioned hislop.

Splotto, I see Lee Motor head was included in the dream FFS, how wide of the mark is that eh?
What on earth could Lee Motorshead bring to broadcasting/jouralistic platforms. He typifies all that's wrong about
today's racing media. I have a solution that's in keeping with the present status quo.
Let Ed Quighly run the whole show.

bring michael owen in he might do a decent job and hes looking for work

Balding and condescension are inseparable, a thoroughly unlikeable human being.

Ah, but Andrew Franklyn is a broadcasting genius, so there is nothing fundamentally wrong with Channel Four Racing. It just needs a new pretty face in front of the camera

Ramruna, that's probably the most incorrect appraisal I have ever read.

It will be interesting to see how many of the usual suspects get retained if Highflyer and Franklin aren't calling the shots any more (particularly those employed because of a connection).

The whole thing desperately needs freshening up, the same tired faces have been playing out the same mind numbingly boring routines for literally decades on end...

Thats not what the top BBC producers think and considering we have the best television in the world i they can't be wrong .Also she hasn't done badly for somebody you describe as thoroughly unlikeable.That don't make sense.Clare is a true professional at her job and we are lucky to have her tbh

splotto
Date Joined:     07 Apr 12
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06 Aug 12 01:32 Joined: 07 Apr 12 | Topic/replies: 3 | Blogger: splotto's blog
I wouldn't say Balding lacks charm at all; two minutes exposure to potato-headed charisma vacuum David Duggan should disabuse you of that notion. Agree that most of current C4 team should be sent packing, especially the ludicrous Emma, though Cattermole is quite sweet and I much prefer his commentaries to the likes of 'Declaim Every Finish Like It Was The Ten Commandments' Mark Johnson & 'downright ****' Aussie Jim.
Racing presentation Dream Team: Balding, Lydia Hyslop, Sean Boyce, Gary O'Brien, Hoiles, Lee Mottershead, Ian Bartlett, Simon Holt, Tanya & possibly McGrath, Eddie Fremantle & Steve Mellish for analysis. Minimum ego, maximum knowledg

SEAN BOYCE????? You must be Sean Boyce to have posted that. Pathetic apologist for racing's establishment , complete and utter waste of space and to top it all an avowed aftertimer.

just want to remind u of this years derby

we had pictures of clare as a child.......stories of clare meeting queen ac kid......YAWN........BIT MORE ABOUT BONFIRE........how great it would be for andrew..........bit more about.......you would think BONFIRE was the usain bolt in racing

it was the most biased bit of broadcastning i ever witnessed

by the way her brothers horse bonfire looks like been cl 4 handicapper......bring on francesca whos diff gp 1 filly

same old nodding dogs,

If there is indeed a revamp, one thing's for sure, Lesley Graham must not be
given any further airtime. Unless Ed Quigly is gets the gig, that is.

Bustino, that's not to mention the horrible, gushing, fawning, puke provoking, thoroughly condescending coverage of the Derby the year before, when 'Her Majesty's' Carlton House was favourite, during which she spent the whole of the post race coverage virtually accusing the winning connections of spoiling it all for everyone.

It's all about the sell for our Clare - she thinks it's her one woman, jolly hockey sticks, mission impossible to make everyone minding their own business waiting for Deal or No Deal to start think racing is er, 'great'.

All that she's really doing, as she explains to us all what a furlong is like we have the mental age of 30 seconds, is patronising everyone watching in the most excruciating way. This comes across as really desperate, and almost certainly puts people off becoming interested in the sport in the process, imho...

I'd like to see a genuine punter or two talking about what they are backing and why, people outside of the small incestuous "racing family" who will not be worried about rocking the gravy boat.

im sure there are members of the general public whose knowledge of racing, betting and sport in general is far superior to some of these "presenters" in fact i bet a few people that use BF could make them look stupid. But its sad that the ordinary man/woman will never be given a chance on tv because of the "entitled" toffs that they just seem to keep rolling out.

thought we had finally got rid of CB and her cringeworthy embarrassing comments.
if she is really going to present CH4 racing then somebody needs to bring her into the 21st century and put her straight on a few salient points.   

1. punters don't care what a jockey looks like as long as he wins for them. 
2. the only punters who want the queen's horse to win are the ones who backed it.
3. if we haven't bet any of your families' horses then we don't really care whether they ran well or not.
4. CH4 racing already dumbed down more than enough without CB's condescending voice explaining the basics to us.
5. at Royal Ascot we care more about the horses and the racing than about what the Royals are doing.
6. at Aintree please get your facts right before condemning the course in particular and NH racing in general. 
7. at Cheltenham - God help us !!!

claire balding

might help if c4 got a new producer and took racing into the 21st century
the show is garbage and a massive turn off
with or without clare

too much talking boloxs the smaller meetings dont get a mention puntings not just all about big field TV bookies handicaps which they spend too much time analysing most punters give them a swere anyway

Boyce, you've got to be retarded to rate this c*nt.

Big Mac must stay.

FCUK OFFFFFF AD.

I hope the McGrath/Francome partnership stays, they're always fascinating listening especially when a suspended/injured jock joins them at the meetings imo. As for Mac, since he now takes the Imaginary Sign's shilling he can piss off work for them, oh wait....

You can't not help but like Francome, but he just don't take it seriously
anymore, makes rick after rick, and absolutely clueless regarding the form book.

I particularly enjoyed it when they invited Tony Culhane to join them, NMR...

The producers at CH4 are on a loser judged by this thread, absolutely no consensus,when all is said and done as long as the gee-gees are on the box I couldnt give a Nick Luck!

big mac at least 10 years past his sell by date
can't even string a sentence together and stopped being funny after big brother

That is good news, because some change badly needed,
a lot of them now are just going through the motions.

Clare Balding & Francesca Cumani would be excellent for C4.
Doubt if that will please Emma too much, thought she was being groomed
as the face of C4 racing but she is not in the same zone as Clare.

However, Clare would need the right back-up, so a complete shake-up needed,
with a few exceptions current team need changing to get it right.

The future format and presenters, will be heavily influenced by the advertisers on C4.
They need to encourage the new generation of gamblers, who bet on their phones etc,
who are like most of us in our the early days, clueless, But this new breed of clueless
gambler, has a lot more disposable income, they need to be targeted by C4, and their advertisers.

Ask anyone 18-30 who have no interest in racing who Jim McGrath, Nick Luck are and about 0% will know who they are. Ask the same mob who Big Mac is and 99% will know him. Big Mac must stay to convert the youths of today to join the elite masses of the horse racing fraternity.

^ "...... Ask the same mob who Big Mac is and 99% will know him. "

You have a point, even Madonna had heard of Big Mac !

AD, the 18-30 yrs, will want to dissociate from a creature like Mccrilick, he will surely alienate
that target market group. What would they possibly have in common with him?

Yes, Anaglogs, I can see how promoting a misogynist, loud mouth, lost in time, sexist, right wing freak show will have everyone thinking horse racing is a sport that connects with them...

This fred is all what is good about the BF forum...

Get somebody who actually has an opion.

Can't see any mention of the biggest plus -- goodbye Lesley Graham.

Balding is just FULL of her own self importance taking down to the rest of us as if we are plebs.....

Way superior is Matt Chapman if you want a presenter people can relate to!

Personally I'd like to see Sandi Toksvig paired up with Claire Balding, would be the complete opposite of the 'Em and Catt Show' and appeal to a wide cross section of non racing fans.  Matt Dawson would also be worth another shot imo...

Whatever happens nothing will change for the better if Andrew Franklin remains in control, no individual has damaged the public perception of horse racing more in the past twenty years than this utterly dreadful producer...