commentator opinion poll

TOP
1 - David Fitzgerald
2 - Tim Peters
3 - Martin Harris


BOTTOM
1 - Matt Chapman
2 - Graham Goode
3 - Mike Cattermole

garath topham ?

Top
Richard Hoiles
Martin Harris
Simon Hunt


Bottom
Ian Bartlett
Mike Cattermole
Mark Johnson

Simon Hunt a shokking inclusion

Used to have him in clear top spot until a race was too close to call(winner won by about 8 lengths)

Top
1. Simon Holt
2. Richard Hoiles
3. John Hunt

Bottom
Derek Thompson in a category all of his own, way way way below the others, who do at least try to commentate, and don't make a total f**king farcical joke of the job.
Aussie Jim next
Matt Chapman - though I think he's good in the booth, and I respect him for trying.

who is the newish chap who does it over the top like an american, is it lee mckenzie ?

I'll get my coat

Bring Sir Peter O'Sullivan out of Retirement,he would still be a Distance clear of the lot of em'.

Harry Carpenter.
John Arlott.
Kent Walton

Who's the Guy in Dubai?........I like him, and Hoiles.

Top

1. David fitzgerald
2. Martin Harris
3. Richard Hoiles

Bottom

1. Thompson - odious cretin
2. Cattermole - opinionless soft ****
3. Mark Johnson - and they're in the gate

top 2
john hunt
richard pugh

1. John Hunt
2. Simon Holt
3. Malcolm Tomlinson

Top 3

Gerry Hanlon  - enthusiastic, accurate and loud (but not in a 'phoney' kinda of way, seems to get a bit carried away and gives some of those commentaries everything he's got!).

John Hunt - has the voice for it, along with the delivery.

Martin Harris - cool, accurate and crystal clear.

pugh (faultless)
harris
owen (odd one perhaps but i really like him)

Mark Johnson, all the rest are s hit.

Top:

Holt
Pugh
Harris

Bottom:

Scahill - Miles past his sell by date, makes zero comments about jumping errors, pace etc, and basically churns out the same commentary every time with different horse names.

Cattermole - He's just sh!t. Listening to him on the radio you get no sense at all of how the race is going etc.

Tony O'Hehir - In fairness to the man he sounds ill doing his commentaries, but hearing him gasp for breath between sentences isn't exactly easy to listen to. Chuck in the fact he has no passion and you have an all round dull commentator.

Mark Johnson is a decent guy and a very good commentator, all the others on that list are on the gravy train

Top 3
Holt
Machin
Hoiles

Bottom 3
Scahill
Cattermole
M Johnson

where's malcolm tomlinson?

Generally, they are a darned sight better than they were 30 years ago.  The 1983 Triumph Hurdle on youtube is a classic for ordinary racecourse commentary.

top
pugh
pugh
pugh
bottom
scahill
scahill
scahill

sir peter agree miles ahead, goode used to be very good until he tried to be too clever, his commentary on fairy footsteps 1000 gns on you tube was brilliant imo,  simon holt very overated

Top:
1.Hoiles
2.Holt
3.Bartlett

Worst:
Cattermole

Simon Holt is good

But it's 99% having live pictures

Mind you, used to love it, years ago on here, In Running, when commentators like Thompson
got unnecessarily excited about a horse, mid-race, and the price dropped a few points

Doesn't happen so much now.

best
1. Richard Pugh
2. John Hunt
3. Malcom Tomlinson

worst
agree with Ged, Thommo worst by a long chalk

Simon Holt    100
Richard Pugh    80
John Hunt    75
Richard Hoiles    70
Martin Harris    45
David Ftzgerald    40
Mark Johnson    25
Malcolm Tomlinson    25
Terry Spargo    20
Gerry Hanlon    20
Tim Peters    10
Stewart Machin    10
Simon Hunt    5
Darren Owen    5
Tony O'Hehir    -5
Graham Goode    -10
Jim McGrath    -10
Matt Chapman    -25
Derek Thompson    -40
Ian Bartlett    -40
Des Scahill    -60
Mike Cattermole    -65

Top

oops

PETER BROMLEY BEST EVER FACT ON RADIO RIP PETER

Top

1.hoiles

2.holt

3.hunt

Bottom

Cattermole

Aussie Jim

Thompson

Ok ok so i am having technical issues-sorry

Hoiles, Holt, Harris.


Catt, Croc, Thommo.

Mark Johnson is the only one I take notice of when betting in-running. I ignore all the rest.

People can slag Scahill all they like, and he is doing it a long time, but at least he does a commentary on what he sees in the race(he does miss fallers to be fair) unlike all his UK counterparts who's commentaries rely solely on the betting and concentrating on the 'favourite'.

1. Hoiles
2. Holt
3. Hunt

Bottom

1. Cattermole
2. P O`hehir
3. Thompson

Best worldwide, Tom Durkin.

Hoiles, Hunt, Holt

Thompson, Cattermole.

miss dettori posting from the BB house NAP

TOP
---

1) Richard Hoiles
2) Simon Holt
3) John Hunt

BOTTOM
------

1) Derek Thompson
2) Matt Chapman
3) Aussie Jim McGrath

Top

Holt
Hoiles
Topham (very good already imo)

Bottom

Thompson
McGrath
Johnson

My top three

1. Richard Hoiles

2. Simon Holt

3. John Hunt

Not naming my bottom three as I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

1)Mark Johnson
2)R Hoiles
3)= J Hunt        All fine with me
     S Holt

Bottom,too many to mention,bar a few.

1.Hoiles
2.Hunt
3.Harris


WORST
1.Thompson
2.McKenzie
3.Johnson

Goode would have been in the bottom 3 but surely retired about 2 years ago. Chapman is also dreadful but he's been "retired" hasn't he ?

If you have backed the winner they all sound great. However if you're doing your balls they all sound the most annoying people on earth.

top-- harris,hunt,machin

bottom--thommo,chapman,mcgrath

Richard Hoiles    230
Simon Holt    180
John Hunt    135
Richard Pugh    80
Martin Harris    75
Mark Johnson    55
David Ftzgerald    40
Malcolm Tomlinson    25
Terry Spargo    20
Gerry Hanlon    20
Stewart Machin    15
Tim Peters    10
Simon Hunt    5
Darren Owen    5
Topham    5
Tony O'Hehir    -5
Peter O'Hehir    -10
Lee McKenzie    -10
Graham Goode    -30
Ian Bartlett    -40
Matt Chapman    -45
Jim McGrath    -50
Des Scahill    -60
Mike Cattermole    -145
Derek Thompson    -155

top

1 holt
2 hoiles
3 machin

bottom

1 mckenzie
2 chapman
3 johnson

Hoiles, Hunt, Johnston in any order, then Barty, Scahill and Ian (not Lee) McKenzie and Martin Harris.

THE BEST DARREN OWEN END OF

Graham Goode in his late 80s pomp was terrific actually.

TOP

HOILES
HOLT
FITZGERALD

BOTTOM

TOMMO
CROC
CATTERMOLE

top

owen
johnson
machin

bottom
thommo
aussie jim
des scahill

1 johnson
2 holt
3 hoiles

bottom

bartlett
croc
mckenzie

best
fitzgerald
holty
gareth topham

worst
scahill
o heir
johnson

Top
Hoiles
Holt
Gerry Hanlon

Bottom
Aussie Jim
Chapman
Thommo (by a country mile)

Richard Hoiles    285
Simon Holt    240
John Hunt    135
Richard Pugh    80
Martin Harris    75
Mark Johnson    75
David Ftzgerald    65
Darren Owen    45
Malcolm Tomlinson    25
Gerry Hanlon    25
Stewart Machin    25
Terry Spargo    20
Tim Peters    10
Gareth Topham    10
Simon Hunt    5
Peter O'Hehir    -10
Tony O'Hehir    -25
Graham Goode    -30
Lee McKenzie    -35
Ian Bartlett    -60
Matt Chapman    -65
Jim McGrath    -85
Des Scahill    -85
Mike Cattermole    -150
Derek Thompson    -215

Being as much a snooker fan as of racing, just be thankful we havent anyone as bad as Steve Davis or John Parrot in our ranks.

funny how most peoples bottom 3 or 4 are very similar, yet croc, clattermole and tommo keep the jobs

joke

Top
Malcolm Tomlinson
Mark Johnson
John Hunt

Bottom
Ian Bartlett
John Blance
Stewart Machin

1 . iain mackenzie...............forgotten more about racing than most of us will ever know
2 . derek thompson...............infectious enthusiasm
3.  ian barlett..................makes even the most mundane meeting sound classy
 
bottom three
1 mark johnson...................exhausting to listen too
2 stuart machin..................can do without the stupid puns
3 richard hoiles.................a vastly over-rated know all

T 1. Hoiles
T 1. Johnston
  2. Hunt
  3. Barty

  4. Mackenzie
  5. Harris

Top 3  1st Richard Hoiles  2nd Stewart Machin  3rd John Hunt.

Dont quite get this follow.ing for David Fitzgerald yet,may in time become one of the best as he is highly rated by his employers, still new at it and for me seems to over pronounce his words so he has time,also used to like John Hanmer, always used to call the fences on the way down to Bechers in the National, didnt do a lot of commentating so wasnt the best but his voice made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up

question for catt detractors

are his comms really that bad or is it his overall persona that people are putting him bottom 3 ?

i don't personally think they are worse than some of the others in this list, i can rem a couple of mistakes he's made but does that really drop him below chappers etc?

Clattermoles commentaries are awful, often calls distances that are miles out.

How he gets Cheltenham is beyond me.

Richard Hoiles    320
Simon Holt    240
John Hunt    150
Mark Johnson    85
Richard Pugh    80
Martin Harris    75
David Ftzgerald    65
Darren Owen    45
Malcolm Tomlinson    45
Gerry Hanlon    25
Stewart Machin    20
Terry Spargo    20
Ian McKenzie    20
Tim Peters    10
Gareth Topham    10
Simon Hunt    5
Peter O'Hehir    -10
John Blance    -10
Tony O'Hehir    -25
Graham Goode    -30
Lee McKenzie    -35
Matt Chapman    -65
Ian Bartlett    -75
Jim McGrath    -85
Des Scahill    -85
Mike Cattermole    -150
Derek Thompson    -205

Bottom two relegated to flapping

Poor result for Irish Commentators - Peader Flanagan doesnt even get a - vote and only two of the five get + figures. Is it the case that Irish Jocks are best but UK commentators are best?
Always thought irish had the gift of teh gab!

Richard Pugh    80
Gerry Hanlon    25
Peter O'Hehir    -10
Tony O'Hehir    -25
Des Scahill    -85

I can only provide bottom 3 imo
Thompson (nap)
Bartlett (nb)
Cattermole (treble)

Goode (bad)

Looks like I'm a bit of a sheep, and a favourite backer;

1.Richard Hoiles
2.Simon Holt
3.Dead heat with quite a few in contention.

Dead-beats;

Dave Smith...I know he's finished now but I STILL can't stand him!
Derek Thompson...I don't think there's anything else I can insult him with
Matt Chapman...excellent value as a presenter, but the worst commentator of ALL time!

Best

Hoiles
Machin
Fitzgerald

Worst (by some considerable margin)

Scahill - just lists the horses from front to back then repeats until the race is run
Jim "on settling down" McGrath
Derek "they're not messing around" & "that's one for the judge" Thompson

Like them all
but the best  two are Des  and  Tony
it sounds like they are  having  a heart attack  in the final  furlong

You jest of course

they are all pretty good except des scahill and thommo

Despite being an efficient & accurate caller, Dessie Scahill can be particularly annoying when not even informing us who is on the left (or right) when horses have very similar colours, and pre-race, he has NOTHING at all to say!
As we all know, he hardly ever mentions a particular set of silks that's making up ground.

I once heard he has little interest in racing (not sure if it's true) but he evokes little enthusiasm throughout a race and he's effectively commentating on equine bingo!

i dont know how thommo gets away with making a living from presenting and talking about horseracing..........hes not exactly a form expert.........and acts the clown a lot

Best -

1. Holt
2. Hunt
3. Machin

Johnson has the potential to be top 2 but is tremendously smug and tries to make too many 0-55 h'caps sound like the derby.

Worst - Is Very easy

The 2 utterly useless Irish commentators. HTF is Scahill let near a microphone!

and
3. M Chapman - `Franko is my name, WINNING is my game'.
F&%k off you pr&$. Your career ended right there.

Cattermole is a perfectly decent commentator, cannot possibly fathom how he could make anyones bottom 3.

Thommo is hilarious. You would all be missing his `OoOGH THATS CLOSE, I'll leave that to the judge' if he stopped.

Hoiles is very good.

Bartless could be very good but sounds like he is just turning up for the wages.