boring

flyingbolt, you may be naive to the way this industry works, but whether you like it or not, these programmes are designed to keep punters betting and losing - that way the racing industry, that funds itself through a share in the bookmaking industry's profits, makes more money, and C4, a commercial platform whose objective is ONLY to make a profit, continues to receive betting industry sponsorship and advertising revenue.

The broadcast exists to help its commercial partners remove the money of the people watching - it's not there to make punters' lives easier, which, I would suggest, is why it employs tractable bookmaker mouthpieces, presenters with family links to the racing industry, failed tipsters, and 'pundits' who couldn't make a profit from betting if they had until the end of the century to practice...

Luck I find awful. Did he go to Eton ?

Yes I know, millhouse.

You told me last week................and the week before ...............and the week before.............and the week before..............zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

ffs

As for naive....I've been called a lot of things in my time. Some were probably right. Naive isn't

I used to like Graham Rock

Seemed like a really nice bloke.

Knowledgeable but modest and excellent as kettledrum too

Flyingbolt, I post only to try, in the smallest of ways, to make the lives of those seeking to exploit punters harder.

I couldn't give a flying one how entertained you are, frankly...

someone like brian dowling would bring a certain flamboyance to the format.he s great on celebrity bb

he d enjoy a hand up his backside

What does that mean Peter - that it's OK to lie and cheat as long as you've got enough to get some chips at the end of your shift...?

What exactly did McCririck "do for racing " iyo ?

As for turning up at Walthamstow wtf has that got to do with horse racing ?

OK Flyingbolt. I'll have to look them up but am cooking at the moment. I guess at least one amateur per season beat the woeful Fitzgerald. It's a shame he followed Dunwoody at Seven Barrows. He'd never be able to live up to that.

Not really millhouse tbh

its appalling,bring back john the stirrer.john parrot was always a good tipster,and opinionated.steve off ruk.

Gone to sleep Flyingbolt?

Just mention his involvement in the TOTE shyte............ring any bells?

drop the quiz,nobody gives a shyte,dracula,cunningham,how many times will he tip up ,nicholls henderson mc cain,we will have to wait and see,tanya,passed sell by date,pashad,an idiot,gift of the useless gab,les,i cant stand.

I was watching Kempton on RUK and C4 and RUK was just as bad, some guy talking drivel about he was not giving away any state secrets when he told us he normally tips the favourite in 2yo races. Some of the RUK presenters are as poor as C4. I found the Naas coverage on ATR the most enjoyable viewing today.

There’s a line in JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye which goes: ‘Certain things, they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.’

By Des Lynam telegraph.co.uk

“You’re not so good on ITV” was a criticism I had to contend with when I terminated a long career with the BBC to switch to that organisation some years ago.

Once on Match of the Day we slightly altered the programme’s signature tune but got so much criticism from the viewers we quickly changed it back to the original.

I had the interesting challenge of taking the presenter’s role on Countdown after Richard Whiteley, who had chaired the programme for umpteen years, died. Some fans of the show never forgave me as if I was responsible for the poor man’s demise.

In short, most television viewers do not readily take to change, which brings me to Channel 4 Racing. I know it is early days and their big tests will come later but so far I do not feel as comfortable with their coverage as I did before.

Of course La Balding, whose trails have been shown constantly, has yet to appear regularly. She will bring her new status as national treasure to the proceedings I am sure, but I miss the West Country burr and racing nous of Johnny Francome in particular and, dare I say it, the rantings of John McCririck, who as you have probably read has not gone quietly.

Tanya Stevenson looks strangely lost without her irritating sidekick, a bit like Ernie without Eric, while Mick Fitzgerald has yet to seem as relaxed as he appeared on the BBC.

One part of sports broadcasting that changes little down the years and is all the better for it is radio commentary. I found myself awake in the small hours of Thursday morning, switching on Radio 5 Live and there was the reassuring tone of Jonathan Overend bringing us Andy Murray’s second-round match at the Australian Open. He was ably supported by the former British player Jeremy Bates. I was immediately transported to the heat and blue skies of Melbourne and for an hour or so the world seemed a better place.

The doyen of radio tennis commentators was the late Max Robertson who prided himself on trying to describe every shot played but the listener could not possibly follow where the ball was. Overend has worked out that the trick is not to try to detail every shot but to paint a word picture of the proceedings and the scenes around them which he does exceedingly well.

By the way, it is a bit like suggesting Mother Teresa had her faults, but Ms Balding has tried radio tennis commentary and, put it this way, she is not as good at it as she is at everything else.

Sports commentary on radio began for me back in the Fifties when my father and I got up in the early hours of the morning, just one wireless in the house in those days in the sitting room, to listen to the broadcast from America of the great Rocky Marciano against the British fighter Don Cockell. I was immediately hooked on both boxing and radio.

Radio sports commentary remains a delight, a journey of imagination as the commentator creates the scene and the mood for us but the medium allows our minds to wander as we please. Despite all the gadgets and gizmos of modern life it remains a beautiful constant.

In so many other areas, as Mr Salinger put it, ‘People are always ruining things for you’.

The great original "Languid",Des.

Similar to the greatest ever unbiased commentator that ever lived,Bill McClaren............Holt and his ilk will never come close.imvho

And I do rate Simon btw.

Mick dosnt need to prove himself,anyone who knows the game knows that..,could listen to him all day,even his opinion on flat horses is more quantified  than some of the kretins on here that would have you believe they were beyond judgement....and he enjoys a pint or two,so all in he can stay on the c4 team for me.

Mubtaker,he does need to prove himself.

Like yourself he is not (your words) quantified on flat hearses or croutons,pints are fine btw.