AP MCCOY TO JOIN CH 4 RACING

nah they just provide extra carriages on the gravy train
i'm sure he will add nothing to the coverage apart from being another jockeys apologist

McCoy - Can be like Gary Neville surprisingly different....honest insight this is the Champion in half measures

Claimed to be bringing a 'Unique insight'.   Sure those same words were used when  describing Fitzy.

Perhaps unlike some other of the gravy train freeloaders,  he may be able to say it like it is.   Financially he doesn't need it, so maybe he can afford to be outspoken.  However, can  you really see him pulling Jonjo up about a JP non-trier?

The sport is crying out for a "Gary Neville" type pundit to shake up the whole industry.

Typo - no half measures

ch4 need McCoy not the other way round

Just seen your post THE LEGEND... great  minds.

In a nutshell.

Bet everyone is really licking their lips at the prospect.

Might have ridden about 4 million winners but didn't anyone notice that having sticking plaster over his lips was part of the JP contract?

To be fair to the head hunters it is quite difficult. The non-jocks are rubbish and the jocks are even more rubbish.

Wow crazy minds on the same level

what really is the big deal (for someone who actually understands horses) to analyse objectively the jockeyship in a race, good and bad? lets hope mccoy fills the niche

You guys must get real; the carriages on the train must not be rocked lest gravy be spilt.

If ch4 - want to be market leaders in TV horse racing McCoy no holds bar - could promote them Sky -style off the sport they already go HD & jockey cams need a quality honest no holds barred Pundit

mccoy doesnt need to compromise himself pp

Jockeys and trainers get the hump if they are criticized.   So very rarely will the media get stuck in.   Then end up as apologists.

Even the phrases they use are all about positive spin.

An example.  Instead of saying a trainer has not had a winner for 3 months... they say "his horses are just starting to turn the corner"..

Like it or not...............lay into (verbally) a jockey and nobody will talk to you. It is not the fault with the presenters (generally).
A certain Mr Chapman tried to say it as it was..............nearly lost his job. It is annoying for us..........however would we all risk our jobs?

AP's great, but he's too intimately connected with too many people to be objective.

Why do journalists NEED to be able to talk to jockeys and/or trainers?

when viv richards was asked about the west indian players not liking his newspaper opinions, he said  -tough when you become a journalist you go onto the other side and work for the public who are paying your wages, racing needs more of that attitude

Any betting on wot his catchphrase will be?

Any betting on wot his catchphrase will be?


How many winners have you ridden?

Swwing as he'll be working with that Balding tnuc doubt he'll get to say too much at all.

AP's column was a must-read in Her Majesty's Daily Telegraph. The man is a fair judge of the form book, which a lot of jockeys are not.

'He's caught a cold, in the green & gold, but he'll improve 50lbs for the experience'

Robbie Savage can be a real pain at times,but is an ex player and DOES say it how it is,and doesn't pull his punches.So if a footballer can do it,so can a jockey.
Obviously criticism may result in being "blanked",but if it was you are paid to do,then the bad things have to be said,and the consequences accepted,or don't take the job knowing you are expected to criticise your colleagues,if need be.
They can always turn round and say "this isn't for me,as I don't want to become unpopular with my mates,and ex paymasters"!

unbiased, if he was going to talk ******* like RS, I would rather he said nothing. However as they say, it is a game of opinions.

Zero chance of McCoy saying anything controversial but he does not have to be great shakes to show how little Fitzgerald knows about form .... we know already how desperate he is ...

The fact of the matter is trainers and especially jockeys throw their toys out of the pram if you dare criticize them. I remember watching Channel 4 racing one day a couple of years and at a meeting at Sandown. Nick Luck went to talk with Barry Geraghty and Barry was like "how dare you criticize me for a ride" I'm not sure what ride it was, but obliviously Nick had said something about one of his rides in a newspaper column or on the morning line the week before. Nick has not made the same mistake twice because he doesn't want to be thrown from the gravy train. It was funny how Barry reacted though and he reacted like all the top jockeys and trainers do. Do you really think McCoy is going to criticize any of his pals and when Claire comes back you can be sure she won't either. It will just be one sickening love in with mutual back slapping the order of the day.

*years ago

One of life's great mysteries how Muckhoy retired with a squeaky clean image.

That's why he retired Ocean no? Whilst legacy was still just about intact?

When Claire comes back I won't be watching anyway. Her style of presenting probably appeals to pony owning 11yo girls and their mummy's but it certainly doesn't to me.

Maybe, AD.

C4 Racing would be better off hiring Leonna Mayor in a very low cut top. That would boost viewing figures.

Football pundits Gary Neville & Robbie Savage seem to be surprisingly popular (they were hated as players) so what specifically do they do which the gravy merchants baulk at?

Nice guy AP.
But if anyone honestly believes he will bring anything that will improve CH4 to any great extent or have a pop at anybody who has given something a bad right is clearly deluded.
Racing folk hate any form of criticism......look how Ryan Moore behaves with the press for example. Yes Moore can do what he likes but it costs nothing to be polite at the very least.
Good luck to AP but the producers of CH4 will not allow him to throw off the shackles and say what he would really thinks as it upsets the whole incestuous racing industry.
Hope I'm wrong but probably not!

There have been a number of occasions in racing when jockeys have taken legal action against newspapers for criticising jockeys for for what the writer considered a "poor" ride.

One of the most recent actions was when Kieren Fallon was awarded damages against the Sporting Life in the High Court.

As a result, senior management in all sections of the media will not allow their writers/pundits to say anything controversial about jockeys/trainers otherwise the organisation could find themselves on the costly end of  a legal action.

If they wish to stay in employment, journalists/pundits have no alternative other than to keep their lips buttoned.

hardly the most articulate presenter .. lucky to get much out of him i reckon

bring back big mac!!!!

CH4 in a desperate attempt to pull in more viewers  will wait and see if his contributions are worthwhile

They all thought they were doing really well and they were but still haemmorhaging viewers no matter what spin they put on it and now it's move over darling and stinks of desperation.Position simply is not recoverable now.

cant wait for ruby.

Fitz like Francomb and Carson can spout on for hours if required but AP is not like that and is not a personality type of person. Big Mac an experienced race reader was the only one to try to tell it from the punters point of view.

Surely the legal actions to which you refer, Pinhooker, concerned allegations of corrupt riding? I cannot see how an action based on fair criticism could possibly succeed?

Paris. Can you define "fair" criticism in a racing context, please? There are so many varying factors involved in winning or losing a race, I submit that jockey "error" is only one of them.

big mac an "experienced race reader"

Pinhooker , an objective,balanced critique that does not infer anything "criminal" (for want of a better word).

That certainly applies to many things in life Paris. But not in horse racing where it is impossible to differentiate between hard fact and opinion.

We will have to agree to disagree, Pinhooker.

Anyone can criticise a footballer who makes a mistake or has a bad game. Any criticism of a jockey is taken to infer that he is as dishonest as he is incompetent. After a long apprenticeship how many are incompetent? If dishonest 99% of trainers would not touch them. There are more dishonest horses than riders.
I loved the quote from a head girl after her rider was getting stick from the crowd. Blame the horse not him. If it was any good it would not be running here.

Oldgit. Your message is spot on....."Pundits" are simply employed by the TVs companies to hopefully hold viewers interest between races.

Agree with ashleigh's hopes: that they can now get shot of that dull droning twit fitz   Fingers X

I would not let that greedy feckless peasant on the TV...

Advertising an offshore alleged "betting" company that does not want to pay anything towards UK prize money was the height of hypocrisy..

His fellow jockeys many who find it hard to meke a living on p iss poor prize money must be shaking their heads..

Greedy fecker who should be deported...

Jocks know F*** A*** when it comes to punting

Lets see them ask a jock what price is this a bet at ?

Anybody can tell you the horse has a chance but what price is it a bet.

This is why over 90% of punters on here lose because they don't have a clue at what price the horse is a bet.

Coming back from the races one day taking about the next days racing

Dave Nev I put this in at 7/1 I said I make it a 7/2 chance would you like to lay me £1,000 to £140 yes says Dave

Horse wins

I see Dave never put that in his books about me being the lying c*** he is he wrote he never saw me back a winner.

Well not only did he see me back a winner he counted out the money as he handed it over. 

Maybe he just forgot ? as he was dealing in zillions

Agree with last 2 posts, there is not a pundit worth tuppence, cowards the lot of them, look at the grief Jose is getting, can you imagine any jockey, trainer getting that sort of grief from CH4 or the racing press? Bottom licking White feather types the lot of them, but then again, when the trade paper is run by a complete idiot, what do we expect?

The guy has all the personality of a chip. Comes out with stuff that he thinks is funny but Like a bad comedian can't deliver a punch line. Go and do something else coz I'm sick of the sight of you to be honest. Not critisising his achievements but he has a face and tone for radio. Give somebody else a chance.

we might get to see 2 mins of mc coy scattered amongst the hours of vista print ads..

When Channel 4 racing coverage was launched it had a much different style to the BBC coverage which appeared stuffy. Especially with Big Mac it had a much different approach than the BBC with Julian Wilson. I don't think the old stuffy image would appeal to a wider audience today, but serious punters would probably prefer someone like Julian Wilson (?)

He should never be able to express an opinion as he has been bought by a certain alleged bookmaker with scant regard to his ex-colleagues..

Imagine Gary Neville extolling the virtues of betfraud...

He has nothing to say and should be relegated to the ranks of the chancers...

The biggest problem with C4 Racing is they are always looking for some sob story behind the winner. Rather than have genuine discussions regarding different approaches to betting, they spout 5hite and blow wind up "Insiders" wholes who wouldn't even give the average C4 viewer the steam off their pi55.

Why is Sky popular? Why is RTE football coverage more popular in Ireland? Cos they aren't afraid to hammer jocks/trainers or actually give a genuine opinion.

One thing about C4 is why they need so many "Pundits" to fill time. One of the great C4 productions was James Richardson sitting in some Italian city square with an ice cream and papers in front of him discussing the weeks news....This could easily be a format transferable to racing. Sometimes less is more....not in racing........too much racing and too many pigs at the trough

I dont think Mccoy is very eloquent. Tom Scudamore was very good today on C4. now hes got a future good intelligent comments

Why is Sky popular? Why is RTE football coverage more popular in Ireland? Cos they aren't afraid to hammer jocks/trainers or actually give a genuine opinion.

Is it cheaper fella..

another shocking peformance from ch 4 again yesterday rishi saw the best jockey,best ride,best race,greatest horse ever ,at least since last weekend and next saturday we,ll see 4 more,fitzy spent all morning and all afternoon using cue card to bring plunkett and her injured husband into the conversation, and to put the tin hat on it anyone expecting a different angle from mcoy he tweeted about found,greatest trainer and greatest jockey,no doubt his next comment will be a winning ride will be a great one

They should have somebody like myself.

I would say things like I have this in at 5/2 and at 5/1 it looks a good bet to me.

You ever heard that from anybody on Ch 4 ?

That's what the punters want to hear not some story about god knows what he wants to win a few shillings.

Punters will soon know if the person in front of them knows what he is taking about.

Its now a million on a JP non jigger will not be highlighted by the panel present (drifted from previous odds of 1/2 a miilion on.)

ch 4 ,atr kept showing sherwood interview where he said the national winner hadnt missed a beat and expected a good showing under the soft condtions, never really showed beaten miles,fair enough , but then tanya droned on about how they would have been over the moon with his performance,where actualy they,d be thinking this might be another national winner who doesnt win again,last night gleneagles ran like nearly every viewer and most pundits thought he would but because no one wanted to call aiden and the boys foooking loons,they spent hours discussing the race as thought he really had a chance of winning

What they really need is that chap called Derek.Can't remember his other name.Something like Timson or Thomas......

Nov 1, 2015 -- 5:33PM, artie wrote:

What they really need is that chap called Derek.Can't remember his other name.Something like Timson or Thomas......

****.its **** m8

you were right tanya such a good prep by many clouds for the hennesy he,s not evening been aimed at the race,hope you wereon ante post tanya, karma for the shoite you spout day in day out

As others have said, it's highly unlikely he's going to add anything new or say a great deal that could be deemed to be particularly controversial about jockeys/trainers. Years with Jonjo and horses improving two stone out of the blue, not averse to riding for Jim Best when he's pulling one of his switcheroos etc. I imagine he'll talk more intelligently than Fitzy, but that's not saying much really.