Jerry Hannon

Fair to say the commentators working today are woeful

these Irish comms are brutal   

Unlike Tommo et all

that's what I call passion, giving it everything and losing your voice for the cause, great stuff!

fair play he gave it everything

nightmare to commentate on with so many gigginstown and J.P runners

fella at Cork's had a shocker today...saying one had held on when it hadnt, calling one in 3rd entering str there that was already tailed off, missing plenty of bad mistakes...bang average, i'm afarid

Justin O has had an absolutely shocking weekend.  He set the bar quite high early for sheer desperate incompetence. One of the favourites in the first at Cork yesterday came down at the first when front and centre of the field interfering with plenty - didn't even get a mention while he was struggling to spit out the name of the one leading,

To be fair he's always bad, just doing them a favour commentating as there's nobody else available.

What are you on about ?, there’s nobody else available my hole. Doing them a favour is right , he’s doing it for nothing so is he ?
He’s just another gravy trainer who is trying to multi task , and he is totally out of his depth . If they told him to run around the track naked between races he’d do it , if they gave him a few bob . There a point to point commentators who would lose this guy but then they mightn’t have the neck like a jockeys bollixx, that O Hanlon has.

workrider - and - kranch/klanch or whatever his name is - along with another 3-letter acronym poster - will be along shortly to berate you.

Meanwhile - I back a horse in Ireland today that went down to 1.42 in-running and finished a close 2nd.

I never heard it mentioned from the final flight - whilst the commentator garbled out half-a-dozen incomprehensible others.

It was only when the Race Market Re-Opened for a Stewards that it's 2nd place past the post became confirmed

They do try to mention too far many horses - and most definitely get over-excited in the race finishes.

Apr 22, 2019 -- 7:05PM, jimeen wrote:

What are you on about ?, there’s nobody else available my hole. Doing them a favour is right , he’s doing it for nothing so is he ?He’s just another gravy trainer who is trying to multi task , and he is totally out of his depth . If they told him to run around the track naked between races he’d do it , if they gave him a few bob . There a point to point commentators who would lose this guy but then they mightn’t have the neck like a jockeys bollixx, that O Hanlon has.

You mean like the motor mouth, know all point to point commentator doing it for RTE today?

Jerry is a great commentator. Very few have his knowledge. Who would you rather in Ireland? Retired dessie?. Tony or peter o Hehir? Or maybe send over tommo or cattermole . Or some racing tv fool.

No MJK , I don’t mean Pugh at all , i am looking for a happy medium between the incompetence of O Hanlon and as you eloquently put it , the know it all style of Pugh. A commentator in my opinion should be like a good referee, he shouldn’t draw attention to himself . But in modern day society there is a growing tendency for bit part players like commentators and refs wishing to be the star performers. We’ve seen it with countless soccer refs , that welsh yoke that refs rugby matches , and there are loads of commentators who grate by trying to be either humorous or insightful, even though they aren’t capable of either . Plenty of them want to give their opinions pre race on the disposition of the horses , and their ability to tell whether horses went to post well . Commentating isn’t enough to these people , exactly the same as Pugh , he has to leave you know that he’s an equine expert who’s talents stretch way out further than just telling people who is winning a race . I am at a stage that I have to mute almost every commentator and that shouldn’t be . Some are more unbearable than others but it’s saying something when I know consider Thommo a breath of fresh air .

Agree, but they don't seem to be out there. Too many people imop couldn't wait to see the back of Dessie, but he read the race as he saw it(yes he missed the odd faller), he never resorted to waffling about breeding, past performances, what might happen, and most annoying for me the continual referencing to the betting we have to listen to from them all these days.

Dessie Scahill was the best commentator by far , it’s hard to put a finger on exactly why but one thing I can say with certainty , and that is , when I backed a loser or laid a winner , unlike the prixx that are commentating today , he never ever made the situation worse by rubbing it in . There was none of these annoying puns , that are common place now . There are many very annoying occurrences when you listen to the modern day commentator.
There’s the know it all styles of Pugh , Hunt and Hoiles.
The roaring of big Mark Johnson , and the sheer incompetence of the likes of Darren Owen and Malcolm Tomlinson.

Sorry I forgot about the biggest knobb of them all , Stuart Machin with his extremely annoying puns. I can picture him at home going through the names putting puns to certain horses were they to win the following day . I’d say if you looked in the commentary box , he wouldn’t be far off blowing his load when one of them puns is about to get an airing

I think Simon Holt is still in a different class

Martin Harris is very good, crystal clear, accurate and doesn't do your lugs or heed in.

I also rate Alan Howes, good voice and probably has the tone for mainstream telly without being too ott.

Jerry Hannon is excellent imo,the chap @ Cork had an absolute mare today.

To those handing out plaudits to Hannon I would agree that he is a decent commentator but I don't think he needs to go quite so over the top with the finishes. It can grating, particularly if it seems like he is cheering home a bunch of outsiders which was the case at the time of the original post.

Hard to argue about O'Hanlon. Made numerous mistakes throughout the day, even in relatively small fields.

Jerry tries too hard to think of something to say about the winning horse/connections as they pass the post so gets himself in a muddle.

It's the delivery of the puns that makes them annoying. Machin and Hoiles' smug/know all style makes them seem too clever by half - you can tell how pleased they are with themselves when they get to sneak them in.

Whereas with Holt, with his more laid back style, the odd pun he throws in doesn't grate in the least. I was at Plumpton a few years ago when Jordan ran on the same card as Topless - Holt comically drew attention to the fact in one race, something along the lines of "earlier we had Jordan, now we've got Topless" and it had the crowd in stitches.