Not sure if one thing sparked my interest. The first race I have any recollection of was the 1972 Craven Stakes. I think catching the tail end of the Brigadier - remember getting quite upset when he lost - certainly helped. Probably from him I looked out for the Hern/Mercer runners in the papers. The 70's was a very good time to start.

As regards betting the big plus for horse racing over other sports is the opportunity to win a reasonable amount to a relatively small stake. With other sports you have to risk plenty to win plenty. As an example you only have to look at the short prices on offer for the Olympic athletics. It's similar for so many match bets.

Underhand I think 1TP.

Differentdrum. you mentioning the Craven, i dont recall that race nor which was the 1st one i recall , but over the years the craven was one of my fav races,along with the nell gwyn, on the tuesday and thursady, and followed up on the friday with fred darling at newbury and the sat the greenham, these really were big races in the 80s 90s, with major bearing on the guinesses, from dancing brave, Doyoun shaadi, ,shaddedd,lear fan, oh so sharp,pebbles, fairy footsteps, salsabil,

It was the Grand National that got me interested in racing. I liked the name of the horse Nicholas Silver and my father put a shilling on it for me.

duffy ... stupid dressage woman i get . but remember in racing ,  istabraq at 32 having had a great life . in these days of war and strife i'd rather be a racehorse than many alternatives !

What's this programme all about? What's it trying to achieve? Is it to promote horseracing and/or allaying the fear of gambling, etc?

I'm a horseracing fan however, I've yet to watch. And, unlikely to do so if the sport is run by bookies; promoting big yards and high profile individuals of the sport; etc.

'BoosterRooster', cheers! I guess I'm one of those you mentioned. I like horseracing...betting only though - watching a documentary is another. My family liken horseracing to fools gambling. But, for me it's merely a hobby - a battle of knowledge and wit against bookies and wannabe bookies on The Exchange.

I'd classify myself, and the majority of punters here as wannabes, the few exceptions being bookie participants who no doubt are using The Exchange to arbitrage. This group could majorly influence the fate of one's position on The Exchange as they'd have inside info on the well-being of possible runners esp on antepost.

But, even this hobby could be ending sooner than anticipated if bookies are reluctant to facilitate bets even further. However, alternatives aplenty.

no comments on last night's episode.
noticed a lot of commentary from Aly Vance, who just happens to be married to Seb Vance who works for the company that makes the series.

One word....Bland.

I binged watched the last 3 episodes yesterday. It repeats itself that much that I genuinely thought I had played the same episode again by mistake.

I think they had given up themselves by the final episode. Each episode is about 45 minutes long without the adverts, there are about 3 or 4 minutes of genuinely interesting, never seen before type footage within each episode. The rest is drivel and becomes a very difficult watch.

It started badly, it got worse.

Far too much of the ITV racing team rearing their ugly heads, very off putting. Aly Vance in last nights episode and not for the first time in the series appears to not know the difference between a fence and a hurdle, maybe excusable in a live broadcast but not in a recorded one.

Most bizarre thing was saying the toddler was born on Gold Cup day and that was that! No word on the mother or anything else! Not everyone reads the gossip columns about him.

I think this has actually got worse each week. They have tried to create drama, but I find it hard to believe anyone is on the edge of their seat. It's really badly done with people playing to the cameras, and effectively just spouting one cliché after another.

Not surprised that after the first episode we haven't heard too much about viewing figures. I suspect an experiment that will not be repeated.

Nearly all of the sportspeople featured in the show were born into it. That’s not their fault of course, and it shouldn’t take anything away from their efforts and achievements. Though most people grow up with a bike in their shed, as opposed to a pony in their garden, so the sports side of things is always going to be a hard sell to the general public. I just don’t think they are that interested in something that has never been within their reach.

That’s where the betting comes into to bridge the gap. It’s the betting that gives the sport mass appeal, not the sport itself. In most cases, that comes after. They completely ignored the betting in this series, it got less mentions than Gordon Elliot.

It was a very disappointing program, which I was looking forward to, given its hype and how they were selling it. I was expecting a fly on the wall behind the scenes type documentary, though all I got was Ed and Alice repeatedly telling me how brave, fearless, competitive and big a deal everybody is. WALOFS.

Aly Vance has probably got more of the gig than Chamberlin and Plunkett, and she doesn't even broadcast the sport in this country, instead preferring/having to chase the Arab dollar.

I worked in an elevated trading position throughout the nineties George and sometimes you can hear something that's too good to be true but it actually is , the owners club in the eighties and nineties was something to behold and the goings on had to be seen to be believed at times.