Champions:Full Gallop ITV 1 9pm Tonight

It was utterly dreadful. Boring.

yawn fest,agree with greyhawk just like those american crime docs on netflix, flit from talking head to talking head got fed up and switched off.

Sorry, I thought it boring too...
How many times did Ed Chamberlain and Chris Hughes say words to the effect "The King George is an important race and the tension is mounting".. They must have repeated themselves in every section of the programme before and after each commercial break. 
Did they think their viewers have the attention span of a gnat and need reminding constantly every few minutes ?

In my humble opinion it was a shame to squander prime time Tv when they could have highlighted 3 or 4 dramatic races in one episode and move along at a faster pace and get some momentum going, keeping the viewers interested so they tune in again.

As a racing fan it made me want to turn over as I lost interest.  Hopefully I am in the minority !

Not bad, but I much preferred the Balding Documentary  on BBC4.

Agreed. That was excellent.

Was as if Willie Mullins didn’t exist. Just kept fawning over Paul Nicholls like he is still the dominant force in jump racing. Calling him “the Alex Ferguson of jumps racing”. He isn’t Alex Ferguson any more, he isn’t even David Moyes.

Was just the same old sycophantic garbage from the usual enthusiasm for pay gravy train ****s. “Racing is great, it’s so exciting, there’s so much tension, we love our horses, they get so well looked after, please like us, please like racing, please…”. Desperate stuff imo.

Really hope it improves, or that is going to be a massive wasted opportunity. Maybe I’m wrong though, maybe non racing people found it exciting and interesting, though it’s hard to imagine that they didn’t just change channel, or turn it off. Way too much guff from the likes of Ed, Rishi, Alice and the lad from love island, nowhere near enough from the jockeys, stable staff, and those who work hard behind the scenes.

If an entire hour long show (breaks excepted) ostensibly centres around one race (that isn't as important as it was once) it's going to need an awful lot of filler. Producers got lucky that one of the participants they were following actually took the race.

Found it very disappointing -  as stated above ' sycothantic garbage' to annoy the established fans, and presented in a format that would just confuse the casual viewer. Have not watched ITV racing this year and the episode last night gave me my fill of Chamberlain for another year. Will not be watching the remaining episodes.

Have so far watched the first programme in the Kingsclere  series. Was likewise disappointed,taken over by Mrs Balding, and leaving a casual viewer with too many gaps to fill. I viewed it mainly to see Kingsclere itself, and some of the old buildings that were likely there back when John Porter was training. I suppose Google Street View & Earth fulfills much of that curiosity, so probably won't watch the rest of the series.

Most viewers who aren't clued up on racing would have thought those jockeys were earning over a million a season. That was very misleading!

They are.

Not from prizemoney!

was thinking of waching it later, but when ive heard ed, rishi and co are on , ill not bother

Very little insight, elis. We learned that pumpkin watches the KG from a betting shop in Kempton, and Nico swears like a trooper. That's about it!

Unfortunately that was the conclusion I came to. The only interesting bits were seeing Paul Nicholls facilities and how well Bryony Frost scrubbed up. Using the King George as a focal point of the first episode not a bad idea and following John Joseph “Shark” Hanlon, was inspired. However having backed Shishkin, I really didn't need reminding of that mishap again! After 10 mins I was getting stick it was "boring", so ended up recording and watching this morning. Can't imagine none racing fans will have any interest.

Agree with all of the above. Very disappointing. I love horse racing, but was embarrassed and bored by most of the programme. They had to fill in with the same old faces saying how great things are. Wake up guys, not quite F1 is it?

The KG simply isn't the blue ribband race it once was. But they tried to pass it off as so. I would have liked them to get into exactly how PN does the planning for circa 200 racehorses, and what a jock's life was like outside of actually riding the race. ie getting up when it's still dark, riding out, dealing with agents, what horses to ride/track to race, riding instructions, travelling plans, dealing with owners' disappointment, traffic, how that all dovetails with family life and activities outside of racing.

Jul 19, 2024 -- 9:28PM, grayhawk wrote:

Watched 20 minutes and had enough...production is terrible for me.Like one of them poor American crime documentaries where they flit from scene to scene every two or three seconds...it's as if they make them for an audience who haven't got the attention span to last any longer.

Exactly what I thought. Such a shame the Production was so poor. An opportunity missed.

I quite enjoyed it but can understand why the style of production didn't appeal to many on here. Remember, it was trying to appeal to he general population who in the main aren't interested in horse racing. Would never get the viewing figures if it aimed at the hard nosed pros on here. Was worth watching if only to see the genuine disappointment displayed by N. Henderson & the arrogance of P. Nicholls. I thought the jocks came across ok & Briony showed genuine care for the horses.

Episode 2 will get ITV viewers interested - 'The love life of Paul Nicholls'

Parts 23456789 and 10 you mean.!

1.4 million viewed last night.

1st 3 episodes on ITV X Ash so the 1.4m will just be the live figures alone.

I thoroughly enjoyed it while I was watching it. It's only now I've read this thread that I realise how bad it was.

I did learn something I never knew though: just how small Hewick is. Watching him circling at the start, he looked absurdly tiny.

I did watch the first ten minutes of the Balding documentary, but I had to turn it off after that. Shot after shot of adult human beings walking around in public wearing surgical masks, because they didn't have the guts to disobey orders. Ugh.

Not on in Ireland yet. Assume either RTE or Virgin Media in Ireland will take this up.

Easy if you've a VPN Jumper..

ITV Hub is available only for UK viewers. However, the Irish can watch ITV Hub in Ireland with the help of a VPN and connecting to the UK server.
You only need to create a free account on ITV Hub and you’re good to stream its content. Here are the steps you need to follow:
Step 1: Subscribe to a reliable VPN
Step 2: Download and Install the VPN app on your device
Step 3: Open the VPN app and connect to a UK server

Episode 2 will get ITV viewers interested - 'The love life of Paul Nicholls'.....Had more Woman than Warren Beatty and Kieron Fallon combined..Fact.

Will any of them have the courage to say what a good rider he was?

Watched episodes 2 & 3 on itv x as I didn’t have the patience to wait until Friday. It does get better tbf and is quite a good watch.

The itv presenter talking heads, mostly repeating each other, or repeating what has just been said by a trainer or jockey, are both unnecessary and annoying, they ruin it for me. It’s a shame that the majority of it is retrospective interviews too. There is some good raw footage though, that makes it worth watching.

Would have been far more interesting if they had used more of that footage, filmed when emotions were high. I think it’s a bit too boring in its current format to capture public imagination, but who knows.

oily bell might have had a few women in his time but you lot must have been watching the wrong show because off the back it oily bell spent all day saturday telling us he was going to marry harry cobbden  off the back of his performance in the show , oily told us just after napping his bessie mate eustaces horse in the super sprint, their like a small interbred village in a remote mountain range somewhere

Userscreaming from beneaththewaves • July 20, 2024 2:07 PM BST
I thoroughly enjoyed it while I was watching it. It's only now I've read this thread that I realise how bad it was.

Jeez

I haven't watched .might though when there's 10ft of snow

Thought it wasn't that bad tbh.

to be fair its some soft landing zone itv/bha are aiming for,getting newer,younger people interested in racing but not interested enough to ask/care about
horse ,staff welfare
bent jocks
bent trainers
betting restrictions etc
to be fair all though their to dim to notice it theyve already got this market with the concert goers and should be happy with that
the looney chamberlain trying to pass 100,s of younger visitors queuing up to get in newbury on saturady as racegoers when 90% of them were in fact  conceert goers

Sanitized guff, trying to attract new blood to the game without addressing the prickly issues, as yet anyway. Did they put a postscript up informing the viewer that Shishkin had since suffered a rather uncomfortable demise or that the affable shark had courted notatiety by parading a dead horse through the streets.

How about screening at least one horse falling then rather than countless unseats.

How would the program been edited if a tragedy had befallen last years King George, Oh I see, that day would have been shelved from the documentary.

Cobden seemed to come out of the show favourably, I thought he came across a bit smug and how about someone teaching him to pronounce Shishkin correctly and not shisskin.

Market Rasen credits the crowd of 9,000 on saturday, up from 7,500 last year down  to the documentary shown the night before. 

if that's the case, got to be good for racing.

ITV the only channel doing something in an attempt to keep the sport from fading into oblivion Ash so i find it hard to knock them personally , prog was never going to get any thumbs up on a gambling forum as it's full of punters who " know everything " having been involved in the game for x years , so not receptive in something that may/will encourage new blood to follow the sports when us current crop pop our clogs , which is silly in my view.

As for leaving out some negatives , it's a promotional program and let's be honest threads galore appear when other websites ( bbc in particular ) highlight negatives about the sport , can't have it every way as you either want the sports longevity with the potential to flourish or you don't , we all loved the seventies / eighties when racing nostalgically was in it's prime in our eyes but like many other things in life that's just what it is , nostalgia.

Well said Market Rasen for publishing , whether it be accurate or not.


Good luck today   

we all loved the seventies / eighties when racing nostalgically was in it's prime in our eyes but like many other things in life that's just what it is , nostalgia.






People in the 70s or 80s would also recall the 50s and 60s as an even greater era for the popularity of the sport. Nostalgia is never what it used to be.

Nostalgia is always a thing of the past. Just as hindsight is never there when needed.

Agree sparrow , i don't do nostalgia personally but we continually hear how great everything used to be in horse racing with no balance offered , thinking particularly coverage wise when we relied on waiting for a crappy teletext service for results , live terrestrial coverage not waiting for the SP before darting off to skiing from the Alps and of course waiting for the weekend when we might just get some live racing coverage and see some horses or else visiting betting shops to hear some guy spend 90% of the race howling about the last furlong so that he mentions every horse in the race , those memories are more dark ages than nostalgia for me.

In modern times by comparison we have it so good that a jockey pronouncing a horses name differently to the rest gets highlighted as a program negative , give me strength.

I just never forget watching my dad clerking on course in the 1950s and the massive amount of bets taken in such a short time especially when he was working at White City dogs. A very different world as you point out hayden but we neither knew nor expected anything other in those days.

I don't have a problem with the positivity Hayden but the show was spinning something that is fake, a false premise. For multiple reasons. Racing is no longer about David vs Goliath, it's which owner has the deepest pockets and a handful of galactico trainers. The KG is not really an important race any more and dines off its nostalgia. We will never see scenes of kauto, best mate or dessie again. Betting is central, critical to the sport but I assume this series will completely ignore it as they are trying to marginalise sports betting as being socially uncomfortable.

It does actually seem quite jarring to me that itv ostensibly supports horse racing as they hate pretty much anything else that threatens to be traditional, English/British heritage.

It was the opening part of the series, but ordinarily they push what they see as the primary content out on the debut of a series. Perhaps there will be some progression on the content.

Have not watched it. From what I have read, it was what most on here expected it to be.

It was never going to be a "warts and all" show.

Cider , respect you posts mate as always but the false premise bit and showing something is fake is surely something for a newbie to digest further down the line , if those Market Rasen extras are kosher i'll bet those 1,500 won't be remotely interested in the David vs Goliath scenario , maybe a few years down the line but initially to be drawn it'll be the like of watching horse racing with a small financial interest , the fact of deepest pockets and how the industry works now seems fairly irrelevant to probably 90% of punters as they either no interest in that deeper knowledge or else fail to see how that affects their daily yankee.

raspberry gate more likely to be the weather!

there's two parts to the critique isn't there, if was the show trying to sell the sport, or create an entertaining show. it fell between the two stools. it wasn't at all gripping like some of these 'insider' jobs in sports can be. as others alluded to, way too repetitive to be an entertaining watch for a casual. if selling the sport then it was a false representation of the current situation.

It's fair to admit that I'm a 'knowing' viewer and not the target audience.

What we need really for balance is some feedback from a few of those Market Rasen extras.   

Still , we slightly disagree but without hurling insults after more than one exchange , must be a forum first   

Nostalgia is a liar,Sparrow and Slicer.As often as not.

Nostalgia is a wonderful feeling, it wraps it's arms around you and carries you away

It's not nostalgia that's the liar Mr P, it's the individuals recollection that's the liar.

Market Rasen would say that though, wouldn't they? What was more important to the crowd, the programme on friday, or the weather?

I don't think I have heard a negative word about the programme from the industry. A few cheerleaders on here have obviously felt the need to join in.

Any success from an ITV point of view will be measured in viewing figures. I think 1.4 million was given out. Let's see how that compares with the next five weeks. How does it compare to viewing figures for whatever is normally shown at 9.00 pm on a friday? If it's a lot lower then I don't see how they can justify putting it on. They're not going to be too bothered about a couple more people having a day out at Market Rasen.

It certainly isn't a lie to suggest that racing had far more significance in the sporting world than it does now. It's now just a bit part player.

That's another way of looking at it though dd in that you've picked out the main positive posted by ashleigh and immediately written it off as lies , it may well be fabricated i've no idea but just saying.

Also the comparison with what's normally on the main channel at 9pm doesn't feel right , it's a minority sport so the figures are always going to be millions behind say a new episode of Midsomer Murders whichever channel it's showing.

I'd prefer to think that someone somewhere has done extremely well to convince the channel to give them a 9pm slot   

The broadcast ratings can only be correctly judged on the consolidated figures including time lapse, cut off is 7 days after broadcast. This is 41-50 from the latest published figures.

raspberry scenario is garbage, no one or next to no one goes to the races with 24hrs notice.never mind nearly 25% of your entire crowd

Accessibility is a big problem for horse racing. You can't just say to the children 'let's have a go at horse racing'. It's not like bouncing a basketball up and down the street, or kicking a football against a wall. Only the wealthy few can provide access to a pony.

Like it or not, the younger audience are attracted by the idea of winning a few quid, whatever the sport, but I don't suppose one of these programmes will be about betting.

its ridiculous staements like this from raspberry that make racing look like idiots when in a few months time chambers and itv etc tell us how racing is struggling, a spotanious day at the races within 24 hrs will be north of £200+ without a bet

I saw in a preview a comparison to the "All Or Nothing" docs on other sports. It was nothing like them. Seemed more like a piece of marketing of an ITV investment, not quite propaganda, more of a paean. To be charitable and to credit them with good intentions, I fear it fell short. I too question those Market Rasen numbers. But if if I'm wrong, and it brings new interest from a new generation, they're not following the same hooks as I did.
The attraction of horse racing in for the vast majority was all about the whiff of jeopardy, allied to a rising climax of pay off or disappointment, packaged in a dangerous, slightly underhand, forbidden world of betting shops and bookie pitches, clutching coloured tickets that could suddeny become worthless. Nostalgic? Sure, but certainly a lost experience.
Somehow I can't imagine that being preached the "everything is wonderful" soundtrack, will have quite the same pulling power.

you,d need to no the weather,other sporting events,local attractions from last yr before you compare numbers,was last yr 1st weekend of school hols etc,etc

Much simpler to just say what the industry wants you to say.

I, like many on here, found my way to horse racing through betting. When I was young it wasn’t the spectacle of the Grand National that I looked forward to, it was the fact that I got to place a bet on it.

Racing, both horse and greyhound, is still the best betting sport imo.  Even into my late teens I was still a far bigger football fan than racing. It wasn’t until I started betting on racing regularly, and started finding out about all the different ways that you could bet on it, that I became really interested in it. Interested enough to start reading up and finding out more about it.

If attracting young people is the aim, then I think a documentary about gambling on horse racing, would have far more cut through than one just about the sport. If they showed people betting, and showed all the different ways you can bet, and sometimes win on the sport. On course punters, the betting ring, shop punters, arbors, in runners, online gamblers, form readers, matched bettors, price traders, drone users, exchange shops, fast pics, high rollers and just regular punters who do it for fun. Make a documentary about the wide range of people and the various different methods of betting on the same sport.

Obviously not going to happen in this day and age, but most people I know, from a non racing background, got into it purely through betting. The brave jockey and well looked after horse theme doesn’t really seem to sell the sport very well, and if anything, seems a bit patronising to the people that they are trying to get interested. Because the fact is, for the majority of people, the main reason they are interested in a horse race, is because they have had a bet on it.

Spot on BR. The two things (racing and betting) are inextricably linked and also interdependent on each other. Anybody that thinks otherwise is a rare beast, a romantic or a fantasist. It's the reality - but in current times it's unfortunately an unpalatable reality. Betting gets a bad press, So they seem to insist on trying to sell the romance, the spectacle, the passion, the grit, etc, etc.

That doesn't work (imo) - so probably better to be up-front and honest about it (the betting) imo.

Either that or just hire a Tina Turner tribute act for after the racing.

Why explain with lecturing tone ffs

Horse racing punting……most of the following are only interested in punting and finding winners….it’s obvious…since time began…

Championship jockey / trainer…Dan,Paul,Harry,Sean…..zzzzzzz

Confetti scattered for overpriced geldings ffs…..

Nico posh boy swearing on camera….

Bryony looking good…..big deal…

BR,100% right.

But there’s a multitude of different punters and reasons why they bet.

They need to show all the main groups ,why they do it and how sometimes they can win.

From the stag do s ,backing favs,numbers names,jockeys etc
To the casual,I always back Mullins at Cheltenham types.
To the main group,a modest knowledge thus applying this to their betting.

I remember 2 drunks sat on the old tote stand at chelt,years ago,with a page of the daily star saying they were backing 2 horses in the county hurdle,when it was the last race on the Friday,
Me having 8 in it,cos it was the get out stakes and wanting to win before having to wait another year to go again.
Then watching their 2 come 1st and 2nd as my 8 tailed off.
It’s a long walk back to the car,worrying about needing a stake for the midlands national,knowing a year seems like a life time to try again.

All these groups can get something from a race day and betting,but loving horses and thinking a jockey is the greatest ever isn’t one of them.

But racing has to promote its stars,so what else can it do..

Does need to promote the betting more,but they are scared of being tarnished by it.

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.

i used to go on club trips  from around boro where lots of lads had cut out the late  doug mushcrop selections from previous nights evening gazzette, UNDERARM i think he was known as ,new the game and had a good local/north east following,was on local news reguarly as well,especially impressive GRAND NATIONAL tipping record

Underhand I think 1TP.

I have enjoyed the 3 episodes so far but there seems to be a huge emphasis by the producers to mention the race being shown is worth x thousands to the winner, over and over and over again.

It seemed overegged throughout which I suppose would be pertinent to the trainers championship (whether that should be based on prize money is an aside for another day).

To a newcomer watching the programme it looks like we follow a thriving sport with brighter days ahead. I feel there will come a time when some harsh realities will require to be explained and exposed for the programme to be an accurate and fair assessment of the challenges to come. Otherwise it just tells a part of the true story and it becomes a nauseating and false portrayal of the sport we all love.

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,

The first episode was the 3rd most-watched sports documentary on any channel this year, behind Andy Murray: Will To Win, Boris Becker: The Rise and Fall, but ahead of other sport documentaries Drive To Survive, Full Swing and Unchained.

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.

Considering this weeks events, a program attempting to promote a horse sport must now feel very awkward for ITV.

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 !

I know some said the series improved, but if you found the opener tedious then likely you would have found tonight's was twice as boring. The 'stars' are just too dull. It didn't help that in reality the jock's championship wasn't some edge of the seat battle. Most people didn't care. There was no depth to really finding out about either Cobden or Bowen. Given Cobden's liking for 'country pursuits' I suppose that might have been a good thing. 

My suspicion is that by the end they will pretty much just be broadcasting to the already converted.

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.

It is a documentary about jumps racing, made for people who probably won’t watch it.

'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.

impossible123 27 Jul 24 11:54 
But, for me it's merely a hobby - a battle of knowledge and wit against bookies and wannabe bookies on The Exchange.





As opposed to a wannabe punter?

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.

I've given up on it. It's just endless repetition, endless repetition.

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.

Only the above comment.

If the people who follow racing can't be bothered it doesn't augur well.

The third one just highlighted that Nicholls has no class. Mind you that's society in general in these days. Given how regularly he felt the need to use an expletive he would probably feel quite at home on this forum.

One word....Bland.

Wonder how many turned over to watch the Olympic Break Dancing Final.

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.

Managed to use the word ‘episode’ 5 times in that short review.

The repetitiveness is contagious!

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.

It's really disingenuous as most of it filmed after the fact, but presented as if commentary. They did the fly on the wall stuff and then retrospectively applied the narrative with all the repetitive vo type stuff to camera. Even then someone claimed that a trainer needs to have a great Chelt festival to win the championship. Nobody told pumpkin lol.

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.

20/30 yrs ago I,d have probably watched every second maybe repeats as opposed to not watching a single second of this despite been in watching TV scrolling channels for something to watch
an hr of ITV  crew without a bet/result involved is = to a prison sentence in imo,chamberlain could write the X factor back story,s
and anything you hear about pumpkin,cobbden,Bowens,Nico we hear a 1000 times each and every season, even the ITV loons involved have stopped promoting a show their involved in,
ITS DIED [ IF IT WAS EVER ALIVE ] THE WIILDLY PREDICTED DEATH,and shown during 2 Fri,s of live Olympic action on bbc1,probably just about sums up racing and the ITV goons who think they no /have the answers to racings problems

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.

Although obviously untrue as he well knows, as does everyone else in racing, not sure non racing fans would have been impressed by Dan Skelton describing the Grand National as "phenomenally dangerous". They might think it's true.

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.

I never fancied watching it and by the sound of those that did I haven't missed much.

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.

It's defiantly an inside job so don't expect any revelations, Though the insite into Andrew Balding was interesting after reding his dad memoir's, Andrew was hopeless at school and the way the yard got started was very interesting the American connection and the royal family connections very interesting. Worth a read. A lot of the modern day trainers inherited wealth or married well and had racing contact. Martin Pipe was a good read and Barney Curly was excellent. Some great rumours about Pipe it was said he had a no lose account with Ladbrokes He lumped on and told them if the horse would win or not. Getting paid to pull anti post horse he made more than the actual prize money. don't suppose any of it was true but makes a great story.

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.

They might need a bit of a re-editing job doing for the Nico/ Hendo/ CH/ Jonbon story arc segment for season two