How Embarrasing ITV Racing

Crouchie's "Abby likes to ride... horses" was quite amusing though!

First time I have watched it all week , wish I hadn’t turned it on .

Crouchie's "Abby likes to ride... horses" was quite amusing though!

I bet she does !!! 

dont watch trash

She must feel like she's sitting on an Ash with a single twig.

Overhead camera as Springwell Bay fell. Total joke. Then to add to it dopey Ed says they've proved people wrong after the 700k+ purchase has won a handicaps. Bizarre.

Like most sports programme presenters they are so full of themselves. I want to see horses, horses

and horses or football football and football not pundits rabbiting on about the bleedin' obvious.

Any more embarrassing than Embarrasing or More Worse?

the irish women on racing uk are virtually unlistenable too- high pitched fast talking hard to comprehend

It is probably rose tinted, it was never perfect, but there simply not enough of us left to appreciate what we once had and how it all fitted into the fabric of our sporting lives. However, in deference to those halcyon days, I can't watch. They actually do have the raw ingredients to make it work, but the constipated straining push for wider appeal just ruins everything.

Why does anyone watch it? It's trash. And there's Chapman and Fitz.

Gemma Collins knows nothing about horses, well colour me pink.

Dreadful viewing tbh…

Ed Chamberlain must be the worst: excruciating banality,aiming for the lowest common denominator;if someone's death can be used to string a line,that's no issue for Honest Ed.

For me, it's more than just Ed! I simply can't watch it at all......AP and Ruby give me a complete pain.

Amazing how you can all comment but never watch it?

Horseracing is a specialised sport. As such, one cannot be a presenter of this sport if one knows very little about it, not been brought up in its environment, never ridden or written about.

Pretentiousness and professionalism does not go together in life.

@CalgiariG.....I'm not sure if you understood what my post implied which was that I used to watch it but can't anymore coz it's so bad. Your "amazing" gotcha honestly doesn't follow!

ITV racing is dreadful,gone completely tbh imo….

Julian Wilson will be looking down thinking wtf…..if there is such a thing as looking down from up there….myth imv…

Wilson probably looking down and wondering what he missed out on with open benders being legal!!

Feel like i'm rinsing and repeating but......

We should thank ITV for keeping the sport in the eye of the terrestrial viewer and forgive them for targeting an audience to replace us oldies when we're all 6 foot under.

The moaners should shell out a few quid for RUK to prevent having to watch it , which i personally believe is great coverage and well worth the subscription.

It's all about opinions guys but give me what we have at present over the bad old days of no internet , tv coverage leaving the event even before the SP for some ski jumping from somewhere and waiting for results on a crappy old teletext service , every day of the week.

They need a complete overhaul Hayden tbh…

Harvey,Alice and Chapman have been around too long imv…..

89 cheltenham on beeb.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW63JFrXRKc

i think itv do a decent enough job, but i do miss Jimmy Lindley and Julian Wilson...I could listen to Lindley all day, even when he is calling every horse  , "a lovely horse".

youtube is your friend to some great times and memories.

I had to put up with it in the Covid festival and got sick of hearing them saying how lucky they were to be there.

https://youtu.be/AoLgLkreaVs?si=E1ge5qw1n8MFSi40

Aberdonia showing us the missing dignity there. Thank you.

Looking at that clip from the 1989 festival posted by elisjohn, I found this from the TV listings on the first day.
    Cheltenham Festival
    Over the next three days
120,000 people are expected to attend the 1989 National
Hunt Festival at Cheltenham. Over 300 horses will compete including more than 30 from Ireland.

The cringeworthy paddock and winning jockey interviews coupled with that idiot trying to interview punters are enough to make you grind your teeth and scream

Catching the rider straight after the race is poor…..owner and trainer first then gravy train…..

Bell and ET are brutal,smirking and giggling poking fun……

CagliariG13 Mar 25 17:23Joined: 16 Jul 22 | Topic/replies: 10,679 | Blogger: CagliariG's blog
Amazing how you can all comment but never watch it?


     Is that not the same as you posting daily on a site you call a " cesspit "  ??   Very strange imo.

ITV bosses should take a look at someone like Lizzie Jelps the former pro tennis player who won the  2024 Markel charity race at the Goodwood festival.

An excellent paddock judge who used to find plenty of big priced winners during her stint as racing presenter on Australian t.v. her selections are based on form and she certainly must study that as she came across as very astute and respected.

She would wipe the floor with the likes of Chamberlain, Chapman and Harvey problem is she now has a good horse race business in Australia but it would be interesting if she was given a shot on the channel during one of her many visits to this country

They definitely need more experienced journalists presenting like Alistair Downs rip, Brough Scott, Jimbo, McCririck.
At the moment there is no depth it is too shouty and slavvery.

It is good having jockeys but the journalists of the past gave the show it’s real body to build and retain enthusiasts.

If it is about attracting social media types now i don’t think they would have the attention span to stick with a sport that needs you to take deep-dives into it to get enjoyment out of the horses and the form. They will move onto the next thing and won’t be happy losing their cash to such a difficult sport to win at.

You can’t just rely on people who love horses either it is down to betting by enthusiasts long term that will keep the sport alive.

To generate that kind of longevity you need journalists on the show to give the grounding needed.

Its what it is and you cant expect anything else at the Festival , you have a mute button and can still buy decent Panasonic video recorders .

This thread comes up annually and produces the same totally valid criticisms of ITV's performance in producing a programme to cover horse racing (or not). The failure is caused by the senior programme planners who have absolutely no knowledge of horse racing and who give the job of "presenting" (there's a non-word for the third millennium) racing to people not up to it or who follow the maxim "keep interviewing no matter what drivel or inconsequential spouts are being produced: it uses up time." Clue for the ignorant back in HQ: horse racing exists in order to facilitate.......... ? If you don't immediately know the answer to that question there might be a job for you on CBBC (probably muck that up as well).

To digress only slightly: what other TV programmes suffer exactly the same failing? Clue: on every day, 6pm, 10pm. Yes it's the "News". "We don't have film of the Indonesian earthquake or the genocide in Rwanda or the starvation in Eritrea or Trump's cavortings in the Kremlin so we've given Joe and Jackie a microphone and a camera to go out into the streets of Brixton to find out what YOU think about how Brexit is going." Cue Jackie interviewing Fred and Mabel etc on a topic on which they are  clueless.

Total utter amateurism beginning to end. We need professionals at the top who know what horse racing (and news) is.

brought Scott is the 1st to be mted banging on about races 50 yrs ago,oaksey etc etc, THE PUB BORE, they,ll have to drag the GRAVEY BOAT from Scotts hands as he,s finally dragged out kicking and screaming

Olly Bellend fancies the odds on favourite in the Gold Cup. Thanks Olly.

jimmy....your comments match my views on sports and news programmes. The recent coverage of the European indoors athletics was a good example. Interviewing a Brit who's just finished 5th in his/her
heat while in the background we hear crowd roaring at something that's going on in the infield. Ten
minutes later,after the three presenters in the studio have yacked on about the Brit who finished 5th in his/her/it's heat, we get to see a recording of the reason for the roar we heard earlier: someone
broke a World record.

Oli asking the public about " customer experience" Food outlets looked deserted.

fook me 4 days in and ed chamberlain still carrying the  jockey  who died around chelty for clicks, hope another jock sacrifices themselves  for next year or  else chamberlain will be fooked for something to say, only itv could go from pasties to dead jockeys in 2 seconds

Couldn't agree more FTP.

What I find incredibly annoying is all the commercials they pump at us are about five years old, and give the whole program, a cheesy, dated feel ... Should be a time limit on commercials of about three months.... Come on Paddy Power....make a new Ad FFS ! (cheapskates !)

By the way, I do not hear the commercials anymore because I use mute immediately

Ed does my head in tbf lol. Just general rwaddle most of the time.

Have to generally agree with another poster. My 1st job in the old days was marking the odds in Mecca bookmakers. No pictures etc we are lucky we have terrestrial tv. If the presenters annoy you that much, and I understand that, turn the volume down until the tapes go up. If terrestrial TV gave up on racing a lot of our older community that have no internet or cannot get out would have no racing. However again I understand why some people do not like the presenting style.

Was miles better even 25 years ago when the BBC had Claire balding and Willie Carson.

terrestrial tv wont give up on racing itv must be taking an absolute shtload from the industry to show it and the bookies need it more than you need toilet roll.

bbc are different they are license payer funded

bbc are motivated by class

They seem to think more is better in terms of pundits/presenters but they just talk over each other.

Same in most sports now so many presenters/pundits before, during and after the event.

Every little thing is sensationalised when it needn't be.

BBC was a visit to the racecourse.
C4 was a visit to the bookmakers.
ITV is a visit to the pub.

I've said it before, when Ed's "presenting" its completely unwatchable. It's an OK watch with Francesca & Weaver and Ed isn't around during the Flat season .

If we all pull together, maybe we can get Rich Ricci to get a haircut. (Fair play thought he invests a lot money into the game).

Maybe he should ask Paul first whether to go to the barbers or the hairdressers.

otherwise he might a Mare

otherwise he might have a Mare

what a fkin banker

GLASGOWCALLING 13 Mar 25 21:53 
CagliariG13 Mar 25 17:23Joined: 16 Jul 22 | Topic/replies: 10,679 | Blogger: CagliariG's blog
Amazing how you can all comment but never watch it?


     Is that not the same as you posting daily on a site you call a " cesspit "  ??   Very strange imo.

It becomes a cesspit when the City of Troy layer joins in ..............

As usual ITV gave the big build up to an anti-climax.

that's what you need in racing fitzy 10 mins ago cant find a reason for fav losing now the winner was made for gold cup blah,blah

not all bad news at least the Muppet trying to get his 5 minds of fdame trying to buy a few quid with his wad has left it ion the bookies satchel

I thought that as well. Hope the show off bet more than he can afford to lose.

that's jocks for you
every pundit/booby/fitzy ,Townsend doesn't want to be behind or to the right of ahoy senor at any stage , so he rides him behind and to the right of ahoy senor for 2 miles 6 furlongs ,with the almost inevitable conclusion

4 hrs of
most intelligent horse
most relaxed laid back horse
bomb proof
never had him better
can find a floor in him
after race
same people
never went a yd,next

Itv racing run by bookmakers for bookmakers, they pay itv to screen it

If i hated itv coverage as much as some on here i would invest in Racing tv, problem solved.

Just seen Loper's post. Brilliant.