Francesca Cumani best pundit

I'm glad you said in rather than on?

She’s such a great judge,her constant bleeding on about high numbers down the middle was second to none,was so informative,fair enough,the winner of the Guineas being  drawn 1 was just a blip.her analysis is second to none.she knows the track so well.

Only outshone by olly,who interviewed a couple who didn’t know what horses were running.

I know they tipped frankel,but if he was still alive he might of won .

At least ossie and Ricky got interviewed before hand of god lost.great tv.

Must've got that info out of a Christmas cracker.

formoftheace is dead right, she has got the right pedigree and knows her stuff. She points out a horse's conformation and explains why she thinks it's fit or not. Adele is pretty good too but Ken P, although quite likeable, rarely gets it spot on.

to be fair without fran we wouldn't no which 20 + UK horse were running in November,s  melbourne cup in April

I’ve never heard nor read about punters complaining about her on tv tbh….

The woman is a class act tbf….

Balding in charge of Carson….Cumani in charge of Weaver…..similar show but Cumani is more easy to listen to and better on the eye obviously…

Wouldn't be hard to be better looking than Desperate Dan lookalike Balding..

Lol

"Quality"......you're not wrong there OP. Beautiful too, and an excellent and helpful(to me) paddock judge as well......Gets the nod in a photo finish with Alex Hammond imo

A few years ago, Francesca made a compelling case for Watch Me in the Coronation Stakes.  She went into great detail about how the filly had been checked in the French Guineas and had not been beaten far.  I filled by boots at 22/1 on Betfair.  My only disappointment was that not one of her churlish colleagues made any acknowledgment of their skill;  and she was, of course, too modest to remind them.  She doesn't make an outright tip very often, which makes it all the more noteworthy when she does.

think I've heard her say she doesn't bet...and guess who likes her

been on TV for what 10 yrs and you can remember one winner she,s put up
the prosecution rersts its case me lord

'acey', I've a premonition you'd post a pic of her. Well done you! You've cheered up a drab sunday for most.

Also, she's not in the pocket of the bookies like most on horseracing tv to the consternation of creational punters, and probably her dad and mum. It cannot be easy for her with 3 young children, and having a career which requires a fair degree of travelling. I understand her parents help nevertheless, it's still a tall order for someone so busy.

Apart from Field Of Gold there's no other horse - not even from Royal Ascot (RA) - that blew me away; the 2 yr old winners of AOB at RA could be much of a muchness too given past experiences; Lambourn is pitching up in the Irish Derby (no Delacroix). I hope Pride Of Aras is going to Ireland too.

But, I'm most looking forward to Field Of Gold in the Sussex Stakes, and very possibly the Juddmonte International.

shark often puts up a big priced winner 25,s last week,he backed it at 33,s
oily bell put one up at 16,s on fri
but someone remembers cumania putting one up moons ago

Francesca is good assessing them in the paddock but she's better when running through the field and making observations. A lifetime around top class horses gives you an edge, no?
She's astute and you sometimes learn more from the quiet ones if you listen.

A cloth cut from Mr Cumani. She does not waffle either, and is not afraid to go against the common herd mentality of her counterparts eg she commented AOB/Coolmore were dominating the sport because of their firepower, implying not solely pure talent. It's a numbers game predominantly.

Wow!   So every classic and Gp1 that Coolmore has got home has been because of “firepower”.
They weren’t astutely  bred, skilfully broken and taught to run then brilliantly trained - to beat the best of the rest ( who have exactly the same opportunities by the way ).
You have to laugh.

Godolphin have got some firepower.Just about got on the board
this week.

lol.

lol.

Coolmore actually run horses against each other in the same race.
Will we see the 2 Gosden big guns meet even though they're owned by
different operations?

The ones at Coolmore are mostly free eg homebreds mainly courtesy of Galileo. The revenue they receive annually from their breeding thoroughbreds is humongous. Also, they've been at it much longer than the rest, astute and luckier eg it's taken Godolphin a long time to (finally) use Galileo; the purchases of Godolphin in the sales were costly and uncompetitive.

Coolmore has to run horses against each other in the same races - they have so many (for prize monies). However, they'd not or very, very rarely run their top fillies against their best colts eg Epsom Derby or The ARC; their best 3 yr old colt eg Auguste Rodin or City Of Troy were no-shows in The ARC.

Many of the cast-offs of AOB/Coolmore have run above their potential under the stewardship of their new trainers.

Many?  Potential?  Please name them.  If you can give me five horses I’ll be impressed.  And all Coolmore “potential” is geared towards Gp 1’s and classics.  Name me one “Coolmore cast off” which has won a Gp 1 or classic.  You don’t know what you’re talking about.  You just can’t get the plank out you eye.

Pretty interesting when she asked Ed what the percentage overround was before a race. iirc it was 145%. Of course she knows exactly what it means. Ed was going on about how he started as a compiler and used to know the percentage of every price off by heart. He explained that the more runners there were the bigger the implied margin was for the bookies. Was an open goal to talk about the exchange of course. My sense was that Cumani was teeing them up to help the novice punters out, but Ed effectively gave an accurate explanation, but essentially nothing to see here with a 145% overround He should really have touched on the EW element.

she asks ?,s all the time about jocks, tacticsetc ,that she already no,s the answers do or has an opinion on, but the person she asks always answers with a sort of disdain as though she,s been a bit thick when infact she,s giving them a leg breaker pass bu their to thick to realise it

I'm not sure about "best pundit", but a very classy chick. Her relationship with Oli Bell(end) exposes her limitations somewhat.

Like her a lot ,easy on the eye ,though questionable dress sense sometimes,and interesting opinions sometimes ,and injects humour with her banter with Weaver ,can't see owt to criticise.

Jul 30, 2025 -- 1:31PM, snowynoon wrote:

Like her a lot ,easy on the eye ,though questionable dress sense sometimes,and interesting opinions sometimes ,and injects humour with her banter with Weaver ,can't see owt to criticise.

Exactly

Pure class is Francesca Cumani.

Effortlessly elegant and erudite.
The shining star in racing broadcasting by a furlong.i

doesn't bet