Anyone miss the good old days of Channel 4 Racing?

Morning Line...

ffs

Funnily enough, that's what I thought after the ride on Falbrav in the Irish Champion

The Morning Line was great but did have its problems. Basically it was too gimmicky and stuck in the 1980s.

For a start, as seen in the photo, they were all roughly the same age and grew old together, apart from Oaksey and Brough who were even older and gone by the end.

They were also all male so they introduced Ms Graham & Ms Ramsden because they were related to people who knew about racing, and Alice who at least knew what end the polos go in.

By the end, it was positively harmful.

But yeah, for all that, it was a good watch and Jimbo and Francs gave some good winners.

no need to live in the past,clattermole and timeform mgra doing a tribute act from ascot on atr

The biggest problem with it was the bollocks Thompson who people have been fawning over for the past few days!

Jul 25, 2025 -- 8:03PM, Clerkmore wrote:

The biggest problem with it was the bollocks Thompson who people have been fawning over for the past few days!

This 100 times...

Good old Thommo.

NO don’t miss the clique.

Pratamoyle was an embarrassment letching the way he did. Any recall him asking (irrelevantly) how old a young Asian woman was on air in the parade ring?

Or his comment about a soaked through CP Lemaire riding long after winning the Yorkshire Oaks aboard Shareta?

Then there’s Blink who’s should have had eyes painted on his eyelids! Seeing them on ATR for a moment was enough yesterday.

Regardless of the "moments" of past Channel racing it was still significantly superior on info content than the present waffles that regularly saturates the Morning Line. Anyway, it is free viewing for those discerning viewers.

Very happy with Sky and RTV.

Criminal that John francome has been lost to racing

with all the stats in the game today if JOHN FRANCOME was on tv today repeating his well trodden line of what difference does 7lb make its one good jump, HE.D BE LAUGHERD OUT OF THE STUDIO , as lots of handicaps these days have hardly got a 7lb spread,in francomes world every horse would have a decent chance

Sky is terrible, they show crap summer jumps instead of a Group Race in France! Split the screen or bring a recording ages later.

He wouldn’t be on tv now if he made the same remarks in today’s world. Only during the week he was saying won’t it be great that the 3 year olds might run in the KG, he talks crap and is paid for it.

If he repeated once that the “apprentice should have walked the course” he did it dozens of times.
Still excellent advice imv.
I wonder how well he really knew John Banks?

If you are talking about John Francome Loyal, he knew him too well it would seem!!

I remember an in stable to interview - no idea what the programme was - Francome being interviewed and Winter just behind him.  Eventually Francome turned to Winter and appealed to him, “honestly Guvnor I talked to him but gave nothing away to him about the stable”.  A steely-eyed Winter looked at the camera then to Francome and uttered very telling words - “If I ever thought you had son you wouldn’t be standing there now”!  Meaning and intention crystal clear!

I remember an in stable to interview - no idea what the programme was - Francome being interviewed and Winter just behind him.  Eventually Francome turned to Winter and appealed to him, “honestly Guvnor I talked to him but gave nothing away to him about the stable”.  A steely-eyed Winter looked at the camera then to Francome and uttered very telling words - “If I ever thought you had son you wouldn’t be standing there now”!  Meaning and intention crystal clear!

It was awful, to be honest.

The principal problem has never been broached: it is a 1/2 hour show stretched out with “segues” and the like. (**** breaks).

It was on too early for a couple of them: 8 to 9 am if memory serves:

Alastair Down would have a hangover and Johnny Francome would only become animated over the “Monkey Puzzle” and that was because he was in a cut of the premium-rate phone line rake.

McCririck did his act. His sense of outrage when he was retired said it all: they all thought they could coast it for life.

Jim McGrath would barely condescend to engage , except to pick “one drawn high, one drawn low” from the field in Great St Wilfred handicap. He looked every inch the scion of a tipping service looking to sell itself before it became worthless.

Leslie Graham was just a simpering token figure over who these naughty boys’ practise rode easy.

...Biscuits....a very good appraisal I reckon........

Leslie Graham ..."simpering token figure".......Mcgrath condescending ......and almost contemptuous I would add....nice one !

I won A signed book by John Mc one morning.

John you were multiple champion jockey over the jumps. Then for 23 years you were part of the C4 racing team. John what's your next move ?  " To the cemetery I should think " 

At least Francome could ride. He was a top class showjumper before starting in racing.

Yes, very true.  The very best jockeys are often horsemen who were brought up with them.  imv.

The Morning Line used to tackle the controversies of the week unlike the anodyne stuff today.. Plus there was a sense of humour in the air and some real insights into the market. Graham Cunningham is not my cup of tea but he was good at summing up a race. The Opening Show seems happy just to trot through a few video replays and offer up their tips, or should I say re another post, their opinions. Hardly worth watching now.

That most recent one has certainly scunnered me.  It was awful.

Like the old boy on the barstewards remarked, you only need to see the opening credits of the opening show to wonder who the feck are they trying to attract and it aint somene who wants a bet.

That"old boy"on the barstewards is only 55 apparently...sounds like f@ckin' 90..

He fooking cracks me up when he starts swearing

George misses the days of chocs away in his spitfire in dogfights with the hun,then getting back to blighty to wax his moustache

wasnt called THE MOANING LINE on here for nothing

I just cannot get nostalgic for the "good old days" of the Morning Line.

To quote Jimbo, they all would have "stayed longer than the mother-in-law," had they not been poked awake.

Do you know how old McCririck was when C4 retired him? 72.
And he took them to court for it.

never watched it but that wasnt his finest hour

but nobody has done his job better. he was always on the side of punters

less remarked upon is that nick look was binned for being too middle class. class warriors didnt say much about it

Nick Luck was never a member of the Morning Line gang, was he? Apologies if I missed that but I doubt class would have been a factor: like Julian Wilson and  McCririck, he is ex-Harrow school.

apologies alaso if he wasnt. as i said i didnt watch it but assumed he would be on both morning and afternoon

but he was binned from the afternoon coverage because of perceived poshness when ch4 gave it up. he was clearly the best of them but he went anyway

Agree Nick Luck is very good.

which is the point. it wasnt about competence. class was the deciding factor. hes too posh. which is where the diversity and inclusion d1ckheads shut up. imagine the other way round

its not about capability for them its about special treatment and evening things up. despite what they spout

and i cant stand the bugger

class was the deciding factor

Apparently they wanted to distance themselves from Channel 4 Racing, and it wasn't just Luck who was passed over, but also Simon Holt, who even offered to be second commentator (the role which was given to Mark Johnson), but they weren't interested.

I'm not sure it was about class, rather they wanted to bring in fresh faces to the sport, which they did with Ed Chamberlain and Francesca Cumani (who had the experience of having worked for Australian TV).

IMO they were right to differentiate themselves from the C4 racing team. The C4 racing team were dossing on the job:- and they had a much better product to work with then.

Good job Francesca was educated at the local comp', or else she might not have got a job with ITV racing.

^
She was educated at an independent girls boarding school.

It saddens me when every person who has been to a private school is subject to a prejudice which to me seems very similar to racism. How many of them had the choice at age 11 of which school they went to? I went to a local comprehensive but as a farmer's son, I had some friends at private school and there are very good and very bad examples from every school. It is the continuous use of the term "working people" by Starmer and Reeves which is making class warfare worse. It is a pointless and meaningless term. My wife and I are retired so presumably we don't count as working, nor do the unemployed, disabled or anyone else who is not on an official payroll presumably. Most wealthy people work very hard indeed.

Francesca Cumani is a particularly ill-chosen example of the power of private schools. Clearly it was her name and not her old school tie that got her on telly.

In modern parlance, she is a nepo-baby.

The producers of sports programmes seem to consider particiaption as an essential qualification to be a pundit. Some are very good. Phil Tufnell is a natural in cricket, Nasser Hussein and Mike Atherton are good on TV but others are only there because they played for England or West Indies etc. Similarly despite never riding professionally so far as I know Nick Luck has overcome every percieved disadvantage to be the best racing presenter we have and it has not been lost on the US and Australian Channels who employ him for big meetings. Jason Weaver is good as is Lydia Hislop who is another who has come from journalism rather than being a racing professional. Seb Sanders is OK as is Luke Harvey but I don't think either would be employed if they had not been jockeys themselves.

Class means diddly squat to the Australians why pay Francesca a six-figure fee for the Melbourne Cup meet. She is highly regarded for her knowledge, contacts and presentation
- and she's pretty easy on the eye, too.

Who not why