THERE has been plenty of negative comment about the clash of races that prevented last Sunday’s John Durkan Chase being shown properly on Racing TV.
While it may be mildly irritating to watch a top class steeplechase on a split screen, and without commentary, it is still better than not watching it at all.
Some of those offering opinion may not have known life before the availability of satellite racing television, but older racegoers need not cast their memories back that far to settling for a blower - an audio commentary - that was broadcast in betting shops, and betting shops alone.
In my early days in Goffs, we would head to the bookies in Kill for the running of a big race – the 5th and 6th of the day at the Cheltenham Festival say which were not televised on Channel 4 or RTÉ.
In other words, we had sound but no pictures - the complete opposite of Sunday.
Actually it is often the quality of the picture in the split (or full) screen that can causes me more irritation, and the addition of another camera on occasion might be an easy nod to improving perception.
A split screen on most televisions is also still a considerably larger picture than a tablet or smart phone on which many people watch most of their media.
Plenty of people would have wanted to see the feature race from Huntingdon as well, which went off one minute late at 2.01pm, while the John Durkan started one minute later at 2.02pm, a full 12 minutes after its scheduled time of 1.50pm.
Given that the race then lasted less than six minutes, punctuality, or rather a lack of it was the problem.
I cannot bemoan the lack of “between race coverage” that seems to have everybody claiming second class treatment. I often record weekend racing to watch later in the day and then I fast forward through almost everything except the races themselves (and then often only the closing stages).
Analysis
Compared to other sports, the ratio of competition time to analysis makes racing a challenge for any television producer. Soccer has 45 minutes then a 15 minutes break before another 45 minutes, while racing often has three minutes followed by a break of 25-30 minutes and so on.
I do not believe that the adult movie business feels that there is much chance of holding its audience during the recovery period and I imagine that is the thinking in Racing TV. Replays make less sense nowadays as the viewer can perfectly well rewind and review any part of the contest at will.
Teenagers, of course, watch less and less television, preferring instead on demand viewing through other devices and few read a daily newspaper in its traditional format, let alone buy one.
They are the audience that will determine the future of all sports broadcasting and managing this side of the sport makes me thankful that I am not part of the administrative aspect of horse racing.
Like many boards and committees, I expect that there is little to improve one’s affection for a sport when you are made familiar with the inevitable challenges and difficulties that lie behind the scenes. We may need to be careful what we wish for with regard to racing on television.
THE success of Goffs National Hunt graduates has continued over the last two weekends with Evan Williams winning the Grade 1 at Sandown last Saturday with Land Rover Sale graduate Esprit Du Large, a €50,000 purchase from Niall Bleahen’s Liss House in 2017. Evan is a great supporter of the sales in Ireland so this was a well-deserved winner at the top level for the yard.
Evan is based south west of Cardiff, and is just a short distance from Barry, home to the great sitcom Gavin and Stacey - where a success like this would be acknowledged with the word “Tidy”.
Hopefully Evan will be back in 2022 to buy some of the top foals from this week’s December National Hunt Sale. There were some lovely foals offered and almost all were every bit as well presented as the flat foals two weeks ago. One thing that I am unlikely to find at the November Flat Sale, however, is a foal that had already been gelded, as I did this week. When I asked why, I was told that “he had been messing with the sheep”.
I dared not ask how.