Anyone just been watching Channel 4 Racing?

[Paul S]

Anyone just been watching Channel 4 Racing?

It all depends on what you want. I'm going back to Cheltenham for the atmosphere and the extraordinary feeling of being in a tightly packed terrace. The terraced area by the winning post at Cheltenham isn't as big as you think but you get good views of the final straight and the big screen. If you're on the ground near the winning post you won't see a thing other than the big screen due to the crowds.

It's horses for courses (Ha, knew I'd get that in!). What do you want big crowds and the atmosphere or to be in a smaller crowd near the winning post? In all honesty most racecourses you end up watching on the big screen anyway as you can't see the action on the other side of the course (think Carlisle with that hill or Doncaster with all the trees) but at smaller courses you definitely get to be trackside more.

[KGR]

Anyone just been watching Channel 4 Racing?

I'm someone who has got back into NH racing in the last three or four years, on a serious basis (for the sport alone, as I do not bet on 99% of races that I watch). Have always enjoyed it, despite the moral conundrum posed by horses dying in action.

Many Clouds has been my favourite racehorse (the best of a number of gutsy triers that I look forward to watching) during my recent return, not just for the GN win, but for his obvious effort in every race. I really believed that he would win a second GN, and now we'll never know.

I was away on Saturday with the family, so did not watch the race live, but did hear from a friend at the event I was at that a horse had died that afternoon. Knowing my friend to be someone absolutely not into horse-racing, I wondered that it must have been either Thistlecrack or Many Clouds, as any bad news about those would have passed into the general news rather than that of any lesser horse, so to speak.

I recorded ITV Racing on Saturday, but have no appetite to watch it at all. I've read the tributes at the racing sites, watched Oliver Sherwood's interviews and thought about Many Clouds a lot in the last 36 hours. I've thoroughly enjoyed the chasers this season, but where to go from here? I wonder if this is a sport I should drop. Afterall, it's not been a big part of my life until recently, so what loss would it be for me?

The only saving grace is that it didn't happen at Aintree on GN Day either in 2015 or in this coming April. That would have put the sport under serious scrutiny, even more than when poor Synchronized died.

[Third rate Leszno]

Anyone just been watching Channel 4 Racing?

If it's any consolation, KGR, the incident happens off camera while they were showing the re-run. I can't help with your moral conundrum, I'm afraid - I've had days where I questioned whether I should be watching something that can result in the stars being killed, but I've always been drawn back by the excitement and drama of Cheltenham.

My take on Paul and John's discussion is that I much prefer the smaller tracks - I've never done the Festival but I've been down for the January meeting and that was about as busy as I'd want it to be. If you can't get from the rails to the parade ring and back via the bogs without massive queues then it's too crowded for me. When I first moved to Merseyside I did the Thursday/Friday of the National meeting each year - then binned off the Friday when they made it 'Ladies Day' as it got swamped with people there for the ale and the occasion, not the racing. Subsequently Thursday went the same way, so I've not been at all for about 8 years - I much prefer Bangor-on-Dee on a Thursday in February!

[KGR]

Anyone just been watching Channel 4 Racing?

Thanks, TRL.

On Thursday I was watching the previous Saturday's Opening Show on my recorder box thing, and one of the twins (aged 9) came in from her school disco just as the taped programme got to previewing the Cotswold, specifically at that bit where Smad Place beat Many Clouds last year. Twin's ears perked up on hearing Many Clouds' name (I guess it's probably the only horse she knows) and asked if it was the race Many Clouds won (ie the GN), and I explained it was a different race.

I quickly changed the subject to her disco.

[Paul S]

Anyone just been watching Channel 4 Racing?

Douvan won at Punchestown yesterday to record a 14th straight win. Now 4-11 favourite for the Champion Chase at Cheltenham. I watched the race in the bookies (I'd just had a 7/2 winner at Taunton) and the race itself was a farce. There were four horses, Douvan at 1-14 then 12-1, and two at 33-1. This sort of thing gives horse racing a bad name and drives the crowds away. People want decent exciting racing not boring four horse races where the favourite wins by a mile.

[longeared]

Anyone just been watching Channel 4 Racing?

ITV showed a race like that from Sandown on Saturday. The 150-1 shot got tailed off straight away and ran round to get the prize money for fourth. The other three ran on as a group until the final hurdle when (odds on) Buveur d'Air simply cantered away from the other two for the win. One of ITV's people said "I'm not sure anyone learned anything from that".

[KGR]

Anyone just been watching Channel 4 Racing?

I suspect that the glut of such races is down to the absolute focus of NH to be the Festival in March.

There are now Grade 1 races here that trainers miss as they don;t want to expose their horses before Cheltenham! Nobody races against each other apart from that once a year now.

Allied to Mullins' dominance and his main owner Ricci's refusaal to race his horses against each other to work out which is best, so called 'big' races are becoming dull, especially in the hurdling division. Whatever happened to winning Grade 1s for their own sake instead of them being a Festival Trial.

It's why people love the big handicap staying chases dotted throughout the season, where there are many honest performers who have a go and don't just save themselves for the third week in March.

I may be utterly wrong here, or naive, or both, but its such a shame that we don't see the best compete (as opposed to 'race') often enough.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Anyone just been watching Channel 4 Racing?

It's Coe and Ovett all over again.

Just dipping in to ITV Racing. Lovely little film about the birth of a Frankel colt. Another nice touch was a quick "interview" with a bloke walking his dogs. You can walk them right up to the rail where he was. Unfortunately, the chap wasn't the most talkative, and the reporter bailed out like Eamonn Andrews when a shitfaced Ian Hendry came on.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Anyone just been watching Channel 4 Racing?

To be clear, the bloke with the dogs was sober as a judge. You can't be pissed with dogs standing right by a fence.

More like the bit in 24 Hour Party people where Tony Wilson interviews a bloke who started working on the canals in 1900, and can't remember anything to say.

[KGR]

OK. Good to see that nobody here has been bothering with the flat season.

Did wonder about renaming the thread or starting a new one. (The New One, now, there's a name, did you see him win the Welsh Champion Hurdle last month? Heartwarming stuff).

The real heroes, the jumpers, are back. While that's hugely exciting, I will be watching the Charlie Hall with fingers crossed for the fragile Coneygree and the gallant Cue Card. The former, the 2015 Gold Cup winner, has hardly raced since, though he did put up a superb effort last time out when a close third to Sizing John and Djakadam in the Punchestown Gold Cup. The latter is nearly 12 now, and I must admit that I'd rather they retired him at the end of last season.

Some of spring's Grand National lead players are also there - Blaklion, Vieux Lion Rouge and the unlucky Definitly Red, who I like a lot. I backed Shantou Flyer in that race as an outside e/w bet and he ran ok, but the plus on that horse is that he's left Rebecca Curtis, which has proved to be a boon for others in the last few weeks.

Village Vic is hard to place these days with his handicap rating, and I was going to big up Virgilio, though that outsider is a non-runner now. Should be an exciting race.

There's a good 3m handicap chase at Ascot too, though the overuse of sponsor names means I don't really know which Gold Cup this one actually is. Is it the old Massey-Ferguson? The Mackeson? I never know. Carole's Destrier ran well in its only two races last season, the Hennessey (yes I know that was a sponsor name but that was a very-long-term and the original one, so it shoud stick) and the Welsh National. I've just spent 15 minutes looking at the form (what a lovely way to waste time with a hot cup of tea) and of course that always asks more questions than it answers. As usual, I'll probably have a very small £1 or two somewhere along the line on one that'll finish 8th, but that's how I bet, small and pointlessly. The bantermakers, I mean bookmakers, all spending the thousands on their advertising campaigns really wouldn't be interested in me.