Derby Coverage- Your Opinions??

98274957

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To be honest I thought it was pretty poor. I really missed Steve Hadley, he is much more knowledgeable than Andy Austin and seems to know the horses and riders a lot better and can add more insight. Austin just says the same things over and over andseems to speak in cliches (sp) all the time. Also camera shots were poor, they seemed to be focusing on the riders face as they came down the bank which ment you missed what the horses were actually doind, Ben Maher on Double Dutch for example. Also i was present at the spped derby and they definatly missed some real good rounds off of the live coverage today. Sorry for rant but wondered what u all thought if u watched it. Good tribute to Dougie Bunn though and like the interveiws with Peter Charles.
 

tilly17

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Completely agree with you, I really miss Steve hadleys commentry, apparently the BBC think he is too old! Luckily other channels don't have their blinkered vision. The olympics will be rubbish if we have to listen to Andy Austin.
 

98274957

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At least im not the only one who wants to gag Andy Austin. This will sound really pedantic, but when u get a start list at Hickstead u get all the horses details etc. Austin managed to keep calling magna carta a him, when she is a pretty well known mare and HE HAD IT WRITTEN IN FRONT OF HIM!!
 

tilly17

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[ QUOTE ]
At least im not the only one who wants to gag Andy Austin. This will sound really pedantic, but when u get a start list at Hickstead u get all the horses details etc. Austin managed to keep calling magna carta a him, when she is a pretty well known mare and HE HAD IT WRITTEN IN FRONT OF HIM!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Steve Hadley would never have made that mistake, he would also have known the horses breeding, previous owners / riders. maybe the BBC are dumbing down to appeal to the masses, they had better get someone a bit more charismatic if that is the case.
 

mbequest

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All AA had to say over and bloody over was that it either "needed to be back on it's hocks" or "it was fighting for it's head". I say gag him too!!

There was alot of info that could have been given about horses and riders which for non horsey people or the people not so in the know could have made the whole thing alot more interesting and appealing to the general public.
 

The Voice

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With regards to the speed derby, i don't know about you but I personally thought they brought the screens out far to quick for the two injured horses as they were both on their feet. This actually caused a lot of distress to spectators and people questioning the reason for having the banks in the ring. Even my 6yo daughter was asking why there were 'curtains' around the horses.

I understand the need and the horses welfare is the top priority but I thought they were being a bit too hasty with the cutains.The ambulance was spot on to get them out of the ring as it is a long walk.
 

Daffodil

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Where was Steve Hadley? Has he retired from commentating?
I was reasonably happy with Andy Austin to begin with though did find he got a bit repetitive, and didn't seem to have to depth of knowledge of SH.

Excellent tribute to Douglas Bunn, and nice that we got to see the Presentation.
 

MooMoo

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I thought it was good. But it would be better if they made it more understandable for people who dont know anything about jumping.

Some of the phrases they used wouldnt make any sense to a "non horsey" person.
 

98274957

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I didnt see either accident as i was in the collecting ring at the time but after i spoke to dan who was on the second horse and he said the main reason that they used the screens was that the horse was bleeding quite a lot from its chest where it had studed itself and that was what the officials didnt want people to see. the horse was fine by the way i saw it once it had had a few stiches. the first horse that fell went straight off the showground to the vets i think and the reports were that it had damaged its tendon with its other foot, although i really dont know for sure so dont trust me on that one!!
 

AmyMay

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[ QUOTE ]
Steve hadleys commentry, apparently the BBC think he is too old!

[/ QUOTE ]

Good grief. What do they think Mike Tucker is??
 

98274957

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Hey just out of interest i posted this in both the CR area and the LN area look at the different replys if u are interested!!
 

Doris68

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Bring back Stephen Hadley! Much more knowledgable and interesting (and amusing!). Not sure it's an age thing (is it?) - afterall Mike Tucker is no spring chicken!

I always enjoyed his commentary on the various horses' background and breeding - a sad loss to the BBC I feel.
frown.gif
 

tilly17

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[ QUOTE ]
Where was Steve Hadley? Has he retired from commentating?

Not at all - he is now commentating for Sky I think, definitly the BBC's loss
 

shirleyno2

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The Magna comments are inexcusable, if AA had done his homework he would of known that she has had a foal!! Also that Skip Two Ramiro has had going in the dyke every year!
Didn't miss Hadley though.
I actually thought the vets did a great job in the ring, and ditto re the amount of blood is not good for all to see, both horses loaded and left the arena, but if they hadn't and screens weren't up, all hell would've let loose!
 

The Voice

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When you see him, thank Dan for the hold up as my horse was after his and went off the boil as it had to come out of the ring whilst they messed about! If you are going to fall off like that best to do it in front of the open stand! He is a very good rider.

Sitting in the members stand, quite a few people were upset about the screens going up as they think the horse is about to die! Luckily you could see them walk in if you were high enough. Just seemed a bit over the top especially as most people have horses and know accidents will happen and seeing the screens people assume the worst which even I did.
 

Happy Horse

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[ QUOTE ]
With regards to the speed derby, i don't know about you but I personally thought they brought the screens out far to quick for the two injured horses as they were both on their feet. This actually caused a lot of distress to spectators and people questioning the reason for having the banks in the ring. Even my 6yo daughter was asking why there were 'curtains' around the horses.

I understand the need and the horses welfare is the top priority but I thought they were being a bit too hasty with the cutains.The ambulance was spot on to get them out of the ring as it is a long walk.

[/ QUOTE ]

In racing it is standard to erect screens immediately any horse is receiving treatment as it gives the vet privacy to work without the pressure of thousands of people watching. I think it is a good thing if it makes the treatment easier and therefore better for the horse.
 

tigers_eye

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I think the commentating needs to be reviewed, I vote for Geoff Billington and SJFAN, entertainment and encyclopedic knowledge!

I thought the filming was actually pretty good, had some fab angles on the fences which showed just how huge they were, plus slow-mo playback, would be great if they could be as creative with all coverage, including eventing.
 

walkingman

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[ QUOTE ]
I thought the filming was actually pretty good, had some fab angles on the fences which showed just how huge they were, plus slow-mo playback, would be great if they could be as creative with all coverage, including eventing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed.
 

BBH

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Poor Andy he was slated on here after Olympia aswell but I thought he was a lot more confident yesterday. I don't think its an age thing with the Beeb as Andy must be 50 / 51 himself so maybe Steve Hadley just doesn't want to do it anymore.

He did make a c@ck up re magna carta but hey ho its live action and I'd defy anyone to be on air for that long word perfect. No-ones died at the end of the day so have some perspective.

Maybe he was chosen as he has a home counties accent that we can at least understand but I wish he had a more manly voice, after MT I thought its was a woman commentator to begin with.

Now John Popely ( sp) what a diamond geezer LOL fabulous, and I thought the clips with Peter Charles were great, very relaxed and natural.
 

jumptoit

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I didn't see it live yesterday but I'm watching on iplayer and think a running clock for the speed derby would improve it but it may of been on the live programme.
 

SJFAN

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Thanks for the vote! I don't much like the sound of my own voice, so I don't think I'm a candidate. Geoff is fun and informative as a commentator, but can't be asked to do the full thing when he's competing in it. I had expected Andy to do a better job than he actually did - I too cringed when he referred to the mare as he. However, much as I like Steve Hadley (and was pleased to hear him commentating on the FEITV covereage recently) he too has called mares he! He is a bit older than Mike, who as usual made quite a few errors. James Fisher would probably do a good job, but on this occasion he was away in France competing at the same show as Tim Stockdale.
 

jumptoit

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Just started watching the actual Derby now about 25 secs in and I'm sick of AA hesitating and talking like we are all idiots, he sounds like my geography teacher too
crazy.gif
 

jumptoit

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A vote for Geoff B - he is funny and has a clue what he's talking about again a clock could of been use dliek they do for the normal SJ and if he actually said we should get 2 strides in here 1..2...3 but he's got away with it rather than - he's put an extra stride in but he's got away with it.
 

Over2You

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I thought it was okay, but nothing special. The camera work and commentary could have done with a lot of polishing. Whatever happened to the rider-cam? I haven't seen that technique used in years. I loved seeing the course from the rider's POV. I also think having some of the riders wear a heart rate monitor would be interesting. Eurosport did that with either Burghley or Badminton last year and I thought it might become a popular concept, but they seemed to have dropped the idea. Andy Austin has been good in the past (like HOYS and Olympia), but he didn't offer much in the way of specialist knowledge during the Derby. Any commentator with a likable personality, who knows the difference between Britain and England, and who knows what he/she is talking about, gets my vote. As for the mistake regarding the horse's gender - I have lost count of how many commentators I've heard do that. At least it is better than calling them an inanimate object. I would also appreciate it if the BBC were to pay as much respect to Hickstead as it does to flaming Wimbledon. There is probably more live tennis on in one day than there is equestrianism in a year! They could easily have brought us full coverage of Hickstead, but they were too busy obsessing over some balls being hit back and forth with a racket! Thank goodness for Eurosport (despite its many flaws) and Sky!
 
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