New ITV racing line up

I would go so far as to say that at weekends I will be watching ITV rather than RUK (which I pay for) whilst they continue to employ the awful Dave Nevison as their betting guru. He does seem to be on at weekends so the midweek coverage is still OK. I really enjoy listening to Dave (McCleary I think), Steve Mellish and Jonathan Neesom. I appreciate that commentators are all personal preference but I really do find that man obnoxious, he gives the impression that he would bet on 2 flies crawling up a wall and has little or no feeling for the horses! Im sure his brief is to report on the betting angle but he could have a little more empathy!
 
Luke Harvey's voice still goes through me like fingernails down a blackboard, but a vast improvement from the first week.

Enjoyed the opening programme this morning and thought they did well coping with the visibility issues at Wincanton (I liked the crowd cheering when the commentator said the horses must be coming into view at last because he could see the headlights of the tailing ambulance).
 
Saw the first week and thought it was ok but had a few things that needed ironing out. Have just watched this weekends and have to say I really enjoyed it. I liked the tone of it . I thought they went a long way to make it accessible to new non racing viewers and yet as a knowledgeable race goer myself, I didn't feel patronised. In fact I can't believe I'm saying this, but the love of the horse really shone through for me and not the love of betting. Well done ITV
 
Honeylight said:
It was much, much better this afternoon. Matt Chapman was restrained and bearable. The other presenters came over well this week. I actually observed something new....me not pausing and doing jobs so I could fast forward, as I have been doing for the last few years. I sat and watched it live. Liked the little clips like the one about the Grakle and hope Cecil will get his own regular spot. Caught a bit of the morning show and really liked the interview with Joseph O Brien and especially enjoyed the visit to Kingsclere. All in all a thumbs up this week.
I also have noticed a much more horse centred approach and an example of this was the genuine pleasure from the presenters when Dynaste's retirement was announced. It remains to be seen how they will react to a fatality.
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Could have written the above myself as totally agree with your points. Much more horse centred and the enthusiasm and love for the animals shines through.
I too wondered during the programme, how 'bad news' would be dealt with. Lets hope we never have to find out!
 
I was unimpressed the first week but thought the 2nd week was definitely an improvement. Not really convinced about the need for the girl who talks about the weather or VP, despite what she achieved in such a short space of time racing wise; Matt Chapman was painful to watch the first week but much better the 2nd week. I think overall it will grow on me.
Not seen ITV's equivalent of the Morning Line yet, I wish it was on earlier.
 
Echo the other thoughts, I've enjoyed it so far but it still bugs me that they are expected to stand out to prattle all afternoon. I know they'll be back inside the minute they've stopped filming between races but that's not the point; it looks totally stupid in the middle of winter.
 
I thought the first week was beyond dreadful. Massive improvement last Saturday and nice to see that they'd noted the complaints about the graphics. Still rather dubious about the need for the weather girl though. I do like Cecil!

Be very interesting to see how they deal with the Kempton news.......:(
 
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I thought they handled the awful news about Many Clouds extremely well. They spoke about it as soon as it was known the poor boy had gone down, they brought us up to date with the very sad end result straight away and didnt shy away from talking about it. Indeed both Mick and Luke were visibly moved and I thought the interview with OS was very well and sensitively handled. I was pleasantly surprised by Eds ability to deal with this type of situation without becoming mawkish but without trying to gloss over it and move on. I think this team is really starting to gel together now and they have some very good people on board, knowledgable and intelligent. I think I have switched my festival coverage allegance now, Im afraid that RUK, in my eyes, is still blighted by Mr Nevison. I watched the last half hour of Cheltenham today on RUK and he was in the betting ring, I dont think he managed to string two words together without forgetting or stumbling over them :( Well done ITV, a pleasant surprise!
 
Having the presenters standing outside at that table beside the parade ring is getting ridiculous. Brough Scott - who hasn't been in the best health in the last few years - looks absolutely frozen. It's a format that might work should we get a decent summer, but not in the middle of February in horizontal sleet.
 
There was Denman on parade and Sprinter Sacre too. Would it have been so difficult to devote just a little more time to them? As it was, Denman had a couple of seconds and SS not much more.

I agree regarding Brough Scott, the poor sod looked perished and at his age, it was thoughtless.

The filming standard has improved vastly though the whole programme still seems to be somehow disjointed. I've missed the previous 3 weeks so whether it's slowly improving, I'm unsure.

Alec.
 
seems a bit silly in this weather....i am getting used to itv coverage but really wish we could see the horses in the paddock rather than a couple of seconds before the off..i suppose they may not know that alot of us like to view the horses and get a bit more info well before the race starts so i am going to email and ask (if i can work out where to send it)...
 
scotlass said:
Having the presenters standing outside at that table beside the parade ring is getting ridiculous. Brough Scott - who hasn't been in the best health in the last few years - looks absolutely frozen. It's a format that might work should we get a decent summer, but not in the middle of February in horizontal sleet.
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Agree about this Brough Scott looked so chilled and almost shivering and they have that tiny table which doesn't fit all their equipment on and yesterday the ipad was drenched from the snow. It's nice you can see the horses behind them but a little marquee or something to give them a bit of shelter or even a porta cabin like channel 4 used to have would look much more professional. I'm not keen on the intro but have liked the general coverage and showing of the horses. I can't watch it all ever as have a lesson on a Saturday but another who isn't keen on the bloke covering the betting but that side of it doesn't interest me anyway and John Mccrick used to really grate on me too.
 
Alec Swan said:
I agree, the man was an oaf, but I'll admit that I rather miss him. An odd guest appearance I could cope with, …….. I think! :D

Alec.
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God Alec, never. He was a mysoginist and an ignorant ****. Except about racing, but he was such a pig you could never even pay attention to his knowledge, it all came out attached to so much drivel. I didn't like him BTW!

I was away on Saturday so watched all ITV instead of some ITV and some RUK. I thought it was good but do wish they would show the horses, although they did do that more I thought. Perhaps if we clubbed together we could buy them a gazebo from Argos?
 
I always felt with John Mc, that a lot of his bluster was put on for the cameras. I dont know him, so I could be completely wrong, but I had a feeling that his wife called the shots. I also seem to remember that he was quite an animal lover, concerned about welfare of both horses and dogs and anyone who has those kind of concerns cant be all bad in my book. I suspect he was very much a product of his upbringing so although he could be annoying in the extreme, I dont think he was quite as awful as he came across. Given the choice of Big Mac, the awful Mr Nevison or Matt Chapman Im coming down in favour of the latter and I never thought Id say that!
 
I'm really enjoying the itv coverage and although I have RUK too I only every watch that during the week. I don't have an issue with them being in the parade ring. I think the idea is to be as close to the action as possible not tucked away in a studio

I'm not sure the camera work is any different. I think the course shots are captured by one team who provide to the relevant channels. So what you see for itv will have been the same for chan 4. But I might be wrong on that so don't quote me !!


And there will never be an acceptable time for a guest appearance for the awful John McCririck however knowledgeable he might be. "Chappers" is ok. I'm not really into betting so it's no big deal to me as such but he is a huge improvement to the awful bland Tanya 'I dressed in the dark' Stevenson.
 
I'm really enjoying the ITV coverage too, I especially like how they show the breeding of the winner ( I know Channel 4 used to do this sometimes but for some reason it just sticks with me now!)

They are all growing on me, even Matt Chapman!
 
MyBoyChe said:
I always felt with John Mc, that a lot of his bluster was put on for the cameras. I dont know him, so I could be completely wrong, but I had a feeling that his wife called the shots. I also seem to remember that he was quite an animal lover, concerned about welfare of both horses and dogs and anyone who has those kind of concerns cant be all bad in my book. I suspect he was very much a product of his upbringing so although he could be annoying in the extreme, I dont think he was quite as awful as he came across. Given the choice of Big Mac, the awful Mr Nevison or Matt Chapman Im coming down in favour of the latter and I never thought Id say that!
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Quite a few years ago, when I was working in community education, an older Afro-Caribbean lady in the class started to mention her encounter with John McCruik. I was expecting a tale of racism, but the lady in question's daughter lived near the McCruik's and he invited them over for a Christmas party. Apparently he was very nice, very generous and nothing, the lady said, like was was on the racing! Interesting isn't it, I was very surprised by the story at the time. I do suspect he had become something of a self parody.
 
Enjoying the coverage today, lovely to see the Frankel - Responsible colt foal being born and the short clip from Greatwood. I hope they continue to do the interesting articles alongside the racing itself.
 
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