This is all I could find, not that savage

http://thesun.nagme.com/news/article/6460

There's a much longer piece in the print edition which basically says the new people taking over aren't up to it and the existing (former ?) team have been treated very badly by C4, particularly as Thommo is receiving treatment for cancer.

wonderful montage and wonderful farewell for the current C4 racing team, they will be missed, will be watching on new years day for the start of a new era

So not only have we lost a whole broadcaster but we have also lost the people that made c4 racing such a great program. We are going to end up with watered down BBC coverage with adverts and a few new people and shiny graphics.

Bad move by C4 in my opinion. And a Bad move that the BBC didn't hold onto the rights.

Ken

I think the opposite, but in a good way. Ch4 at times can be like an upper class club with Al and co. despite the knowledge etc I think a fresh is what it needs. With it's hardcore racing followers and potential for more 'social-watchers'.

I'm just the more casual horse-racing viewer but adding couple or 3 of the BBC personale (the decent few) along with 1 or 2 faces getting more time that have been mostly on ATR/RUK over the years, and then plenty of the experienced team that are remaining.

Only person I am sad to see go is Thommo. Emma Spencer for me is a bit clueless and person I am sad to see stay on. Also hoped Ian Bartlett would of been Holt's #2 or at worst continued the analysis with Fitzgerald

In his final link to camera, he mentioned that it was his final appearance on Channel 4 Racing, as did Alastair Down a bit later once he had wrapped things up. When Alastair did the closing link at the end of the programme, Tommo was standing behind Al smiling and waving at the camera. I'm not sure if they did a montage of his career earlier in their broadcast (I only watched from the King George VI Chase onwards), but I thought that was a nice little way for Derek Thompson to bow out.

Does anyone have an upload of the montage of the outgoing team from today's Channel 4 Racing that Chris_Wilson has mentioned? I would be keen to see it.

I will be sad to see both Al and Tommo go, I'm not a big racing fan although I make a point of watching what I can of the big meetings like Cheltenham and I found the old Channel 4 team really engaging and easy to warm to.

Tanya gave Big Mac a peck on his cheek thanking him. You get the impression that they all think highly of him beyond his silly act up to the cameras.

I've got both The Morning Line and Saturday's Channel 4 Racing on Sky Plus because I was out and about all day Saturday. I'll take a look when I have time.

John McCririck is actually well-liked by those who know and work with him. There's no bad blood there at all. He's an individual and has an unconventional approach to life, but he's not a bad bloke by any means.

IMG don't like controversial people who speak their minds full stop. That's why McCririck is going, and, among other political factors, that's why Clive Everton no longer commentates on the BBC's snooker coverage.

For the record, I know Clare Balding is a decent person, too.

I liked Alastair's soliloquy today. I'm open-minded as to the new team but it was a mind-blowingly stupid decision not to keep him on.

... though it would be funny if the Cheltenham fixture which is supposed to be The Start Of A New Era is abandoned, because the equivalent fixture eighteen years ago which was supposed to be Cheltenham's first on Channel 4 was also lost.

I imagine much of the decision making where made by Channel 4. Same with Snooker. IMG are there to deliver what their client wants.

re. Clare Balding's potential to pull in a non-specialist audience (which is surely what both C4 & IMG are hoping for); I wonder how well that will work, seeing how her profile and appeal to that wider audience is very much dependent on the Olympics and their narrative, and the glow of the summer already seems to be a long way behind us, the Games seem to be leaving no real legacy. So I'm not sure it will have quite the success in terms of broadening racing's appeal that is clearly intended.

With a little help from various bookmaker advertising, C4 bid double the amount which the BBC put on the table. Also, the rights holders - Jockey Club Racecourses, Racecourse Media Group, Ascot Racecourse and the British Champions Series - decided the rights would be best served by one terrestrial broadcaster.


When Clare Balding was announced as the "Number One" presenter for the big flagship meetings, the writing was on the wall for the likes of Alastair and Mike Cattermole and I can see where C4/IMG are coming from.

After years of being the top presenter, would you have given them reduced roles if you were in C4/IMG's position?

I'm sure there would have still been enough room for someone like Alastair Down, he only worked on half the coverage when he was reduced to the jumps season and Clare Balding is only going to host roughly half of the years coverage.

They decided they wanted Nick Luck as the other main presenter though, I suppose only time will tell if it was right

Slightly off topic but does anyone know if at the races intend to go HD in the future.

Balding will be hosting around 40 days, which will be spread over the year; this will include the big Cheltenham meetings - the Festival, the November (Paddy Power Gold Cup), December and January meetings - plus the Grand National and the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day, all within Down's remit. Would you have got him to work the "lesser" Saturdays when Balding wasn't around?

This is why Ascot have jumped from ATR to RUK in 2013 to keep the majority of the British Champions Series on one channel, I think Doncaster is only course in BCS not to be on RUK.

Why they have gone with that little snotty nosed kid I don't know. And they have got bloody Rishy "however you spell the bastard" Pasad. Why? They have sacked talented people and kept inane bastards.

Ken

IMG were the main culprits behind Clive Everton's sacking at the BBC. Graham Fry in particular. He was sacked in a corridor after more than 30 years of service.

In short, IMG also had a commercial relationship with World Snooker at the time. Everton was rightly attacking those who ran World Snooker at the time in Snooker Scene magazine, especially 'Sir' Rodney Walker and 'Sir' Dave Richards.

However, Everton NEVER let any of the politics spill over into his commentaries.

I'd argue that IMG producing the BBC's coverage AND having a commercial relationship with World Snooker constitutes a conflict of interests.

Ascot are moving to RUK in 2014; the first meeting under the new deal will be the Royal meeting in June. Doncaster was originally an RUK course until it was purchased by Arena Leisure (now ARC following a merger with Northern Racing) and was then closed for a refurb around 2005/6. When it reopened, the broadcasting rights went to Arena as was (as all the courses under their umbrella - as well as the Northern Racing ones - were aligned to ATR).

Personally speaking I think he is a better broadcaster than Nick Luck and I would have offered him the opportunity to be the No. 2. Whether he was offered it or whether he even would have taken it is another matter

Remember the remit has changed again so there is no flat/National Hunt split. The No. 2 role is essentially the main Saturday host.

EDIT: Channel 4 also posted on Twitter earlier saying that if Cheltenham is cancelled on New Years Day they will still be on air and will show four races instead of two from Musselburgh

Could be a bit of a disappointing start for Clare if she ends up presenting from Nicky Henderson's yard, with the action hundreds of miles away.

Rubbish. Channel 4's current racing coverage seems like an old man's club.


Give it a chance.

I love all the people that are criticising the new C4 racing before it has even begun. I will say this though. When Channel 4 got the rights to England's test cricket matches, a lot of people thought that it would go to pot. However, they revolutionised the way cricket is televised. I have a feeling they might do the same with their horse racing coverage. Channel 4 will be wanting to crack 1million viewers a week for their coverage on Saturdays. Therefore they have to make changes, as at the moment, it is incredibly stale and quite poor.

Sorry I meant 2014 and Doncaster will never ever go back to RUK as the costly court costs to get the rights off RUK could never be justified. The council never wanted RUK to have the rights in the first place and the much needed refurb was also an excuse to stop RUK showing Doncaster.

Clare Balding appears to be flavour of the month/year/decade according to some. Approaching status of 'national treasure', according to an article in today's Telegraph.

I'm sorry, but as a regular racegoer and viewer for many years, I have huge doubts about the wisdom of Channel 4's policy in handing over a successful format to what will probably be an over-hyped, Clare Balding Show, in which owners, trainers, and jockeys would run for cover if they possibly could if they saw her approaching.

Its just not good for racing or its followers. Most people associated with racing prefer a relaxed, understated approach. The sport is so unpredictable and levelling that the last thing anyone would want is an over excited presenter trying to put words into their mouth which they would rather avoid.

Informed commentary and anecdotes are what makes tv racing interesting and that has always been provided by the team now standing down. I just cannot see what a new team headed by Balding is likely to do for the better. My suspicion is that they will use Balding's penchant for overstatement to portray racing as something it isn't and doesn't want to be. i.e. every meeting a celebrity, over-hyped occasion.

Balding is from racing's hierarchy (and there's nothing wrong with that) but racing is more than Ascot and Cheltenham. The roots of racing are in the point to points, the stable yards, and the apprentice flat jockey's schools. That is where you see the origin of the relaxed and realistic attitude to the sport which so many trainers and jockeys retain when they are at the top of their profession. There are so many examples, but Paul Nicholls, Richard Johnson, Tony McCoy, and Ryan Moore come immediately to mind.

Do we want them hounded day in day out by a new C4 Balding regime seeking increased ratings?

Cheltenham now cancelled after overnight rain so C4 are showing four from Musselburgh.

As for the new coverage, I don't think there will be much difference - just different people saying what the previous people said in a different way -. The main differences I think there will be are new graphics and sig tune.

Just a thought on Mac, if Tanya was to go on extended leave or long holiday etc. who goes in the betting ring? Could that be what generated the article at the weekend?