ITV COVERAGE OF CHELTENHAM

I am in the camp of watching on tv rather than attending for  the 3 Cs: cost , convenience and comfort.  With the cost of travelling and attending Cheltenham and last year’s exit problems This does create a challenge for ITV covering the Festival which they more than met.

Every aspect of the coverage was first rate. nowadays broadcasters tend to recruit stars who talk about themselves but Ruby Walsh gave a forensic analysis of each race which put the soccer ex pro pundits to shame.  Richard Hayles delivered a steady race commentary whilst Ed Chamberlain presented professionally. That thete was a mess over the start was not ITV’s fault. I even  enjoyed the  celebrity watch with Olly Bell who interviewed Bryan Robson and Celia Imrie  My only complaint was I found Brian by the bookies too noisy.

I prefer the jumps to the flat as thete are no age constraints and syndicates  produce owners less imposingsly grand than the flat. It’s a tough course over the flights too aspected by hills with the final uphill finish testing

All in  all a good sports watch every afternoon this week In the evening I happened to catch radio 5  There  was an inane conversation between the contributors on what to wear at Cheltenham and predictably they  put the boot into Spurs  As they were ex players the Spurs boys were excluded from criticisms  A friend messaged me that Spurs would be an excellent case study for Harvard Business School on how not to run a football club  However the shambles extends to every area : ownership , recruitment ,  head  cosch and player commitmemt  At Cheltenham Harry Redknappp threw  his cap on the ring.   he would be positive but he’s 78

So well done ITV whilst the BBC has discarded the Boat Race;  one of the events ( the Masters and Cheltenham  ) that dominated  march/ April sport