Claire balding

Although I am not a fan of the sport she and Willy Carson make it watchable for me.

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Well done Channel 4, good move!

Channel 4's gain is Beeb's loss - well done her, she is a true professional.

She is wonderful, a true broadcaster and commentator who appears to be charming, warm, informed and never talks down to us.Well done her, she will go down as one of the greats in her field.

Fortunately she says she is combining Channel 4 and BBC work! Looking forward to her presenting the Paralympics on Channel 4; she and Gabby were the best at the Olympics (well John Mcinroe, Ian Thorpe and Michael Johnson were close runners up)

I think she is mavellous! She looks good, sounds good,she is intellient and well informed, a real woman! Good for her!

I hope she will continue to do 'Ramblings" on Radio 4. I think she is a great presenter.

Unfortunately John Francome will be leaving Ch4, though . Does she know that anyone who presents Ch4 Racing has to come to Stirchley Working Men's Club in October for our NH Preview? Most of the other Ch4 lot have been over the years . Clare's had a few knocks over the past few years; she deserves this success.

I like a little bit of the old horse racing every now and again and I like her very much. She is not cocky, knows her stuff and I think she is liked and respected by those in the game. Her interviewing technique is good and she allows people to speak without interupting all the time, or being aggressive. The rest of the B.B.C. presenters on the news channels could take a leaf out of her book.

She always looks smart and I think she looks smashing compared to some of the other race goers, very nice choice of clothes.

As an avid racegoer, I'd be interested to know if, having Clare presenting the racing on Ch4 will encourage more people to tune into it that wouldn't have otherwise done so.

I'm not into racing, but what I like about her is that when presenting the Olympics, she wore ordinary clothes. No sky high heels, no cocktail dresses etc. just trousers and a shirt.
A welcome change I think, and she still looked smart!

She's always herself, isn't she. Only dresses up for Royal Ascot, but that's obligatory.

Thank goodness for that, Clare Balding will certainly make me watch more racing on Ch.4, that is when I am not 'at the races' myself..... already looking forward to Badgers' Ale Day at Wincanton in November.
Sorry to be losing John Francombe (sp?) tho'.

Lots of rumours going around at the moment, but I fear that Nick Luck might be leaving as well. I really like him; have met him a couple of times at Market Rasen as well as at our racing club. I like Jim MGrath, too. Never used to until he left Timeform [I think it was Timeform] on a point of principle about a charity event. Went up big time in my estimation then. I do hope Clare brings more people to our sport OGM; I try my best to tell people how wonderful it is; although the lows are sometimes far too low, the highs are the biggest highs in the world. No one conveys the beauty of racing to non racegoers the way that Clare does.

Crimson I do hope there is no truth in the rumour about Nick Luck, I do like his style of presentation!
I also agree about the highs and lows and generally want to leave as soon as I see the 'big green screens'.
There was an occasion last season when C.B. was commentating, she handled the loss of a beautiful animal with such empathy and dignity. I do admire her presentational skills.

I know I've mentioned this before but it was soon after she started presenting that racing lost One Man; the worst day on a racecourse ever. She dealt with it with such composure, even though she was as devastated as the rest of us, and I received a lovely letter from her when I wrote and thanked her for how well she'd handled it. I'd like to see Lydia Hislop do more terrestrial presenting as well; again someone who has a passion for racing that she conveys to people [albeit being a darn sight more feisty than Clare!]. She is the 'leader' of our racing club and comes to our Cheltenham preview. As for Clare and 'the business of Liam Treadwells teeth' after his Grand National win, Liam comes along to one of our meetings each year and he's now got the most sparkling set of gnashers you'll ever see, thanks to the publicity .

Another thought just occured to me will McCarrick and Tania go as well I wonder , sort of hope so

Think McCririck's may be out. Not sure about Tania [I like her]. I don't like the Emma Spencer Mike Cattermole double act that we've been subjected to recently I like both of them individually although it took a while to warm to Emma].

Now I do like the Emma and Mike twosome , they make us laugh, seem like good fun,, The question now will Rishi Persad be going too , hope so as he seems to have really come into his own

Goodwood .

Thank you Hughsie , you are the BEST !!!

I've never seen Richard Hannon cry before; it made me cry too! Have just watched the re run on 4+1 and it got me blubbing again. From what I've seen of Goodwood this week it's a nightmare of a track to ride and Hughesie is brilliant there.

Did you see the interview with Jeff Smith? Oh what memories of Lochsong and Persian Punch [I don't remember Chief Singer; was in my racing doldrums at that time]. What amazing horses he's owned [and deserves to].

Hannon was emotional and quite rightly - he has had a brilliant run so far this week. Thought this was supposed to be Mark Johnson"s Goodwood ?? Hannon has proved it wrong .

I did see the interview with Jeff Smith - very good ! I enjoyed seeing the two horses behind him just kicking up their heels , as if to say "Ain"t life grand"

Poor old Frankie eh ! He has lost a lot of goodwill IMO.

I don"t know what happened to Tania , she looked a bit washed out , hope she is okay .

Perhaps she misses "John" !!