Who are the top UK Horse Racing Commentators?

Who are the top UK Horse Racing Commentators? After listening to thousands of horse racing commentaries I should know a thing or two about the voices to racing. Every country varies in the style of race commentary is presented. For example, racing in America compared with the United Kingdom. I guess we often like what we are accustomed to hearing and that’s why I consider home-grown commentators are the best in the world.

Here are 5 UK horse racing commentators who have called winners and losers.

Malcolm Tomlinson –

Interestingly, Tomlinson is not only a horse racing commentator but an actor who has starred in ‘Casualty’, ‘The Bill’, ‘Grange Hill’ and ‘Cold Feet’. He has an informed approach and a relaxed style building to a crescendo especially in a tight finish. He works for Racing TV and Sky Sports Racing other stints include ITV Racing and BBC Radio Live. Based in East Yorkshire he is often commentating on race meetings at Beverley among other courses.

Richard Hoiles –

I must admit Richard Hoiles is one of my favourite commentators. He has a passion for horse racing and often details insight about horse trainers, breeding lines and statistics. His background in racing started at Shat Tin, Hong Kong, in the early 2000s. In fact, he was recommended to the Hong Kong Jockey Club in 1995 by Australian commentator Jim McGrath, who was a stable for UK racing. These days Hoiles is the lead commentor for ITV Racing. One of his favourite courses is Cheltenham. However, he doesn’t just commentate this side of the pond but South Africa, Canada, Japan and Dubai.

Simon Holt –

Those dulcet tones and often an excited finish to every race. Holt started commentating back in 1988 after being a racing journalist. He was fondly called ‘the languid one’ by the late John McCririck for his mellow voice and a natural, seemingly without effort. Holt made his debut as a race-caller at Newmarket back in 1994 for Channel 4 Racing. In 2000, he was elected as lead. Unfortunately, Channel 4 ended their racing coverage in 2016. To this day he is the voice of racing for Sky Sport Racing covering many race fixtures. Not one to shy away from other sports, he also commentates on lawn bowls at the Common Wealth Games for the BBC.

John Hunt –

Has a very appealing voice and consummate professional. One of my favourites in the horse commentating world. This former policeman followed his love of sport after seeing an advertisement for a trainee racecourse commentator. These days he is a regular in the studio for Sky Sport Racing and BBC Radio 5Live. Hunt has remained loyal to BBC even though he was approached by ITV. In addition to horse racing commentary he also does Match of the Day and other sports including the winter Olympics.

Mark Johnson –

I often hear Johnson commentating on the horse racing, especially Kempton Park. He is well-known in the UK as well as America. In fact, he is noted to be the only person to commentate on both the Epsom Derby and Kentucky Derby. Also, he has been a racing commentator for the last 30-years for Jersey Race Club.

In recent years, there has been a wealth of new commentator to add to household names including Gareth Topham (2012). Other professionals include Darren Owen, Jerry Hannon, Stewart Machin and Mike Cattermole.

Big blow for boxing fans as Tyson Fury dismisses future fight with Anthony Joshua

Big blow for boxing fans as Tyson Fury dismisses future fight with Anthony Joshua There was big news in the boxing world last month when an undisputed heavyweight title fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk was confirmed to finally take place.

The exact details for that blockbuster bout are yet to be made public as Fury prepared to take on former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in a 10-round, officially recognised matchup in Saudi Arabia on October 28.

However, the Gypsy King has suggested that he will be ready to trade blows with the Ukrainian two-weight world champion on December 23, despite that giving him less than two months to properly prepare for the bout.

Whenever and wherever it takes place, Fury vs Usyk is a fight with huge appeal. Both men will put their unbeaten records on the line in a bid to be crowned the king of the Blue Riband division, and it will be massive for the sport of boxing in its current state.

The boxing betting odds for Fury vs Usyk are in the Gypsy King’s favour as well, with the bookmakers making the Briton the heavy odds-on favourite at 2/5. His opponent, who currently holds the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring titles, is 7/4, while the draw is 14/1.

If the bookies have priced the fight correctly, and Fury does come out on top to unify the heavyweight division and extend his professional record to 35-1-0, then boxing fans had hoped the 35-year-old would move immediately on to another blockbuster encounter – against Anthony Joshua.

‘AJ’ suffered the second and third defeats of his career at the hands of Usyk, arguably tarnishing his status as one of the greatest heavyweights. However, Joshua isn’t giving up yet and is set to return to the ring to face Fury’s old opponent Deontay Wilder.

Joshua claimed at the United States Grand Prix in Austin that his fight against Wilder could take place on the undercard of Fury vs Usyk, which would make it an immense night of boxing. But, the Gypsy King ruled out the possibility of that happening and branded Joshua ‘embarrassing’ for suggesting it.

The mega-card not happening isn’t the only big blow Fury dealt boxing fans in the build-up to his fight with Ngannou, however. The Gypsy King also ruled out a future bout with Joshua, telling Sky Sports that both ‘AJ’ and Wilder are ‘out in the cold.’

“They’re both out in the cold and they’re both frozen so it doesn’t really matter,” he said when quizzed about facing the winner of the matchup.

While nobody would be bothered if Fury never faced Wilder again, given that the 35-year-old dominated their trilogy, it would be a crying shame should an all-British bout between the Gypsy King and Joshua never take place before the end of their respective careers.

A possible future fight for AJ could be Ngannou, with the Cameroonian claiming he would like to face Joshua after a second bout with Fury.

“I think we’re going to run it back for sure first, then maybe see Anthony Joshua,” he told Sky Sports.

 

Which is the longest recorded tennis match in history?

Which is the longest recorded tennis match in history? The sudden-death tie break to end prolonged sets and matches was first advocated by the Van Alen Streamlined Scoring System, developed by James ‘Jimmy’ Van Alen in 1958. The tie break was finally introduced in 1970, partly in response to a match between Pancho Gonzales and Charlie Pasarell at the Wimbledon Championships the previous year, which had required a total of 112 games – at the time, the highest number of games played in a singles match – to complete. However, at the time of the longest recorded tennis match in history, also played at the Wimbledon Championships, in 2010, the tie break did not apply to the fifth set.

The so-called ‘endless match’ between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut started uneventfully enough, with the players completing the first four sets, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, in a little under three hours before play was suspended due to fading light. Play resumed the following afternoon and continued for the next seven hours until it was suspended again, for the same reason, with the players tied 59-59 in the final set. Play resumed again the following afternoon and, in just over an hour, Isner finally prevailed 70-68 in the final set, which had last 8 hours and 11 minutes in total. All told, the match lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes and involved 183 games, making it far and away the longest record tennis match in history, in terms of elapsed time and the number of games played.

How are snooker balls made?

Modern, high quality snooker balls are made from phenolic resin, a synthetic polymer formed by the reaction of phenol, a.k.a. carbolic acid, an aromatic organic compound derived from benzene, and formaldehyde, a colourless, but highly reactive, gas derived from methane. Phenolic resin is a strong, durable material, offering high abrasion impact and shearing resistance, and can easily be polished to the required lustre. Snooker balls are made by pouring liquid phenolic resin, pre-coloured at the production stage, into moulds without the application of pressure – or, in other words, by casting – followed by thermal curing, at temperatures up to 180°C, to stabilise the material and polishing.

The standard diameter of a snooker ball is 2.07″ and high-end grade snooker balls are manufactured within a tolerance of +/- 0.003″, which is less than than the +/- 0.002″ specified in Section 1, 2(b) of ‘The Official Rules of the Games of Snooker and English Billiards’. Furthermore, the tolerance of roundness, or sphericity, which determines balance and rolling characteristics, of such balls is just +/- 0.0012″. Inevitably, snooker balls vary in weight, albeit only slightly, such that a maximum tolerance of 0.11oz, between the heaviest and lightest ball in a set is permitted. Again, high-end grade snooker balls are matched into sets with a maximum tolerance of 0.04oz per set.

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