Richard Hoiles:My Life As A Commentator Page 20

It’s often spoken about how much time jockey’s spend on motorways and how many miles they clock up each year but no meeting takes place without a racecourse commentator. These guys also have to put in the hard miles. ITV’s lead commentator Richard Hoiles explains what its like and how he prepares before he steps up to the mic.

“Since getting the ITV job I am back up to about 35,000 miles a year.” That’s a lot considering motorists on average drive 7,900 miles per year according to the national travel survey. “I don’t really mind driving as long as it is not on a Friday night up the M6 and a lot of driving in the dark in the winter can get tiring. In the summer the variety of courses and journeys can be actually really enjoyable.”

As well as travelling the length and breadth of the country Richard has to be prepared for the actual job of commentating knowing the runners, riders and colours for each race as well as describing the action to people in a sport where literally anything can happen in a split second. It seems like an impossible task for most of us but Richard is the best in the business and he prepares like it.

“Most of the groundwork is done the night before, printing off cards, researching any info or stories and adding basic information like jockey’s names, any headgear, prices and ratings.

“If it is a flat race then I will write out the draw as I will see it from the commentary box and if it’s a jumps race I will draw a diagram of the course with hurdles/fences and the number to be jumped etc.

“For me personally the key is to keep the routines the same and stay relaxed far more phrases flood through your head when you are not getting worked up about knowing every single fact.”

As for meetings like Royal Ascot where the racing is constant for five days and most races generally contain large fields Richard said: “A large number of back to back days can make for late nights but I always sleep far better if all the work is done.” As for the large fields “In many of the handicaps the horses are quite well-known so they can actually be far easier than some of the two-year old races.”

For most of us who watch racing we would think a race like the Hunt Cup at Ascot or one of the Cheltenham handicaps would be the most difficult races to call through the year but for Richard its the Redcar 2yo trophy or one of the other big juvenile races like the super sprint at Newbury. “You just haven’t seen enough of the horses or know their run styles to really do much more than just call out names.”

In my opinion that’s what makes horse racing so special whether it’s a jockey, trainer or commentator the ability these guys show in being able to adapt to different horses, distances and venues is amazing.

Richard has plenty of experience having commentated all around the world including Cape Town in South Africa, Hong Kong and Japan where he called home Piludski in the 1997 Japan Cup. Zealand.

Commentators do a great job describing the action on the racetrack to us everyday of the week and they put in some serious hard work to be able to provide us with some great insight and excitement during a horse racing and they play a big part in making the sport what it is.

We all have our favourite commentators and moments that stick with us and even got us involved in this great sport.

Whether such as Richard’s call at York when Marsha got up to beat Lady Aurelia in the Nunthorpe despite Frankie punching the air aboard Lady Aurelia believing he had won. Whatever your highlight is we should appreciate what these guys do and hope for many more great moments in the future.