The Official Off Topic Thread

frankel888

The fella is a pain in the ass,on tele every single day if its not atr its channel 4,him family must'nt get to see him ever i pity them or maybe their lucky.


His voice is just horrible to listen to,''luvly harse'' ''nicky thinks a lot of this one'' ''hes a lovely lad'' ''nobody deserved it more'' ''so and so is such a shrewd trainer'' ''the inrunning told the story there'' ''back to enzo in the studio''


He states the obvious constantly,calls bets ''vouchers'' aswell for some reason and never slated a jockey in his life when its deserved.

BumperD

Just watched the Ballycasey fall. Wasn't that bad.

Hulk Hands

BumperD wrote: »

Just watched the Ballycasey fall. Wasn't that bad.

Seemed to walk into it a bit on a bad stride. Some of the twitter reaction is laughable, when he's been one of he most impressive jumpers we've seen all year. I'm still very hopeful

Imhof Tank

Urban - I cannot believe you would thank such a trollish contribution. Pity his family, his voice is horrible.....?

This the first post from a new account registered today, beginning with a horses name and ending in numbers? Does that not look familiar?

frankel888

Imhof Tank wrote: »

Urban - I cannot believe you would thank such a trollish contribution. Pity his family, his voice is horrible.....?

This the first post from a new account registered today, beginning with a horses name and ending in numbers? Does that not look familiar?

I've just stumbled across the forum today whats wrong with my user name?


Hope this is not how all new posters are welcomed


hashtag mickfitzfanboy

BumperD

Very familiar.

jimjamcos

BumperD wrote: »

Just watched the Ballycasey fall. Wasn't that bad.

Stupid overreaction to it. Schooling falls are a regular occurance and if anything more likely to happen than a race fall given the lack of pace. Sure the horse even jumped another fence after!

He still wont win the RSA, mind. I'd be more worried about him still having to win over 3m.

BumperD

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Seemed to walk into it a bit on a bad stride. Some of the twitter reaction is laughable, when he's been one of he most impressive jumpers we've seen all year. I'm still very hopeful

He just lost his concentration. He'll be fine. His last run was uber impressive.

frankel888

Its not ideal tho,a horse falling running lose then biting his tongue


remounting him would be illegal on the racecourse no vet would've said jump back up there ruby and jump another fence,wouldnt be overly happy if i was backing it at any price for an rsa,looked free aswell.

Hulk Hands

BumperD wrote: »

He just lost his concentration. He'll be fine. His last run was uber impressive.

Yeah massively impressive imo. Theres a common theme with 3 horses (apart from me having them at big prices AP!)) - Our Conor, Ballycasey and Last Instalment. They were all weak as kittens in the market before their last run. I dont think any of the 3 was really expected to win, yet all 3 were impressive. Massive improvement to come from those 3 id say

BumperD

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Yeah massively impressive imo. Theres a common theme with 3 horses (apart from me having them at big prices AP!)) - Our Conor, Ballycasey and Last Instalment. They were all weak as kittens in the market before their last run. I dont think any of the 3 was really expected to win, yet all 3 were impressive. Massive improvement to come from those 3 id say

So true. Our Conor has made me rethink the CH. Was staying loyal to the champ HF but you couldnt but be taken with the improvement from christmas to the BHP hurdle. LI's run was breathtaking. I was so keen on him as a novice and never thought I'd see him back again - in fact, going into the hennessy, I figured he'd end up down the field & they'd retire him or something - how wrong was I!!

ste2010

Imhof Tank wrote: »

Really insightful post - get away with what?

He's about as suitable for TV as a 200kilo man in a Hawaiian tropic outfit.
Yes he knows his horsey game but that doesn't mean he should be on TV. He doesn't have the personality for it not to mention the charisma for it. The amount of school boy mistakes he's made about race distances and horse targets..he is a good tipster, horse man and you know he can give you an insight that any other presenter couldn't give but he's about as enjoyable as eating chalk and poking your eyes out with a spoon. I feel sorry for the him given his knowledge and the abuse I seen today on the RP live chat with him. I can imagine he's a true gent also..this is what i mean before you go on the defense about him and keyboard tappers

Imhof Tank

ste2010 wrote: »

He's about as suitable for TV as a 200kilo man in a Hawaiian tropic outfit.
Yes he knows his horsey game but that doesn't mean he should be on TV. He doesn't have the personality for it not to mention the charisma for it. The amount of school boy mistakes he's made about race distances and horse targets..he is a good tipster, horse man and you know he can give you an insight that any other presenter couldn't give but he's about as enjoyable as eating chalk and poking your eyes out with a spoon. I feel sorry for the him given his knowledge and the abuse I seen today on the RP live chat with him. I can imagine he's a true gent also..this is what i mean before you go on the defense about him and keyboard tappers

Sad. That you can praise him for his substance and simultaneously slate him on a superficial level says it all.

Do people really prefer to listen to "smooth" media friendly types? Whose opinion on that Ballycasey fall today would you prefer to have? Mick Fitz or someone like Graham Cunningham/ Kevin Blake/ Don McLean?

Hulk Hands

Imhof Tank wrote: »

Sad. That you can praise him for his substance and simultaneously slate him on a superficial level says it all.

Do people really prefer to listen to "smooth" media friendly types? Whose opinion on that Ballycasey fall today would you prefer to have? Mick Fitz or someone like Graham Cunningham/ Kevin Blake/ Don McLean?

Blake and Mclean do podcasts and are fairly frank. Much more so than Fitz imo. I respect Fitz's opinion and career though regardless

Hulk Hands

Imhof Tank wrote: »

Sad. That you can praise him for his substance and simultaneously slate him on a superficial level says it all.

Do people really prefer to listen to "smooth" media friendly types? Whose opinion on that Ballycasey fall today would you prefer to have? Mick Fitz or someone like Graham Cunningham/ Kevin Blake/ Don McLean?

Blake and Mclean do podcasts where they are fairly frank. Much more so than Fitz imo. I respect Fitz's opinion and career though regardless

bit of a bogey

ste2010 wrote: »

He's about as suitable for TV as a 200kilo man in a Hawaiian tropic outfit.
Yes he knows his horsey game but that doesn't mean he should be on TV. He doesn't have the personality for it not to mention the charisma for it. The amount of school boy mistakes he's made about race distances and horse targets..he is a good tipster, horse man and you know he can give you an insight that any other presenter couldn't give but he's about as enjoyable as eating chalk and poking your eyes out with a spoon. I feel sorry for the him given his knowledge and the abuse I seen today on the RP live chat with him. I can imagine he's a true gent also..this is what i mean before you go on the defense about him and keyboard tappers

I agree with everything you say except him being a good tipster. For all the racing he watches I dont think he follows the form at all. I cant listen to him anymore. As Frankel says, he's never critical of anyone and its all about praising barry and nicky and they know what it takes... bla, bla bla.

He was a serious jockey and does seem an absolute gent but he is as drawl and never has anything to which I find interesting.

Imhof Tank

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Blake and Mclean do podcasts where they are fairly frank. Much more so than Fitz imo. I respect Fitz's opinion and career though regardless

Yes but how many Gold Cup or National winners have Blake or McLean ridden? What would they really know about that Ballycasey situation today?

frankel888

Blake thinks he knows it all about racing hes a top of the range fence sitter,his blog last week on the fenton case shows this,like hes some expert thats trying to teach us uneducated mugs about horses or steroids,all you ever hear out of him is''when I was over with Noseda''.

Slattsy

I'm balls deep on Ballycasey at serious prices.

20k+if he wins for me. And the change.

jimjamcos

Imhof Tank wrote: »

Yes but how many Gold Cup or National winners have Blake or McLean ridden? What would they really know about that Ballycasey situation today?

Wasn't going to get involved but the above defence always annoys me, regardless of the sport. How does the fact that he was a great rider make his opinion been better than others? They have eyes, mouths and brains too. Just because they didn't make a living from sitting on a horse doesn't mean they're not as knowledgeable as him. Kevin Blake was an assistant trainer over in England at one stage FWIW anyway.

It's like saying 'How many football matches has Jose Mourinho played? What would he know about football?'

Ludicrous logic.

jimjamcos

Slattsy wrote: »

I'm balls deep on Ballycasey at serious prices.

20k+if he wins for me. And the change.

I'd start laying him for guaranteed profit so Slattsy boy! :P

ste2010

Imhof Tank wrote: »

Sad. That you can praise him for his substance and simultaneously slate him on a superficial level says it all.

Do people really prefer to listen to "smooth" media friendly types? Whose opinion on that Ballycasey fall today would you prefer to have? Mick Fitz or someone like Graham Cunningham/ Kevin Blake/ Don McLean?

I'm giving the guy the respect he deserves..just because he knows his stuff doesn't mean there are not others out there who would have more charisma for television. Listening all about Barry and Nicky also gets awfully tiring...

carpothepunk

Anyone for Salthill tomorrow night and a few pints?

Imhof Tank

jimjamcos wrote: »

Wasn't going to get involved but the above defence always annoys me, regardless of the sport. How does the fact that he was a great rider make his opinion been better than others? They have eyes, mouths and brains too. Just because they didn't make a living from sitting on a horse doesn't mean they're not as knowledgeable as him. Kevin Blake was an assistant trainer over in England at one stage FWIW anyway.

It's like saying 'How many football matches has Jose Mourinho played? What would he know about football?'

Ludicrous logic.

Is it not self evident? A lifetime's experience in any business qualifies a person to comment and give a more educated, informed opinion.

As opposed to the vast majority of the punting public who have eyes and brains sure, and they can read form all they like, but wouldn't have the slightest clue how to evaluate a gallop for example. Whether a horse breezed well or how tuned up he was in a prep race for Cheltenham. IMO you need to have either ridden or trained to have the slightest clue about these things and punters should be listening to the likes of Mick Fitzgerald not abusing them online.

Apart form the cheap shots about his luvly harse accent, what's the main gripe about Mick anyway? Some comments here to the effect that he is not critical enough - but who decides whether criticism is deserved? Armchair jockeys - "he should have made the running", "he should have dropped him out the back", "he should have gone for a long one at the last" - read a lot of those comments on this forum. Laughable, as if anyone here is qualified to critique any of the top riders.

I'll tell you what annoys me about Kevin Blake - the "your comments" section posted up beside his blog. This week's top comments

"Great factual and informed article. No sensationalism and scaremongering. Are you sure you are a journalist?"

and

"This is an accurate, sensible and realistic evaluation of 21st century horse training"

Come on. Tell me he didn't post those comments himself. North Korean style propaganda.

jimjamcos

Genius.

carpothepunk

The two last reds are as good as any I have ever seen. That left handed deep screw on the last...

Hulk Hands

Ronnie looks to be getting better while the rest have dropped off a bit. Ding probably been the most consistent player this year but just can't live with Ronnie. He's never had a 'Hendry' style domination period. perhaps this year and potentially his third world in a row we can start comparing him with the GOAT

NaiveMelodies

Anyone else at Leopardstown yest? Unbelievably quiet, almost felt bad for the bookies in the ring.
Owners of Art of Payroll said their fella was a sure thing but of course this fella didn't back him! Also Barry Geraghty told a fundraiser event on in the pavilion that Sailors Warn would struggle big time against the opposition, few of the attendees were perplexed afterwards!

Juwwi

The Galway preview from Salthill is being streamed live

http://www.dafa.co.uk/?page_id=744

Slattsy

Slattsy wrote: »

I'm balls deep on Ballycasey at serious prices.

20k+if he wins for me. And the change.

I dont know where that 0 came from