Pundits - EARN YOUR FEE I was at Southwell yesterday and was talking to @banjo_13 @pigeon_island @itkracing yes actual real people that do exist on twitter. I can confirm that Pigeon_island is an extremely nice bloke, @itkracing likewise and @banjo_13 really does exist :) we got talking about Pundits and @purstonman said to me you have a real problem with pundits don't you. It took me back a little but when I thought about it he is right, I do tweet a lot about Pundits and how I feel about them. Firstly it is nothing personal against them but here's my problem. Racing Uk is a subscription channel £20 a month. My subs inadvertently pay for these guest pundits to appear. I expect value for money.When Angus or Lydia are previewing a maiden at Kempton and there is little form to go on this is where I expect the pundit to earn to his corn so to speak. Take Dave Yeats, when it comes to his pre race analysis he fills in his air time by going through the horses previous runs, he NEVER goes into pedigree's, he has no idea whether a horse will act at the track or not. I have never heard him once mention a sire stat, a strike rate, nothing, Nada, Zilch. He will tell you that such and such a horse finished 2 lengths behind such and such on debut and a little collateral form that a mere novice will know. I venture that Dave Yeats has absolutely no interest in AW racing and I suspect he never has a bet. Now my beef is that there are plenty of people that don't have a day job that could do a far better job given the chance. What is it with Racing Uk and paper journalists being given all the pundits roles? Look at @chutneydave the bloke worked for HMV for donkeys years the company gets wound up and thankfully @williamhillradio recognised that he could add plenty to their coverage and I believe he still works for them (i don't listen to williamhillradio) How come the 'pundits' that are proper punters are hardly ever on our screens. Eddie Freemantle, Andy Richmond, Steve Mellish. If you listen to them when they are on they are armed with pedigree knowledge, they are armed with the likely pacesetters, they have an idea of which horses are and which are not going to act on the surface or likely to be trying. They have a clear vision in their minds of how a race is going to be run. That in my opinion is a fundamental when it comes to betting.Chris Dixon isn't my favourite pundit but even he has an idea rightly or wrongly of how a race may pan out and regularly cites proform for stats etc when he's not giggling like a schoolgirl with Olli Bell. Is it because the bookies don't want people on like Andy Richmond who is like an encyclopaedia with his stats as they may just help teach the novice punter something that may stop them losing their £20 a week with BetFred. There has to be a reason, Dave Yeats isn't employed almost twice a week every week for his expert pre race or post race analysis, so why is he on our screens so much yet we hardly ever see Andy Richmond or Eddie Freemantle. How come we get day after day of @professor_hindsight and his continual advocacy of sectionals yet when I challenge him to prove their worth with giving us some winning selections, he blocks me on twitter. I don't disagree about sectionals by the way I just like someone who is so vocal in ramming things down your throat should prove their worth. He gets so much air time but he is happy to sit there pocketing his £100 per hour while he continually slags off the quality of the AW racing in Britain. He can be interesting and he talks some sense some of the time, but he goes on like he is an expert without bringing home the bacon (winners)he is excellent at after timing though, there is no one better, his post race analysis is 2nd to none. He can explain why this happened and that happened, sorry James old bean but the idea is to do that before the race has happened. I once saw a link from a lad I follow on twitter @calummaddel it was a vieo recording of him and a few friends doing a preview of a Saturday card (I forget which one) and it was excellent. I may not of agreed with everything they said or their selections but they had a clear idea of how they thought a race would pan out, why it would and I thought to myself that is what I want to see on Racing UK. Pundits with passion for what they are talking about, who are proper students of pedigrees, pundits who take the time to have a clear idea of how a race will pan out. No one is right all the time but I would rather someone gave an opinion than someone like Yeats who thinks a night of punditry is talking about his bike ride to lands end, or won't go point to point racing as he can't go on his bike. So if I am hard on pundits so be it, most people who pay for Racing UK do so they because they like a bet and I believe the people being paid to preview/analyse the racing should be worth their fee. rant over

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