INSIDE RIGHT: Save the fashion shows for the catwalks
AFTER ENJOYING the week-long feast of horse racing that is the Galway Festival, 'Inside Right' feels the need to have a rant about something that really gets under the skin regarding television coverage of the sport of kings - namely fashion. When a big race meeting is on yours truly wants to see man and horse in perfect symmetry moving gracefully around the track, not frocks, feathers and high heels jaunting playfully around the periphery of the course.
I appreciate TV bosses need to dumb down or jazz up (depending on your outlook) their coverage to appeal to a wider audience, but surely if you want to check out fashion and hairstyles you can tune into 'Off The Rails', 'Gok's Fashion Fix' or some other such televisual treat.
'Inside Right' wouldn't turn on a programme about Paris fashion week and expect to see Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld take to the catwalk and throw a few legs of darts or watch ' Sea the Stars' sprinting down the runway as the flamboyant crowd erupts into spontaneous applause.
So why the hell should racing enthusiasts have to listen to some dolled up divas discussing the merits of a Philip Treacy hat?
As far as 'Inside Right' is concerned, you could strap the top of a wheelie bin to your head and it wouldn't be any more outlandish than some of the headwear on show, that often can resemble anything from big top to a flying saucer.
Don't get me wrong, yours truly has nothing against ladies getting dressed up to the nines to attend the races and equally has no problem with the concept of ladies day - it's just that it has no place in the television coverage.
Fair play to whoever wins the fat cheque for their wonderfully stylish attire - it's just that instead of ladies strutting their stuff in their finery, 'Inside Right' would rather see the real stars of the show, the horses, parading around the paddock.
Thankfully 'Inside Right' is more passionate about the less fashion-obsessed world of National Hunt racing, as you can build a rapport with the horses, instead of the stars of the flat, which can have one stunning season and then get retired to stud, leaving you feeling rather short-changed.
Fashion features are the norm during the headline-grabbing meetings of the flat season, with BBC's coverage of Royal Ascot, for example, brimful of expensive dresses, jewellery and the scent of summer flowers. You could be forgiven for thinking you've tuned into some weird hybrid of Xpose and Gardener's World instead of the racing. It wouldn't be so bad if they were blathering on about some feathery fascinator at an opportune moment, instead of five minutes before the next race is off - when viewers are scratching around for some punting pointers.
All we want is horses, jockeys, trainers and the latest betting news. Thank God for At The Races.
