Sense of humour and more time spent on the horses key to successful broadcasting

Despite some honourable efforts, Channel 4 has never managed to match the BBC’s Grand National coverage, not just in terms of viewers but quality as well. I can remember Channel 4's advertising of the National but can’t recall any stand-out raceday broadcasting.

With regard to the week-by-week coverage, I think the Beeb got it just about right – there was enough to keep the casual viewer entertained and plenty of the right voices to give fans something to think about between races.

Channel 4's coverage, simply speaking, just isn't very entertaining. The current format of form-race-form-race wears thin very quickly (Racing UK take note). Racing fans will know the form and the casual viewer won't understand it, so we don’t need hours of it. I understand the reasons behind dropping the old guard of Francome, Down et al. but the replacements have been bland.