Czech racing's big day on television goes quite well
Czech Television’s coverage of Velka Pardubicka day began this year at 11.10 a.m., twenty minutes before the first race, and continued without commercials until 5.45 p.m. Without advertisements, and with very limited attention to the betting interest, we were treated to a good afternoon’s entertainment. Staying at home and watching the afternoon’s events on TV, rather than contending with the crowds at the racecourse, was certainly an attractive option. Another attractive option, which I chose, was to go to the course and enjoy the atmosphere, and then spend many hours in the following week watching and rewatching the television coverage.
Let me begin with praise for the production team, and especially for the cameramen. The attractiveness of the autumn scene at Pardubice racecourse is always captured with great sensitivity by Czech Television on VP day. Attention always focuses, appropriately, on the horses and their connections. The viewers are able to forget about commercialism and the real world for more than 6 hours, though towards the end Josef Vana senior struck a jarring note by endorsing one of the scary candidates for the upcoming parliamentary election, which will be held at the end of October.
Czech Television gets fairly good marks for its team of commentators, experts, interviewers and the like. The best nowadays is Pavel Fucik, whose short interviews with jockeys after the races, and in the paddock, were excellent. Pavel is well known and well trusted by everyone in Czech racing, and the riders are happy to answer his well judged questions, and can be sure that he will not try to upstage them.
If you want to appear well on Velka Pardubicka day television, there is no substitute for following Czech horseracing very closely all season, and preparing for day’s events. Broadcasting experience and good technique with the microphone and before the camera are also important. Pavel scores high marks on all these criteria.
Race commentator Marek Svacina also scores quite good marks all round, though he was slightly underprepared for the difficult task. He was a bit hesitant, and made a number of misidentifications. Am I being ungenerous? There were eight races and a lot of runners, jockeys and colours, and racereading is not easy.
Libor Simunek, who retired as a jockey a year ago, has been Czech Television’s steeplechasing expert throughout the season. What he says is very sound, and he knows all the human and equine personalities really well. However, he is a bit serious, and he lacks camera-awareness. With experience and training, and a bit of loosening up, Libor can be a very good TV expert on steeplechasing. Libor answered viewers’ e-mail questions, posed to him by Petr Kubasek, who I think is a professional broadcaster. He read the questions competently.
It was good to see Jiri Janda on VP day television again, after a few years away. Jiri Janda is a qualified vet, until very recently a trainer, a Pardubice resident, and over the last two years he has been in charge of the ground staff at the racecourse – the course is now in vastly better condition than it was when he took charge. He was given a humble role, answering questions about the racecourse set by Barbora Cernoskova. Barbora was there to represent the fairer sex. She had prepared herself properly, and was the only one to allow herself to smile – some of the males, fulfilling important roles, had an excess of gravitas.
Milan Olehla, brother of trainer Cestmir Olehla, was again paired with Petr Vichnar, a pairing that has failed in previous years, and failed again this time. Milan knows the racing scene pretty well, and what he says is sensible enough, but oh, so banal and dull. Vichnar is a veteran sports journalist, but what he knows about horseracing appears to be written on scraps of paper, and he seems perpetually worried about losing them.
The sun came out in the afternoon, making the place and the sport appear attractive. Czech racing’s big day on Czech Television, with excellent numbers of viewers, went pretty well.