Swindon on Sky!

In terms of news in our fine sport, last week had to be up there as one of the busiest, and most confusing!

First and foremost, it's brilliant that a Sky contract has been signed up for this year. Tom Kelly and everyone else involved deserves a serious pat on the back in getting 22 dates signed up for the year. The deal means that the meetings will also be broadcast into bookmakers via SIS (who are producing the shows), meaning that the viewing audience for these big meetings will be much bigger this year.

As for the show itself, news came out this week detailing the presenters of the program with Jonathan Hobbs being the 'anchor' of the program, along with Gary Wiltshire, who will provide the betting perspective on the race. It cannot be denied that sticking with a formulae that works and that has broadcasting experience, is paramount to this show working. I do think, however, that this is greyhound racing's time to showcase some new, fresh faces on screen.

Without actually having seen a program yet, and merely making an observation based on what details have been given, one does have to wonder how the one-man presentation approach will work. The greyhound program of old (which, co-incidentally, I don't feel we should really compare the new show to, as this time around I'm expecting a more streamlined, back to basics broadcast) I felt worked well because you had the main anchor, in the form of Gary Newbon, playng off the techincally superior knowledge base of Hobbsy. This interaction between two people allows for a better flow of presentation, rather than one bloke in front of a camera.

RPGTV is another example of this. Would the program work if you had Sir Errol in front of a camera hosting on his own in the studio? Yes, it works with having someone to link to (such as how it will work, I suppose, with Hobbsy and Wiltshire) however there's nothing better than having a 'double act'. Jonathan Kay works really well for example. The main presenter can ask a question and the response can be received from a different point of view, such as Mr. Kay's.

It's here that I think the Sky coverage could be the start of a breakthrough for introducing some fresh blood to the system. It'd be great to see someone like Kaan Hughes, Billy Brennan or Mick Livesey step up to this sort of role, and establish themselves amongst the old guard.

Again, one shouldn't be detromental to something which hasn't even started yet (which I hope I haven't delivered this as!), however these are merely thoughts on where the coverage can be used for the good of the game's future.

Initially, the dates given included gave Swindon the TV Trophy. Seeing this actually enforced me to do cartwheels around my living room. However, it is now apparent that the date has been postponed. I am told that it may be due to the nature of our marathon trip, the 932m distance. I don't really see how this should be the case. There are other marathon trips around that are just as tough, including Hove's 930 and Nottingham's 905. BAGS have even included a marathon race to the 'Eggstravaganza' (I'm sorry, I still wonder how long the marketing department took to come up with that). The TV trophy that I know from old saw the legend that is Scurlogue Champ surge late on over trips of an equal distance to land his races in style. The TV trophy SHOULD be a test of a greyhound's stamina, and I can't think of a better test than a marathon at Swindon.

The date has been postponed, but finger's crossed Swindon can still be kept in the frame for running the competition.

Still, the good news to come out of the whole Sky date press release is the return of the Arc. What's brilliant this year is that we're running the competition much later in the year (May 1st), which should hopefully attract some different trainers and dogs that we don't usually see during the winter months. By my thinking, and literally this is just off the top of my head, apart from the Monmore Festival races and such, I think The Arc may be the first Category-grade 4 bend race of the year for all-aged greyhounds, so this race should be a good lead-in for the Derby, which starts a month later.

I think one thing that our track does very well is these competitions, and this year will be no different. Having a competition adds a different feel and buzz compared to normal, which can be felt from the crowd to the Racing Office!

One must also tip my hat to Bill and the guys sorting the schedule for getting The Arc into the list. Maybe we can hope that the Produce Stakes can be another competition that is considered?