Beeb turfing out racing is disgraceful

ON January 5, the lead item on the horse racing section of the BBC Sport website was a report on Conner McCann, a Scottish teenage jockey, riding the fourth winner of his career.

The victory came on board Aurora Thunder in the Hair of the Dog Handicap Hurdle at Musselburgh… on January 1.

With respect to McCann, it was hardly headline news at the time it happened, never mind four days later.

But it typifies the Beeb’s attitude to horse racing, once a flagship sport for the channel.

You are lucky if you get a single big-race commentary on Five Live on a Saturday – even luckier if it takes in a whole race rather than just the closing stages.

Of course, BBC TV long since gave up trying to broadcast racing, but ITV have stepped into the terrestrial breach over the past five years.

With their main shows fronted by the peerless Ed Chamberlin (above, with AP McCoy and Luke Harvey), ITV Racing’s latest viewing figures are encouraging, over one million seeing their Boxing Day coverage.

Long may that continue, but the BBC’s complete abandonment of a sport that was once one of their bedrocks is nothing short of a national disgrace.

THOSE who believe vaccine sceptics are a disgrace to society will have revelled in Novak Djokovic’s discomfort in Melbourne.

And there is no doubt Djokovic should not have tried to circumvent Australia’s strict rules.

If he has not been vaccinated, he cannot go to Australia. Whether you agree or not, that is the law. But the farce of him being granted an exemption by Tennis Australia and the Victorian state government – only to be detained by border forces – should have been avoided. Djokovic (above) is very few people’s cup of tea but no one comes out of this bizarre episode with any sort of credit.

ASHLEY GILES, the managing director of English men’s cricket, says “everything will be on the table” when it comes to reviewing the Ashes loss.

But then he suggests there will be no point changing individuals in key roles. So, everything is not on the table, then.

Giles (right) also rails against those who would rather have a system that uses national selectors than all the power being given – football-style – to the head coach. “We’re talking about going back to a system that is…antiquated,” he says.

“In what other sports would we have someone sitting on the outside telling the head coach what he should be doing?” Not many, to be fair.

But in what other sports would a head coach be in his or her job after losing nine of their last 12 big games, winning only one?

Now, that IS antiquated.