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 Cheltenham Preview Option 
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Post Cheltenham Preview Option
I have had a few messages over the last few days asking if I am going to do a Cheltenham preview this season. I have given this a great deal of thought and have come up with a possible way I can do it. However, I am going to need the help and co-operation of others … and … I am going to have to be pretty strict and dictatorial about how I do it.

As some of you know my real job alongside the writing and stuff is as a Psychological Therapist in Mental Health. I specialise in Employment retention and career rebuilding which basically means when mental health issues arise I get in there quick and try to stop people losing their jobs by a) giving them therapy, rebuilding confidence etc and b) negotiating with the employer for adjustments, exit packages, time off , change of roles etc. As you can imagine I am a hell of a lot busier this year than I was last. My team of 12 is now down to 6 and one of those is a trainee fresh out of uni so she is getting a baptism of fire. This means I am doing a lot of covering, a lot of mentoring and am virtually on 24 hour call for incidents. Therefore time, although available, is sometimes not available when I want it to be. Incidentally the commentating stuff is my release valve and escape although sometimes you will hear my phone or bleeper go off.

Back to the point in hand. The previews are great fun to do but I am not sure if anyone realises just how long they take. The phone calls invariably go off on a tangent and there is a lot of editing to do before it is fit for public consumption. Also the removal of aahs uums and pregnant pauses can take a 30 minute segment down to 15 and that is vital as if they are too long they not only get boring but take an age to upload. Editing can take 4 or 5 hours especially if you are crying with laughter at Doug's latest story about giving free puncture repair kits with every doll sold.

Also the phone calls need to be factored in for when people are available and I am just not going to be able to do that this time as I never know when someone is going to threaten to jump under a bus. Add to that the fact that races now come out at lunchtime instead of 9pm and time is a big factor. There was many a time I was still editing well into the evening of the release and poor old Gray was sitting there waiting for it to arrive.

Therefore, this is what I propose and it does need a few of you to step up and play your part.

1. I will focus totally on Cheltenham, doing all the comms and putting the previews together. That way it means I can do it when I have the time and I don't have to be concerned about fitting in with anyone else. But I need the other commentators to take control of all of the flat and the non Cheltenham NH races for the week. Basically keep me out of it allocate the races amongst yourselves and let me focus totally on Cheltenham and then I can prioritise what needs doing when.

2. I need a good cross section of trainers to send me an audio recording talking about your horses chances. This should be done with each day in a separate file. IE If you want to do every day then you should send 3 audio files and name them Leon Day 1 Josh Day 2 Craig Day 3 etc. What I am looking for is something along the lines of …. I have xxxx in the opener he should have a great chance having beaten most of these at least once already this season. The ground has come up perfect for him and I am hopeful he can get us off to a great start. Then in the Ultima I have xxxx he has a lot of weight but etc etc . I think you all know how it goes. If you could edit out the aahs and ums that would be great then I can just splice it in as and where I want it.

3. If you are too shy to speak write it down and I will turn it into a graphic and read it out but please do audio if you can.

4. Don't worry if you are a lower tier trainer with little hope of winning, it is good to hear from everyone.

5. If anyone wants to do a preview of a specific race let me know and send that too but that will have to be audio as if I am reading it out I may as well just do it myself !

6. It would be good if anyone has, or can search and download some different Cheltenham pictures as I have been using the same ones for about 5 seasons and they are getting a bit old hat. I just don't have time to do that myself.

7. The earlier you send it the better. For example if you already know which horses are going where send your audio in as soon as you can. Also you don't need to send all days at once. If enough people want it and I go ahead I will post deadlines later in the week.

If this all happens I reckon I can get a half decent preview out maybe even the evening before the races but I am not promising that and it may be on the day and I may even have to ask Gray to delay the races until late afternoon.

If people get the stuff to me timeously I should be able to start the basics on Friday night. Day 1 will be the hardest as there are more races but if I get a jump start things should be fine.

If all goes well then I can do a Grand National one as well the week after.

Let me know what you think and sorry if it sounds a bit dictatorial.

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Mon Jan 25, 2021 10:26 am
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Post Re: Cheltenham Preview Option
Sounds good to me, but I have neither a Mic or audio recording software.


Mon Jan 25, 2021 3:01 pm
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Post Re: Cheltenham Preview Option
Josh - download Audacity, it's free and so easy to use, we use that to do the comms.

Martin, I'll sort all the flat comms and non-Cheltenham comms for week 10, with the help of S Ullah and Ryan C hopefully.


Will also send you a preview of my stable asap.

Thanks

Ry

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Mon Jan 25, 2021 3:05 pm
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Post Re: Cheltenham Preview Option
Still do not have a mic.


Mon Jan 25, 2021 5:01 pm
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Post Re: Cheltenham Preview Option
Ah Ok , assumed your computer would have an in built one!

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Mon Jan 25, 2021 5:18 pm
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Post Re: Cheltenham Preview Option
Don't have one by design on my main, do on my laptops, but not sure I have time in anycase. I may pen something


Mon Jan 25, 2021 9:03 pm
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Post Re: Cheltenham Preview Option
Given the virtual lack of interest I have decided I am not going to do this now. Only 2 trainers, Josh and Ryan T have said they will send a recording and only one has sent me any privately written info, Leon, and no one has volunteered to source any photos. So the whole thing is going to be pretty pointless, especially if people are going to post their own write ups on here. Reading out forum posts is not my idea of how to spend the weekend.

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Fri Jan 29, 2021 12:34 pm
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Post Re: Cheltenham Preview Option
Come on chaps, sort it out.


Fri Jan 29, 2021 3:01 pm
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Post Re: Cheltenham Preview Option
Craig planning on sending you the horse and course images through tomorrow Martin.

Think he was hoping we could all jump on a panel style convo over it rather than individual audio tour but I can do either. I'll write something up for forum if that's all we can do.

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Fri Jan 29, 2021 3:08 pm
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Post Re: Cheltenham Preview Option
HurricaneRun wrote:
Craig planning on sending you the horse and course images through tomorrow Martin.

Think he was hoping we could all jump on a panel style convo over it rather than individual audio tour but I can do either. I'll write something up for forum if that's all we can do.


I explained in the original post that that wasn't possible because of the time that it takes to edit the conversation down to a reasonable length. Also with different time zones factoring in a call is difficult. Last year I did Leon and Craig together on Saturday lunchtime, bit I am not available at that time this year. We did the chat Saturday lunchtime and I spent all afternoon and evening editing it and breaking it into daily segments. Then on Sunday I did the same with Josh and started putting it together. Sunday night I did day 1 comms and then Monday morning I finished off the day 1 preview etc. Editing it and piecing it together is what takes the time. The call is the easy bit. I asked for people to send me stuff as early as possible so I could start putting it together tonight. If I had got the graphics part set up I could have just dropped the audio on top. I posted the ideas at the beginning of the week so people had time to sort things out. The top trainers already know where their horses are going race wise so we could have done it earlier in the week and not made it a last minute rush.

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Fri Jan 29, 2021 5:13 pm
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Post Re: Cheltenham Preview Option
Agree with all that Martin.

The comms generally does take ages and I think when looking ahead to next season we need to remember the role of the commentators as well. We will need more people to help out for sure!

Anyway I popped a review on here in case folk wanna see where my main chances are for chelts

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Fri Jan 29, 2021 7:39 pm
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Post Re: Cheltenham Preview Option
So happening or not happening?


Fri Jan 29, 2021 8:20 pm
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