3 minute read

Quite often the difference between remembering a race and forgetting one can be down to the quality of the commentary involved in describing the action.

Although the voice of Richard Hoiles has been common place at racecourses for many a year, the father-of-two was faced with arguably his biggest challenge of all on January 1, when taking on the task of becoming ITV Racing's lead commentator.

Since then, Hoiles has been privileged to call home countless thrilling finishes, over both Flat and jumps, and he narrowed them down to five that stand out in particular:

1. Wings Of Eagles, Epsom Derby - "Wings Of Eagles came from the clouds to win the Derby!"

"With the right horses at the front it would have been very easy to discount anything else in behind. Then when you realise that a) something is coming and b) it is coming fast enough to win, you know in the time available you have got one crack to make sure it is the right horse.

"Because I had done the work in the morning, I went through all the videos and I knew Venice Beach had a white face and Capri was a grey, so it had to be Wings Of Eagles finishing fast in the other Coolmore silks, however unlikely that seemed.

"It is one of those you want to play safe and double check, but you haven't got time to do that. In that instance I could have been too late with it or simply got it wrong.

"It could have been an absolute car crash, but it wasn't, and personally that meant a lot."

2. Marsha, Nunthorpe Stakes, York - "Frankie punches the air - he's sure, I'm not"

"All I knew from the angle, as I have called there enough times to know, was that Frankie (Dettori) on Lady Aurelia hadn't won by far enough to celebrate like he did

"I can't lay claim to thinking he hadn't won. If you had asked me straight after I would have said he won, but by a narrow margin and not one you could celebrate over as that line bends back towards you.

"It was very fortuitous from my point of view that Marsha won. From a personal point of view I was happy I was comfortable enough to put my doubt on the line.

"If Frankie had won by a neck, I would have looked silly, but that wasn't what I thought at the time and it would have been easy enough to have ducked it. It was the fact I didn't and I got the pay off for it that was pleasing."

3. Might Bite, RSA Novices' Chase, Cheltenham - "It's close! Might Bite could well have snatched defeat, then victory from the jaws of both."

"However many times you say it, people genuinely don't believe that you don't have 150 lines already written out that you simply recite. It gives you confidence that you can think on the hoof and just show it is completely pointless in writing stuff out.

"When you witness something that is quite quirky and odd in the closing stages, you trust yourself to try find a line of some description that fits it. That was our first Cheltenham and there was a lot of pressure that early on in the contract.

"Might Bite was fun because of the antics and it couldn't be prepared. I was pretty sure he had got back up as well, which was encouraging."

4. Big Orange, Ascot Gold Cup - "A pulsating duel to the Gold Cup!"

"I have selected this partly because of the storyline with Big Orange and Order Of St George and how it panned out and with the Oli Bell (ITV presenter and nephew of winning trainer Michael Bell) connection.

"Staying races are nice as you have the chance to develop, it is always really nice when you get a couple of horses clear as you can get rid of all the superfluous stuff in the background.

"Big Orange has been such a fun horse down the years and it has been very much a team effort in the first year at ITV so Oli running on to the track just adds to the memory. That was good, as Royal Ascot had been a good week."

5. Enable, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - "Enable, the Queen of Europe!"

"I've never done an Arc before. It was very short notice that we got sent out there and the commentary position is two furlongs down the track in a Portakabin.

"You couldn't see the winning line in my line of sight. I was trying to make the best of it, but you are standing in this Portakabin looking at a monitor thinking 'I could be back at home doing this'.

"The reason it was memorable was that exactly where she quickened was where she went past me. What looked like the worst possible position to see a race from turned into a really memorable moment.

"If you like, you were perfectly placed to see she would win as she always runs to the line.

"It was an odd memory in a way and it is not a vintage commentary in any shape or form as she won quite easily."