Well done Southern Cross Ten on your coverage of the 2006 Black Opal!
Last Sunday was Black Opal day, the feature day of the Canberra horse racing calendar. Southern Cross Ten were broadcasting live from Canberra’s race track, Thoroughbred Park.
This is something which should be commended as it shows as comittment to local television and the local community, as well as setting an example for the other local stations which haven’t ventured out of the studios for a live broadcast since…well…I don’t think living memory goes back that far. A live broadcast of a sporting event is no easy task, especially for a station that hasn’t done anything like it since stopping live local news bulletins from a studio about five years ago.
Anyway, the coverage got underway at 2:30pm
Our host was Alison Drower (rhymes with “grower”), who appeared to be in front of a green screen, with the background footage superimposed. The studio was probably up in a corporate box somewhere, and I don’t know why they stuck the netting there, but they did, and it made for an interesting background.
On 2CC that morning, Mike Frame announced that he would be part of the coverage, adding “colourful local racing personality” to his business card on top of “2CC’s Classic Aussie” and various other titles. This got me thinking…what titles would people get? Mike Frame appeared, with Ex-Fill In Prime TV Weatherman David Honke (pronounced Honk-EE).
David Honke did not get a title
Despite hiring Mike as a “colourful local racing personality”, they gave him the easier to fit on to the captions “Racing Commentator”. It is worthwhile pointing out that Mike worked for SSS FM, Canberra’s old ACTTAB funded community racing station, and former inhabitant of 103.9MHz, long before News Radio moved in from their old 1440KHz (AM).
Mike and David spent a bit of time talking, before we went to Simon Dearing and Julie Nehme, the fashion and crowd reporters for the day. They started off in a bad for TV shaded area next to a sunny area.
Later on we saw ex-2CC newsreader Guy Sweeting talking with Canberra race caller Tony Campbell about the history of the Black Opal and what will happen today.
Near the end of the interview, and in a different location, we finally see the face of Guy Sweeting.
Tony Campbell then did a “phantom call” of the race.
Mike Frame appeared again, interviewing Gratz Vella, the trainer of One Time, a horse running in the Black Opal
We then saw One Time having a bit of a roll in the sand.
The first studio guest was Camille Ducker, head of Fashion and Design at CIT, mildly eccentric, but great fun to interview…or so it seemed.
Julie Nehme appeared again, this time with Fashions On The Field
Simon Dearing then went to the opposite extreme and found the people who were looking somewhat odd for the day.
David Honke then had a chat with local bookmaker Roger Norton, who has been at every Black Opal.
He even got a title of “Bookmaker”
David Honke then had a very interesting chat with Ted Doon, the jockey who came second in the inaugural Black Opal of 1973. This is an interesting story because it came down to a photo finish, and apparently an earthquake a week beforehand had moved the photo finish camera slightly out of allignment, and cost him the race…according to him.
David and Ted did a rerace, won by Ted
And the photo finish from 1973
We got to see the crowd quite a few times, and it looked like a good turnout.
Mike Frame had a chat with Gary Buchanan of the Canberra Racing Club about the training pool.
And a horse in the training pool.
Alison then had another studio guest, this time a short interview with John Crommie, Manager of AAMI Insurance in the ACT/Regional NSW area. This mainly involved their reasons for sponsoring the Black Opal.
Next up was Kevin Sweeney, who has been involved in every Black Opal since the first. Guy Sweeting did this inerview.
The horses enjoy Kevin’s company by the looks of it.
Then it was time to cross to Mike Frame in the bettin ring to tell us who the punters thought would win.
Alison’s hat decoration managed to move the netting a few times
We headed back to Julie Nehme who had Trish Hanrahan telling us about the winners of Fashion In The Fields. Apparently we saw the winners briefly…but it was that brief that it could have been anyone.
Simon Dearing checked with the racegoers who they thought was going to win
Then it was time to head back to the studio, where Mike, Alison and David conducted an in depth look at the race
They appeared to have fun too
The analysis continued as the Sky Channel footage started to roll in and ruin the lovely green oasis images which Southern Cross Ten had been producing all day.
The all important race list was shown
Now bored of watching Sky footage of horses slowly entering the barrier with no race caller, we went back to the studio
Race Caller Ian Craig appeared, and Sky footage returned to the broadcast, but the barrier attendants had to push a horse into the barrier, it didn’t want to budge for a while though.
Finally the race was ready to go with light flashing and Ian Craig ready for the 1200m Black Opal. The Cyclist at top right made it just in time for the race and television coverage, arriving just moments before this picture.
“They’re off in the Black Opal”
They were pretty spread out through the back straight.
Coming around the home turn
With 200m to go One Time is in the lead
With 100m to go Down The Wicket is flying up the outside
Down The Wicket wins the 2006 Black Opal, followed closely by One Time and Luvuleo
Back to the studio with Mike, Alison and David while we wait for Sky’s interview with the jockey.
A race replay while we wait.
Alison tears up her non-winning ticket.
According to the ACTTAB race board’s offical results display, the first six horses were 8 (Down The Wicket), 7(One Time), 2(Luvuleo), 4(Solar Mighty), 14(Ellas Bar), 9(Navaho Trail). Down The Wicket ran a time of 1 minute, 9.94 seconds, with the last 600m taking up 35.84 seconds. Down The Wicket beat One Time by a long neck, and One Time beat Luvuleo by 1 length. The track was good.
There was some post race analysis with Mike, Alison and David.
Unlike Mike Frame, Julie Nehme tipped the horse Mike said would win, and it did. Simon wasn’t so lucky.
Alison informed us that Sky didn’t provide an interview.
And that it is time to say goodbye.
It was then time for the extensive credits, and the Southern Cross Ten logo, before they returned to pre-recorded programming.
Well done Southern Cross Ten, you did a fantastic job, and let’s hope that more of these “live and local” events occur. It is good to see that regional television is still alive and kicking. Well done to all involved!
For the record, the ACTTAB dividends were as follows:
8. Down The Wicket: Win $35.10, Place $7.00
7. One Time: Place $7.30
2. Luvuleo: Place $2.60
Quinella 8-7: $325.40
Trifecta 8-7-2: $9830.10
Exacta 8-7: $1102.80
Running Double 6-8: $341.90
Scratchings: 3-6-17-18
Samuel
(Update: It would appear that Southern Cross Ten misspelled Simon Deering’s name, and I did too as I based my spelling of names on their spelling of names. Sorry about that.)
15 comments March 24th, 2006 at 03:30pm