Betfair Official Blog

Close calls up in Belle Vue - in more ways than one

Darrell Williams leaves SW19 behind for a trip to the track that was the birth of greyhound racing in the UK

It was good to venture off to Belle Vue in Manchester last week with the Sky Sports team for the Totesport Gold Collar final, where I was filling in for Errol Blyth as commentator. I thoroughly enjoy the Sky trips to the north as they involve a night away, which almost turns the job into a mini-break - even better when you're centrally based as we were on this occasion. For those who don't know, Belle Vue, which incidentally is where greyhound racing in this country started way back in 1926, is situated in the Gorton district about five miles from the city centre and is affectionately known as 'the zoo'.

With no other tracks in the immediate North West, it has a large catchment area, and is readily accessible through the area's decent motorway network. Given that Brough Park changed its name to Newcastle last year in order to help sell its location; I did wonder whether Belle Vue might consider doing the same. With the recent addition of a Wednesday evening BAGS card - daytime racing aside - the Manchester track is just about the busiest on the circuit, racing five nights a week.

My role as commentator revolves around calling the eight live races, plus adding my voice to other pre-recorded footage including recent big race finals. In effect given that I'm used to broadcasting for SIS or ATR which involves commentating for long periods of time, usually on your own, the Sky gig is relatively straight forward, which makes getting it right all the more important. I'm always keen to call the winner of a close finish if I can, especially for a big final, but obviously there's a fine line between believing you know which dog has won and guessing!

My commentary position at Belle Vue couldn't have been any better though, situated about 20ft up and perfectly in line with the winning post. When you're calling for television, you also need to be aware as to what the viewer is actually seeing, so it can become a bit of a juggling act between looking at the track and watching the monitor - especially tricky sometimes given the number of cameras used for a Sky programme.

Most commentators, me included, strive for the perfect call on every occasion, and that doesn't just mean getting the result right! Building up the race, and identifying accurately what is happening during it are just as important. While you can prepare to a degree by being aware of where dogs are likely to be during any part of the race, commentators should never rehearse what they are going to say - viewers can normally tell! Usually though the words just flow, and I don't know about other callers, but I can usually get a feel for what has won in a close finish. We had one at Belle Vue last week with Local Knowledge getting up by a very short head in one of the supporting races, but I had no hesitation in calling her the winner as they hit the line. It was only when I received a text from a friend telling me how brave I'd been in calling it, I realised just how close it had been! The big final, of course, was an easy one for the commentator, with Vatican Jinky dotting up, so no problem there. I'm back in Manchester for Sky next week for the Laurels final, but given the form of Barnfield On Air at the moment, it's unlikely there will be any need for a photo finish in that race!