It turns out he was over-qualified.
"I'm standing on a roof, talking to myself about the race," is how ITV Racing's lead commentator Richard Hoiles talks down the prospect of relaying live on television the unfolding drama of a 24-runner Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup [for amateur riders].
Or detailing the cavalry charge of a Grand National, Stewards' Cup or Weatherbys Super Sprint - to the rest of us a task of unquilted terror but to Hoiles his nine to five for more than three decades.
"I'm not nervous, as such," he says. "Excited? Yes. I only get nervous if I haven't quite followed my routine.
"As a friend said to me who plays golf, you walk up, you take two swings, you sum up the shot, you speak to your caddie, you stand over it and hit it.
"It doesn't matter whether it's to win The Open or it's playing with your mates.
"It's the process that makes you feel comfortable. As long as you've done it, you're never nervous."
Hoiles' process starts with a visit to the commentary pitch on the eve of racing, in his hand a sheet of paper listing the runners with full names of jockeys and trainers, odds, Timeform ratings and a self-drawn map of the racecourse.
But no poring through the jockeys' silks.
"I won't learn anything at that stage - I won't learn them until they go to post," adds Hoiles, a keen student of drama in his teens - "I did get a chance to get an Equity card when I was 18" - before qualifying as an accountant.
Information overload risks throttling the caller's spontaneity with the pre-prepared punchline, observes the 59-year-old, who then answered an advert for trainee commentators in The Sporting Life classifieds in 1992. "It might be a great line the first time you say it," he explains, "and then the third or fourth time it has worn off a little bit.
"You cringe hearing it for the 20th time!
"One of the understandable criticisms can be that you either like or presume certain events so much that you believe they're going to self-fulfil.
"That'...
"I'm standing on a roof, talking to myself about the race," is how ITV Racing's lead commentator Richard Hoiles talks down the prospect of relaying live on television the unfolding drama of a 24-runner Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup [for amateur riders].
Or detailing the cavalry charge of a Grand National, Stewards' Cup or Weatherbys Super Sprint - to the rest of us a task of unquilted terror but to Hoiles his nine to five for more than three decades.
"I'm not nervous, as such," he says. "Excited? Yes. I only get nervous if I haven't quite followed my routine.
"As a friend said to me who plays golf, you walk up, you take two swings, you sum up the shot, you speak to your caddie, you stand over it and hit it.
"It doesn't matter whether it's to win The Open or it's playing with your mates.
"It's the process that makes you feel comfortable. As long as you've done it, you're never nervous."
Hoiles' process starts with a visit to the commentary pitch on the eve of racing, in his hand a sheet of paper listing the runners with full names of jockeys and trainers, odds, Timeform ratings and a self-drawn map of the racecourse.
But no poring through the jockeys' silks.
"I won't learn anything at that stage - I won't learn them until they go to post," adds Hoiles, a keen student of drama in his teens - "I did get a chance to get an Equity card when I was 18" - before qualifying as an accountant.
Information overload risks throttling the caller's spontaneity with the pre-prepared punchline, observes the 59-year-old, who then answered an advert for trainee commentators in The Sporting Life classifieds in 1992. "It might be a great line the first time you say it," he explains, "and then the third or fourth time it has worn off a little bit.
"You cringe hearing it for the 20th time!
"One of the understandable criticisms can be that you either like or presume certain events so much that you believe they're going to self-fulfil.
"That'...
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Daily Record (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 11, 2025