132: Craig Braddick

Nostalgia Interviews with Chris Deacy

My guest this week is Craig Braddick, a horse racing commentator based in the US where he has been living since 2001. Originally from Cambridge, England, Craig works mainly at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Arizona, where the new film Jockey (Clint Bentley, 2021) was filmed.

We find out why Craig made the journey and about how he has worked in around 18 different states largely doing media work. Race calling is a specialized field and we hear about his passion for that. His father was a professional pundit and Craig has been around horseracing since a young age. He talks about how he overcame a speech impediment by emulating TV commentators as a boy.

We learn that Peter O’Sullevan and other commentators were very encouraging, and we reflect on the skills that previous generations of broadcasters had. As a commentator the job is to tell a story, like a novel – there are protagonists and antagonists – and Craig explains that although you can see more through binoculars than you can on a TV screen you have to know what the viewers are seeing to do the job properly.

We discover that the nightmare scenario in Craig’s profession is when you can’t see the jockey silks. He talks about why it is hard to judge yourself as a commentator, why he listens back to every race he calls and why it is normal to cringe when you hear the sound of your own voice. Craig explains that he has a book containing 1200 phrases which he can use in a race call, and he discusses the importance of not being complacent and the need to do better.

We talk about his archive television interest, which he traces back to watching Dr. Who at the age of 5. He’d be watching TV from a technical viewpoint, concerning where the cameras were positioned, at the age of 6 or 7, and has developed a voracious interest in TV history.

He talks about the TV commentators he got to know, and he talks about the regret he feels regarding people with whom his paths didn’t cross, e.g. David Coleman. He refers to the history of sport on TV and the allure of monochrome TV.

Craig discusses the challenges of getting to this point in his life and recovering from a health challenge and about how he thinks more of the struggles than the successes. Success is fleeting but the work he puts in lasts forever.

Then, at the end of the interview, Craig talks about the TV shows that most influenced him and we find out why he doesn’t still have an archive of some of the reviews he wrote back in his school days. He looks forward from a professional viewpoint but in his heart Craig is a looking back person.

Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Craig Braddick and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.