IN the wake of the ITV Grand National coverage we had a bit of ‘pundit wars’ following a Racing Post article which opined that A.P. McCoy was an inferior pundit to Ruby Walsh.

It was a bit unfair as no one comes close to Ruby Walsh across all the media platforms over which he now operates.

Walsh is someone who did the job, knows everyone in the job, has strong opinions based on experience and talks straight. There have been very few like him in the past, capable and willing to talk tactics, to call out errors, to bring a new insight of what it is like from the back of a horse in the heat of a race.

Along a similar vein, Katie Walsh has also impressed recently in various contributions, for exactly the same reasons.

Many of the presenters that we grew up with – and it’s important to remember that a part of presenting is presentation and that needs different skills – might not cut the mustard nowadays where every mistake is picked up. There are perhaps too many ex-jockeys drawn in to presenting/punditry roles where it’s not just form analysis that is needed.

However, many are also being criticised while they are learning on the job of how to ‘present’ themselves as well as give an assessment of the horses in a race. There’s no such thing as an apprenticeship nowadays.

So, if we want to add a twist to the debate, put it out there. Having played second fiddle to A.P. all through his riding career, would Richard Johnson make a much better and more engaging TV pundit that the 20-times champion jockey?