Trentham racegoers are in for a treat this Saturday, with Matt Hill, the voice of the Melbourne Cup, on course to call the Grant Plumbing Wellington Steeplechase (4900m).
Hill’s voice is one of the most recognisable in Australian sport, with the Melbournian not only calling horse racing, but also AFL, the Olympics, and since 2012 he has been a commentator and presenter for the Australian Open Tennis.
He enjoys the diversity of calling multiple sports and is thrilled to have followed in the footsteps of a couple of his idols.
“I have always been a curious soul, and I adore sport, but also our race callers over here (Australia),” Hill said.
“I idolised Bruce McAvaney, the sports commentator over here and he was the voice of the Olympics. Bruce was a race caller that became our chief AFL caller, and Ray Warren was a great race caller in the eighties who became the chief rugby league caller.
“I was always curious to have a go at other things, and particularly being a Melbourne boy, to have a go at AFL football. I have been able to balance both now by doing football and racing. I am lucky that I have been able to straddle both, which has been really good.”
His talent has taken him all around the world covering a myriad of sports, but it is international racing that intrigues Hill the most, and he has now called races in 16 countries and counting.
“I have called races in 16 countries, not by design but by being a guest or travelling, I am fascinated by international racing,” Hill said.
“When I was young, I was particularly interested in jumps racing and I ended up calling seven Grand Nationals for the BBC and the Velká Pardubická (jumps race) in the Czech Republic.”
Having experienced race calling and various other sports around the world, Hill continues to be amazed by the diversity of racing in each country.
“A basketball match is a basketball match wherever you watch it, most sports are pretty much the same around the world if they are global sports, whereas with horse racing, every country is different,” Hill said. “The riding styles are different, the racetracks are different, and the way people bet on the races is different.
“I am fascinated by world racing and most of my misspent time at night is watching racing overseas.”
While he has trekked around the world calling in various racing jurisdictions, he has yet to call a race in New Zealand. Something he is looking to rectify this weekend.
“New Zealand is one that I have watched for a long time, especially the jumps with those beautiful big hedges, and I haven’t had a chance to travel over,” Hill said. “It will be a real bucket list item ticked.”
The trip has been five years in the making, with the idea first fostered during a zoom call among New Zealand’s race callers during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“During COVID, Justin Evans (Central Districts race caller) got all the (New Zealand) race callers together and they had monthly zoom meetings and I was one of their guests,” Hill said.
“We talked about calling races internationally, and the one blip that I had not done was call races in New Zealand. Maryanne Twentyman (Entain Media Personnel Manager) and Justin were on the call, and they said they would have to get me over at some stage.”
The opportunity finally arose this year and Hill is looking forward to heading to Wellington this weekend to help call the 10-race card alongside Evans.
“They have been generous in inviting me, and I will spend a bit of time with Justin as well for a couple of days,” he said.
“Justin is a very good, young caller and the more encouragement we can give all of the callers the better because we are a bit of a brethren and it is very rare for race callers from other countries to really get together.”
Hill is particularly excited to be involved in one of New Zealand’s premier jumps meetings, and he is looking forward to mingling with the New Zealand jumping fraternity over the weekend.
“Trentham his steeped in history and I love the jumps crowd,” he said. “They are so down to earth, and they share a mutual love for it, so it will be really lovely to meet the jumps community in New Zealand as well.
“It is going to be great and really good fun.”