Racecallers accuracy

[Maorisidol]

If i may have a little gripe and at the same time ask a question of maybe our resident forum racecaller Fred Hastings or anyone else who can answer...
My question is re accuracy particularly AFTER horses cross the line where the caller is then essentially announcing/calling the results.
In race 2 at Ballarat just now 3 Bacardi Lindy horses ran in the top 4 and Dan was making a humorous comment about Bacardi and if you like a similar drink etc then you should have got the first 4...meanwhile the horses are now at least 50m or more past the post.
Now what happens after horses cross the line? some slow down quicker than others, some are finishing faster than others and so are quite often not in the same order as they cross the line, so when Dan gets back to call the order they are all out of whack.
Cannot callers have live vision of Sky where pretty much as soon as they cross the line the last 50m is being replayed and quite often in slo motion giving the caller an ACCURATE version of the finish???
And while im at it does anyone else have similar issues with Chris Barsby?
Last night in the trot at Albion Park a $3 Fixed odds chance was tackling for the lead heading into the first turn against another $4.50 chance when the $3 chance gallopped 22 seconds into the race. It went back thru the field and they travelled approx another 400m before at the 54 second mark we were told the $3 chance had actually gallopped. Is this good enough race calling, im just asking the question?
heres the link to the racecall, let me know if im being harsh?
http://www.harness.org.au/meeting-re...ld#APC25071510

[Amlin]

Not an easy task to master and I must admit when calling races I did not always get the "also rans" in the correct order though, mainly in dog racing, I did try.
Always a good thing too to again be able to call an incident such as a galloper/faller as it happens but again not always possible especially if it happens out the back and the glasses are on the front. I can mainly speak with dog events but luckily at some tracks I didn't need glasses so that gives you an overall panorama of the track and field.
I would suggest that if you watched hundreds of races a week the points outlined in the opening post would be more common than not.
We are spoiled now with a vision of the race compared to having to rely on the picture being painted through the radio speaker as in previous decades - perhaps race calling style has altered over the years as now the audience can sometimes see as much as the racecaller could ever tell them, if not more.

[doinmabest]

Hi Ash,
As Kyle points out, we try very hard to get the also rans order as accurate as possible.... In the main, with first four wagering, we certainly attempt to get that spot on. Dependent on the field size and nature of the finish, the accuracy may vary. I do try to get it right but sometimes, when concentrating on a close finish a caller may not get back to the pack in sufficient time to nail the finish. I know from my recent experience in the U.S. The caller at Yonkers seldom calls beyond third, in fact one race I watched in the box was a great two horse battle for most of the straight and John didn't even call a third horse past the post.
He questioned me as to why us Aussie callers bother with a run on and when I explained that we always have here and shared my opinions as to why, he said " ahh that's too much hard work"
I would think in most cases save for a few spots, the order called is fairly close to the mark... Just my views mate... Cheers

[Maorisidol]

Hi Ash,
As Kyle points out, we try very hard to get the also rans order as accurate as possible.... In the main, with first four wagering, we certainly attempt to get that spot on. Dependent on the field size and nature of the finish, the accuracy may vary. I do try to get it right but sometimes, when concentrating on a close finish a caller may not get back to the pack in sufficient time to nail the finish. I know from my recent experience in the U.S. The caller at Yonkers seldom calls beyond third, in fact one race I watched in the box was a great two horse battle for most of the straight and John didn't even call a third horse past the post.
He questioned me as to why us Aussie callers bother with a run on and when I explained that we always have here and shared my opinions as to why, he said " ahh that's too much hard work"
I would think in most cases save for a few spots, the order called is fairly close to the mark... Just my views mate... Cheers

Thnku Kyle and Fred for your replies. Firstly i acknowledge the race calling skill is no doubt a difficult one especially when one wants to do a great job (unlike those in the USA) and yes Fred i agree on a very high percentage of races you all do a great job.
But when there is a "stirring" finish or similar to Dan tonite when in a total good way he was adding some humour, is there any VISION for you guys available up in your box so you can then potentially revert to watching that to then b precise????

[doinmabest]

Ash,it becomes a little risky turning away from the track and the live action to look at the monitors located in our box. Major factor for me would be the delay (what you see at home/sky is around 2-3 seconds behind the live action. So I can only speak for me and say I seldom, If ever revert to the screen... The answer to your question however is, yes there are monitors in the boxes.

[Amlin]

Always tried to avoid calling from a monitor at all as per what Fred mentioned before, though given the delay you could sneek a peek at it when calling dogs to see which order the unplaced went over the line in - then when you say it you look smart as you have called them in order with the aid of a slightly delayed telecast on the TV!!

[Maorisidol]

Always tried to avoid calling from a monitor at all as per what Fred mentioned before, though given the delay you could sneek a peek at it when calling dogs to see which order the unplaced went over the line in - then when you say it you look smart as you have called them in order with the aid of a slightly delayed telecast on the TV!!

Thats exactly what im talkin about...its all about AFTER they cross the line if the callers attention is elsewhere either actually visually or commentating on a "stirring" finish or adding humour, so they can check the monitor as the whole field is now 20-30-50m past the post and in a different order to crossing the line.

[Messenger]

I have to ask why it is important Ash? If they concentrate on the first 4 and most of the time get the others pretty right too and we have the results to check later anyway for first to last