Matt Hill: Born with a calling

Matt Hill was destined to be a race caller. The voice of Victorian horse racing was plying his craft as a seven-year-old with a homemade course to rival even the most iconic tracks.

“I’d put pencils end-to-end through the kitchen into the loungeroom and that was my racetrack,” he says.

“The naughtiest thing I did at primary school was pinch a couple of blocks because they looked like steeplechase fences. I’d sticky-tape paper on the blocks so the horses would brush through them like hurdles.

“There was a little record holder as the barrier stalls, a picture frame for the winning post and a ruler, with its numbers, was the semaphore board.

“The 1400-metre start at Flemington was just under the telephone and the hallway was the 1200-metre mark.

“That was my vivid imagination. I’d pretend I was calling the races. I was just genuinely spellbound by racing, putting words to pictures and painting a picture.”

The 40-year-old is in the midst of his busiest time of the year – Melbourne’s Spring Racing Carnival. His role with Racing Victoria sees him not only call all the action but provide the on-course public address, on top of his on-air commitments with TV and radio partners. But there’s nowhere he’d rather be.

“Usually the weather’s good, there’s a spring in your step and the horses are better – it’s our Grand Final,” Hill says.

“Everyone turns their attention to racing, which is lovely because you spend a lot of time trudging out to racecourses all year and it gets superseded by football but this time of year everyone concentrates on the racing.”

It all begins on Derby Day, with an influential 10-race card, followed by the Melbourne Cup draw.

Hill’s preparation for the race that stops a nation is meticulous. 

“I have the horses’ names and colours printed out and for two days I’ll glance at that sheet 200 times; it’ll be on the kitchen table and in the car,’’ he says.

“You get to a stage where you know everything about every horse, what jockey is on what horse, who trains each horse. 

“It’s probably the one race where it’s actually going to be hard to make a mistake because I’ve concentrated that much on that one race.”

Hill does about 40 radio interviews, from the coast to the outback, in the lead-up and says the nationwide buzz is a reminder of the significance and romance of the race.

He’s called four Olympic Games but nothing beats the Melbourne Cup.

“I think of it like I’m calling to my mum,” Hill says. “She’s driving around in her car listening and I’m describing to her what’s going on and that sort of makes me forget about the 25 million people who are actually listening.

“We call races day in, day out to people that love racing whereas people who never listen to the races listen to the Melbourne Cup so you have to be careful not to go too far with the jargon and make it easy to listen to.

“For three minutes of the year most Australians hear my voice, it’s a privilege that comes with the job.

“I’m invested in racing, I watch it every day, love it dearly and care for it so for racing to get that attention once a year is a nice thing.”