Race caller signs off after 60 years

• Published date: 10 August 2023
• Author: Paul Williams
• Publication title: Guardian, The

Anyone with anything to do with racing in the lower North Island would know the voice intimately. It was Dick Hunt’s job to confirm the result of every race

In a close finish, his decision was eagerly anticipated by owners, trainers and punters alike. Fortunes were at stake.

Matter-of-fact and bereft of emotion, each decision arrived as soon as discernible. Blasted across the public address system, it would start with the winner, run through the first five placings, give the margins between each horse at the finish, and finish with the time taken for the race.

Incredibly, the feature race of the day at the Levin meeting on July 29 was one of those tight races. It was a thrilling finish with horses wide across the track at the post. Nobody on course or at home was sure who had won, not even the jockeys themselves, and awaited Hunt’s decision.

It can seem like an age ... Hunt took his time. Robert Wellwood, the trainer of the eventual winner Itza Charmdeel, admitted he was relieved to hear Hunt’s call go his way.

“I’ve watched the replay a few times on television now and I’m still not sure he got there,” he had said.

Hunt was a perfectionist with an eye for detail, a trait that would serve him well in a job that demanded accuracy with zero room for error.

He said he never made a mistake. There was no room for mistakes.

“No, I never got it wrong. I was very diligent. Sometimes people would wonder why I took so...