MY CALL: GREG MILES'S RETIREMENT OPENS THE DOOR FOR MATT HILL TO RETURN TO THOROUGHBRED BROADCASTING

By David Fowler | Tuesday, November 22, 2016

David Fowler is the principal thoroughbred caller for Radio TAB. David, who is a keen form student and punter, has enjoyed a lifetime involvement in the racing media. His personal blog, ‘My Call’, appears exclusively on HRO.

Matt Hill will be plucked “off the bench” to replace Greg Miles as the Melbourne thoroughbred broadcasting trump next year.

It’s hard to believe it’s almost two years since Hill resigned his Sky Racing position to concentrate on sports broadcasting.

That passion has been partially realised in a freelancing role with the ABC.

Yet he has kept his hand in as far as race commentating with the occasional harness racing gig and some thoroughbred features for the ABC.

It is no secret that Miles and Hill share a great respect for each other and a close friendship.

In hindsight you could say Hill has been skirting around the edges for the past two years.

Miles, 57, hangs up the binoculars at the end of June next year.

Many have thrown up other names as Miles’ heir apparent, principally Mark Shean and Terry Bailey.

While both are top standard, it would be poor long term planning for Racing Victoria who would be looking at replacing them in five years.

Hill , in his mid thirties, is poised in every way.

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GRAPEVINE: Expect a major announcement regarding sponsorship of a major race within the week.

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It’s about time the Brisbane Racing Club and the city’s leading jockeys sat down for a pow wow.

The BRC are quite firm in their resolve that the revamped track is uniform in its presentation.

But many jockeys are just as adamant the inside section when the rail is true is inferior.

This sets the unfortunate scene of jockeys avoiding the fence and plotting wider paths.

It also provided the foundation for several hard luck tales on the weekend with runners being held up in the concluding stages.

It’s not a good look and punters can only form a judgement on what is presented to them.

Who is right and who is wrong or is there some common ground ?

A round table discussion is extremely timely.

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Is it a coincidence that Ipswich finally has a decent whack of nominations this Friday with no 12 race card at the Sunshine Coast?

Let’s see what happens the following week when another midweek “marathon” has been programmed.

UPDATE: Did you follow David Fowler's lead in his HRO blog?

Fowler predicted Matt Hill would replace Greg Miles in the race caller stakes when Miles went into retirement.

Certainly it looks like bookmakers have been caught out.

Former Sydney caller Mark Shean and Melbourne's Terry Bailey were marked up as joint favourites for the position ahead of Darren Flindell and others by Sportsbet but it was the initial $31 chance Matt Hill who dominated the market action.

Sportsbet's Christian Jantzen confirmed to Racenet. "We wrote 70 tickets in our book and 60 of them were on Matt Hill. We were $31 down to $1.90 before we turned the market off."

Ladbrokes didn't make that mistake. They had Hill at a short price but the response was even more emphatic.

"We wrote about 30 bets and all of ours, 100 percent were on Matt Hill," Ladbrokes David Horne told Racenet.

"The last bet we laid was $1.60 and we'd had enough so we pulled our market."

An official appointment has yet to be made.