HE is the voice of the gallops in northern New South Wales but a passion for harness racing will see Anthony Collins behind the binoculars at Inverell’s Carnival Of Cups meeting this Sunday. The seed for Collins’ harness racing passion was planted many years ago at the Warwick Show and despite growing up on a property with thoroughbreds he was determined to become involved in harness racing from then on.
After speaking with countless people and reading as many books as he could get his hands on, Collins immersed himself in harness racing and spent a lot of time with renowned horse chiropractor and horseman Gordon McCrae learning the finer points of training. Collins had his first starter in 2004 and celebrated his maiden victory as a trainer on New Years’ Day 2005 with a pacer called Regal Drum.
He drove his first winner soon after and although he no longer holds a trainers or drivers licence he plans on getting them back next season.
“I have been very busy with race calling and travelling between tracks has taken up a lot of my free time,” Collins said.
“I’m also the President of the Darling Downs Harness Racing Club that formerly raced at Toowoomba and now race at Warwick on Fathers’ Day each year.”
From the time Collins was in the fifth grade he dreamed of being a race caller and his idol growing up was the former Toowoomba broadcaster Pat O’Shea. O’Shea recently passed away and Collins was given the opportunity to call the Toowoomba races.
“Pat O’Shea was an idol of mine and I think he was an idol of many young kids growing up around Toowoomba that wanted to get involved in sports broadcasting. He had a huge influence on the region.
“I can remember as a kid I would hear him on his breakfast radio show before he would head out and call the Toowoomba trots and then go back in and read the sports news at the local television channel. Then on the weekend he would go out to call the races and the footy, he was just a local legend.”
Collins called harness racing at Rocklea before its demise and also called a few galloping meetings at tracks like Dalby and Warwick. He was also calling the non-tab harness racing at Redcliffe on a Saturday before it ceased in 2012.
“When the non-tab meetings stopped at Redcliffe it put a big hole in the number of meetings I was calling each month and I had basically gone from a part time caller to a casual one. Out of the blue I received a call from Sky Racing’s Rod Gallegos and he asked if I was available to call the Bangalow Cup meeting at Ballina on October 1.
“I grabbed the opportunity with both hands and was soon given the chance to call other tracks like Lismore and Murwillumbah. I had been working as a furniture salesman but calling races was something that I really wanted to do.”
It didn’t take long for Collins to establish himself as a caller and he now is employed on a full-time basis by Sky Racing and that’s how the opportunity to call Inverell arose.
“Andrew Bensley rang me recently and asked if I would be interested in calling the Carnival Of Cups meeting at Inverell, I normally make the trip to all of the Carnival Of Cups in northern NSW and strap for the Weidemann stable.”
“I jumped at the chance, I have actually raced horses at Inverell before without much success so it will great to be back there on Sunday in a different role.”
At only 29 years of age, Collins is a long way from giving up calling but he is keen to be involved in racing administration later on in his career.
“You can’t call forever and I would like to work in administration at some stage, I really enjoy my role as President of the Darling Downs.”
When asked what he prefers to call – whether it is gallops or harness racing, his answer is very diplomatic.
“I have been asked this recently and my answer is the same. I don’t care what I am calling as long as I am calling races.”
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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