Top racecaller Matt Hill ready for first US experience calling Belmont Gold Cup

Australia’s best racecaller Matt Hill will give US audiences the first taste of his talents when he calls a Melbourne Cup qualifying race at Saratoga on Thursday.

US punters will get their first sample of the talents of Australia’s best racecaller when Matt Hill announces a key Melbourne Cup lead-up race at Saratoga on Thursday.

A deal between the Victoria Racing Club and New York Racing Association led to the Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup becoming a ‘golden ticket’ race into the Melbourne Cup.

The race will be televised in the US and around the world on the Fox Sports network, and Hill will have the Melbourne Cup with him as part of the trophy’s international tour.

Surprisingly, Hill has never called in the US but was thrilled to have the opportunity to call at such a famous venue.

“This will be the 15th country that I’ve called in but the first time I’ve been to America,” Hill said.

“I’ve always wanted to call at Saratoga because the town has been such a traditional racing town for so many years.

“I’ve got to learn all the American phrases like “down the stretch they come’ or ‘as they go around the clubhouse turn’.”

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Hill said advice from friends indicated his needed to slightly adjust his smooth calling style to US audiences, while the caller’s box at Saratoga posed a few challenges.

“I’ve got an American friend who said the Americans do struggle a little bit with the Australian racecallers because we talk a little bit too fast,” Hill said.

“I’m going to have to slow it down a little bit.

“The only thing I’ve been warned about is that Saratoga has the worst commentary position.

“When it was built in the 1950s, they never really thought about the racecaller.

“There’s a few poles in the way, it’s low and there’s trees in the middle of the track so it’s not the easiest place to call but they say it’s a great place to call because it’s enjoyable.”

Saratoga Racecourse will host the Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup, which offers a Melbourne Cup ballot exemption to the winner for the first time, on Thursday.

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Hill has also emerged as one of Australia’s most popular football callers during the 2024 season in which he began regularly calling AFL games for the Fox Footy channel.

Social media has hailed Hill’s silken but no-frills style as a breath of fresh air during the season.

Hill said he merely transposed his racecalling philosophies to football, doing little different to his preparation for race meetings.

“I don’t have social media so I don’t really see any of it but it does blow a bit back to me,” Hill said.

“It’s a bit surreal because I just do what I do and that is, rock up, call the footy the way I want to call the footy.

“You’ve got to play to your strengths. In racecalling, you’ve got to be accurate and that’s the thing I’ve tried to bring to football and the discipline of race calling has probably helped me when it comes to calling the footy.

“You’ve got to love footy but that’s very easy to do.”

Hill will also head to Paris to call the rowing events at the upcoming Olympics, which he did from Australia during the Covid-affected Olympics in 2020.

But punters don’t have to worry about Hill leaving racing anytime soon.

“The thing is none of this interferes with the racing,” Hill said.

“Racing is every Saturday and I’m lucky because 25 years ago, all the footy was on a Saturday but I’m lucky now that there’s so much footy on other days and I can do it as well.

“I’m a believer that you can only call the sports you love because people can pick it if you don’t really love what you’re doing.”

Originally published as Top racecaller Matt Hill ready for first US experience calling Belmont Gold Cup