The name's the bane of the race caller: George Simon
George Simon • August 25th, 2025 4:12 PM • 4 min read
Now don't get me wrong, I love being a race caller.
I can't think of anything else I'd rather do for a living.
It still never ceases to amaze me that I get paid to do what I do.
Admittedly, not as much as most people think....but that's another story.
However, just to prove it's not all beer and skittles in the wonderful world of race calling, there is an issue which can cause every race caller needless anxiety.
Obviously, as race callers, it's our responsibility to let everyone know where their horse is in the race.
We identify each horse by associating the jockeys colours with the horse's name.
To help us paint the picture for the race goer.
And therein lies the bane of every race caller's existence.
Horse names.
Most horse names are easy to pronounce.
Some are clever. My personal favourite was from years ago, a gelding who was by Lonesome Dude from Cold Shoulder. He was called Lakanuki. ("Lack-a-nooky")
Some are amusing (DontTellTheMrs)
Some are just weird (Braless)
And there are some with names I can't believe managed to get past officials.
Unodostrescautre anyone?
I've had owners insist I call their horse the way they want it pronounced, even though I know their way is one hundred percent incorrect.
Take note next time Giacomo starts.
I've also had an owner tell me I was mispronouncing her horse's name.
This was after her horse had almost 40 starts and had won several races.
I remember shaking my head in disbelief and continued calling it incorrectly for the rest of its career.
Fast forward to Te Rapa last Saturday and there were more horse names to grapple with.
Here's just four of them.
Uhtred, Sadhbh, Mo Charaid and Elle Sourit.
All four horses either won or were placed in their respective races.
Phonetically they are pronounced "Ooh Tread", "Sive", "Mo Courage" and "Elle Souri".
Apparently.
I just love this job.
