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Mark MacNamara A Big Loss

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McNamara to return to Australia 

8 July 2019 , News

By Michael Guerin

New Zealand racing is losing one of its rarest talents with leading commentator Mark McNamara returning home to his native Australia.

The voice of predominantly Canterbury racing will call his last meeting in this country at Addington on August 22 before returning home to Australia for family reasons.

McNamara has been snapped up by leading Australian racing channel Sky and will commentate and present for them starting in September.

“I’ll be sad to go but I am also looking forward to the new challenge,” says McNamara.

“I’m going home to be closer to family so it is a personal decision but on a professional level I am thrilled to have a role with Sky and looking forward to seeing where that takes me.”McNamara has been commentating in New Zealand for 10 years and the now 40-year-old quickly became a favourite with racing’s fans.

While he has the most obvious and important of commentating skills, accuracy, a strong voice and an understanding of racing, his quirkiness helped make racing interesting.

McNamara also developed strong ties with both the thoroughbred and standardbred industries, enabling him to add personal touches to his commentaries.

“I have loved it here and have worked with so many good people so I really want to thank them,” says McNamara.

“And whoever gets the role I wish them the best because it is a real privilege.”

McNamara is adept at calling either equine code — his Te Akau Shark commentary in the Couplands Mile this season added fun, hype and a narrative to what was a seemingly obvious odds-on winner.

But it was when calling harness racing that he was world class and when feeling at home at Addington he produced some of his most famous quips.

“I’ve been lucky enough to call some great, great horses but Terror To Love’s third New Zealand Cup, after he galloped away at the start, that was my favourite race.

“And as much as I have loved Riccarton and so many of the other tracks I have been lucky enough to call at, Addington has been my home track so I’m happy my last night calling here will be there on the (August) 22nd.”

While McNamara will be missed from the calling ranks Canterbury racing at least has a commentator capable of stepping into McNamara’s shoes in Matt Cross.

Trackside, now run by RITA, will advertise the role but it will be a huge surprise if Cross doesn’t secure the role at main Canterbury commentator.

While young he has developed into a very professional broadcaster and as a local has enormous knowledge of the industry in the region.

To that extent the racing industry may have dodged a bullet as Cross was nearly lost to an overseas job last year and finding a similarly-qualified replacement for McNamara would have been incredibly difficult.

Cross would be a deserved caller of the New Zealand Trotting Cup, which sits alongside the Vodafone Derby at Ellerslie as New Zealand’s greatest horse race.

McNamara’s move is not the only shift in the South Island commentating ranks with Jason Teaz stepping away from his fulltime job as commentator in Otago and surrounding regions to work on a contract basis.

That will see veteran caller Dave McDonald add the Forbury Park greyhounds to his extensive duties in the short-term while former Victorian commentator Craig Rail, who recently moved to New Zealand, will call Forbury Park harness and possibly other meetings in the region as a contractor.

 

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1 hour ago, tonkatime said:

Can you really get stuck into the management when he wants to be closer to home and family? Reminds me of the James Maloney situation when he left the Warriors, management coped the flack but at the end of the day there wasn’t a lot they could have done to keep him. 

Your comment sums the situation up very well, on the upside you never know, maybe Tom Wood may come back one day, we must remember the power of family ties, so stay calm everyone.As one door closes another will open, I will miss J Teaz's Southland calls.

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16 minutes ago, Shad said:

Your comment sums the situation up very well, on the upside you never know, maybe Tom Wood may come back one day, we must remember the power of family ties, so stay calm everyone.As one door closes another will open, I will miss J Teaz's Southland calls.

I think there may be more to it...than just the reasons given.

 

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2 minutes ago, slam dunk said:

c'mon people how about going back and listening to some of Peter Kelly's calls. Mark M maybe a good caller but not a patch on PK.

Matt Cross a virtual clone of McNamarra if not better so no need to panic.

You can't be comparing to voices long retired. We're talking about losses from the current, and to other reasons than retirement.  Apples with oranges? 

Mark M will be a sad loss, for sure. 

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44 minutes ago, We're Doomed said:

If Matt Cross takes over will they fly George down to do Cup Week?

Hopefully someone with a bit more maturity and accuracy . Matt has a lot to learn and i dont think he is up to the big time as yet gallops wise

 

Greg

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Canterbury has always had a very good commentator . However it does highlight the amazing longevity that Reon Murtha displayed.. The amount of travelling he did and the number of races he called was absolutely astounding. And I'd say he never "shared" the job with an understudy. 

People should also remember the vital role Dave Mac does in the deep south. An incredible asset to racing. He still "owns" the best call ever when The Diamond One was victorious in the White Robe of 2015.

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Mrs Cubes won a raffle or some such at Riccarton a few years back

The prize was to be in the commentary box whilst Mark Macmeister called a race 

He was a total gentleman not only to her royalness but also to Dodecahedron , our middle child of two .

He was busy as a bricklayer in Baghdad , but took the time to treat the famdamily as guests .

A great racecaller who will be sorely missed but above and beyond that a gentleman in the true sense of the word .

Knock ‘em dead Macinator !

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We have seen many good race callers and presenters come and go over the years and kudos to Mark Mc'yness and also Jayne Ivil that got snapped up not too long ago.   Good on you :) 

I remember some of the great ones too, Peter Kelly, Syd Tonks (lovely man who filled in at Trentham for some meetings back in the early 70's), Alan Bright... being a Trentham girl I mention them first... and Reon of course  ...  I guess now it gives some others a chance to make their claims.    There was a presenter on Trackside recently that started doing a commentary for a harness race in Australia because they couldn't cross in time and he was pretty good... perhaps he's in with a show :)

 

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On 7/8/2019 at 7:59 PM, slam dunk said:

c'mon people how about going back and listening to some of Peter Kelly's calls. Mark M maybe a good caller but not a patch on PK.

Matt Cross a virtual clone of McNamarra if not better so no need to panic.

Peter Kelly? Wouldn’t survive in today’s modern call world imho. Great in his day - but so were 14inch black and white TV’s. Let PK be what he was - the best of his era - as was Phar Lap. 

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5 minutes ago, Trump said:

Peter Kelly? Wouldn’t survive in today’s modern call world imho. Great in his day - but so were 14inch black and white TV’s. Let PK be what he was - the best of his era - as was Phar Lap. 

I disagree.. in Peter's day TV wasn't such a big thing, more listened than watched so having a good description of the race was important and so I think more emphasis was placed on describing the race for the listener rather than the watcher.  Now I think many rely on the TV showing the silks, horse numbers so they can just focus on the few fighting it out in the front.. and often miss those making progress from the back.   

 

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4 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

I disagree.. in Peter's day TV wasn't such a big thing, more listened than watched so having a good description of the race was important and so I think more emphasis was placed on describing the race for the listener rather than the watcher.  Now I think many rely on the TV showing the silks, horse numbers so they can just focus on the few fighting it out in the front.. and often miss those making progress from the back.   

 

Good points. He was the best of his time for sure. Your point about radio only back in those days is very pertinent. I agree 100% with your take on that. One of my yardsticks for a “modern day caller”, is how long does it take for the caller to get thru the field? 200m? 300m? I’m not talking about the Uk 5 horse 2400m races but more the average 12 horse 1400m. Personally, the Caller makes no difference to me because I watch the colours. 

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a year or so back I hopped in my car and it was on Trackside Radio and Mark was calling the greyhounds.

They went back to Des Coppins in the studio and he said “wow how good a call was that - Mark Mac can make anything sound exciting!”

His calls, even down to labelling a dead heat correctly, are outstanding.

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On 7/9/2019 at 10:02 AM, JJ Flash said:

Hopefully someone with a bit more maturity and accuracy . Matt has a lot to learn and i dont think he is up to the big time as yet gallops wise

 

Greg

He isn't perfect at the moment, but will get better with practice.  He will learn and get up to speed quickly once the pressure is on.  Mark got his first Winter Cup finish wrong, but got more and more accurate as time went on.  It's not the 'big time', it's just South Island racing.  Not many Group 1's to call.

If Matt wants the job, I think they should give him a go.  I don't know if he still hosts it, but discontinue the First Call if it hasn't been already.  Worst show ever.

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