3 minute read

Singapore Turf Club race caller Nicholas Child will sadly not be the ‘Voice of Kranji’ anymore by the end of November.

The Englishman confirmed the move after he broke the news last week through his own Twitter page.

After listening to his accurate and entertaining race calls in his clipped London accent, laced here and there with his own brand of British humour – who can forget 'Mr Hanks begins to Cast Away and we know what we've got in this box of chocolates!' - for five years at the South-East Asian racing jurisdiction, another broadcasting chapter at Kranji will end with Child going for a change of landscape, albeit not too far away – he is exporting his talent next door to the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Many racing professionals, be it jockeys, trainers, racing stewards, have been lured to the Asian racing mecca like moths to a flame, but Child said it was a tougher decision than most people would think.

To the well-travelled Londoner, a significant part of his craft was honed, and a significant part of his life was spent at the Singapore Turf Club.

After starting off as a racing presenter, Child naturally progressed to race calling duties, but was also busy behind the scenes in the studio, helping spruce up the programming with new segments and innovative ideas.

Another 'brainchild' of his was his active social media work where he went beyond the call of duty by offering racegoers a more timeous and interactive platform via Twitter and Facebook, and his own interview videos on his personal Kranji Racing TV channel on Instagram.

To him, the images out of Kranji are the windows to both Singapore and the racing world, hence his sadness to leave that role behind, not to mention that of grooming his just-recruited Australian assistant-trainer-turned-presenter Scott Bailey.

"Everybody wants to go to Hong Kong, and I'm so honoured I was given such a fantastic opportunity to work there," said Child.

"It was still a tough decision to make as I was really enjoying working here at Kranji. It's been quite good reaching the Club at 6am to follow horses at trackwork and see them progress into champions like Debt Collector, Inferno, Top Knight, and getting to call them in races.

"I also have fond memories of Simon Kok (Wei Hoong) riding his first Group 1 winner with Big Hearted in last year's Singapore Gold Cup.

"But the highlight has to be my own first Group 1 race call – when Debt Collector won the Raffles Cup in 2018.

"I also got the opportunity to represent Singapore media at overseas trips like the Dubai World Cup, Hong Kong and Ascot.

"Steve and Bridget Gray are good friends of mine, and I was never going to miss the chance to cover Lim's Cruiser at Royal Ascot in 2019.

"As I look back on my time here, I've also made so many good friends. I'm proud of what I've achieved at the Club, but I thought it was probably the right time to move on when the offer came."

Though Child is only 34, job-hopping and country-hopping have been a big part of his journey, but never outside the realms of horse racing, an industry he clearly lives and breathes.

After being bitten early by the racing bug through his late grandfather while growing up in Holloway, a London suburb, Child first cut his teeth as the groom to two-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Kauto Star, trained by champion jumps trainer Paul Nicholls, from 2008 to 2011.

He was regularly featured on YouTube and in the press which was when he probably got his first foretaste of media, and which would ultimately see him jump on the other side of the camera after the champion chaser was retired.

He dabbled in TV presenting jobs around local racecourses while juggling his time as an amateur rider in around 15 point-to-point races over both flat and hurdles, earning a few placings. The tall Briton soon realised Mother Nature was telling him his call lay elsewhere – race calling.

Besides Singapore and Malaysia, and soon Hong Kong, Child has now spoken into a microphone perched atop grandstands in England, Ireland, Wales, Hyderabad and Mauritius.

He last worked in Kuala Lumpur as the race commentator/race caller in 2014 and 2015 and briefly in UK for Turf TV in Ealing before flying back eastward to Singapore in November 2016.

While the original designation was racing presenter, it wasn't long before his natural gift of the gab at auctioneer warp speed saw him upgrade to the No 3 race caller position at Kranji before gradually moving his way up to the top job after Matthew Jones and Tom Wood left.

Child will actually reunite with Wood, who also moved to the former British colony in 2018. Jones returned to Melbourne one year earlier for a complete career switch as a cattle farmer.

With the race calling duties at Sha Tin and Happy Valley currently shared between Wood and fellow New Zealander Mark McNamara, himself a recent addition last year, Child said he was happy dropping back to a wingman role.

"I'm really looking forward to working with Tom again, as well as Mark McNamara, Andrew Le Jeune and Jenny Chapman," said Child.

"Race calling won't be my main role for a start as Tom and Mark are already there. So I'm quite happy to work with Andrew and Jenny presenting at the parade ring and doing TV interviews in my broadcaster/producer capacity, and take it from there.

"If one day I get to perform the whole gamut of broadcasting duties, that'd be great, but I'm already just honoured and privileged to get a chance to work with such a great team."