There’s not a race caller on the planet who doesn’t feel some degree of stress before and during the broadcast of a horse race. He desperately wants to get it right for the punters large and small who collectively create huge betting pools. The bigger the race day, the higher the stress level. In a job requiring intense concentration, the slightest distraction can put the caller off his game.
The last thing a caller needs is a technical glitch with the broadcast gear or somebody talking too loudly in the broadcast box. I remember a lesson I learned at a Randwick midweek meeting forty years ago. I forgot to close the door of the box when a race was about to get under way. To the lone pigeon who’d somehow found its way into the loft of the now defunct Queen Elizabeth Stand, the glass window of my broadcast box looked to be a certain avenue of escape. The field had gone a furlong when the pigeon hit the glass at top speed. The thud was sickening, feathers flew everywhere, the bird lay stunned and my concentration was drastically impaired. Punters were treated to another furlong of gibberish. I never again left a broadcast box door open.
Alysha after a stakes win on Kaapfever at Warwick Farm last year - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
How then does Sky’s Luke Marlow retain his composure and deliver flawless descriptions of races in which his partner Alysha Collett is riding. He doesn’t call every race in which the young jockey rides, but his roster often sees them at the same race meeting. If his nerves are frayed when he sees her checking off heels in the middle of a big field, it doesn’t show. If his heart is jumping out of his chest when he sees her charging down the outside in quest of a double or a treble for the day, it doesn’t show.
“We both have jobs to do and I have to treat her as one of a number when I’m calling a race,” said Luke. “Obviously I’m aware of where she is during a race but I can’t dwell on her mount for too long. I’m very proud of all she’s achieved. Alysha’s talent is matched only by her work ethic. Despite a frantic race schedule she finds time to ride work at Warwick Farm a couple of days a week. A glance at the NSW premiership table tells you her efforts are being rewarded. She’s in sixth place with 45.5 winners so far this season following on from 72 winners last season. In the 2020/2021 year she won 89 races. Her ability to ride on the limit weight brings her many rides.”
Alysha rode the perfect race to win the 2022 listed Australia Day Cup at Warwick Farm on Kaapfever for trainer Joe Pride - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
Luke was gobsmacked in 2018 to receive a shock job offer from the Singapore Turf Club whose resident race caller Tom Wood was about to relocate to Hong Kong as assistant to Brett Davis. The Singapore administration turned to Australia in launching a search for a replacement caller, and that search led them to Sydney and to twenty five year old Luke Marlow. “The offer caught me completely by surprise,” said Luke. “I didn’t know what to do initially but as the smoke cleared I started to see some positives. Family and friends encouraged me to give it a crack and before long I was on my way to a country I knew very little about. It turned out to be a very special chapter in my life.”
Luke arrived in Singapore just one month after Alysha had been involved in a horror race fall at Kranji which left her with serious damage to the L1 lumbar vertebrae and a complex fracture to the right heel. The young Kiwi had been given a contract on the strength of some impressive statistics at home including a win in the Gr 1 Zabeel Classic on Consensus two years earlier. At the time of her accident Alysha was the only female jockey participating in Singapore. When Luke arrived in October of 2018, she was recuperating at home in New Zealand. Fate would bring them together soon after her Singapore licence was renewed in the middle of 2019.
Here's Luke in the Kranji broadcast box soon after his arrival in Singapore.
“We found ourselves at the same dinner party with mutual friends,” recalled Luke. “We obviously had a lot in common and by the end of the night I was pretty taken with this gutsy Kiwi jockey. I invited her to have lunch with me the very next day, and to my absolute delight she accepted. Little did we know that Singapore was about to be hammered by Covid 19. The restrictions were stringent and racing stopped completely in April 2020, for what would turn out to be a period of three months. With next to no spelling facilities available, horses had to be exercised every day under intense protocols.
“Finally, the Government ordered a one month lockdown for all residents. Alysha and I lived in “shoe box” accommodation with dispensation allowed for exercise and essential shopping. It was a very stern test for our relationship. With the future of Singapore racing up in the air, we had to make a crucial decision. Alysha had the offer of support should she return to Sydney, and I gained some assurance that Sky would have some work for me. With some regret I prematurely terminated my contract with the Singapore Turf Club. We had to complete another two weeks of quarantine on arrival in Sydney. Despite the horrors of lockdown I’ll always treasure memories of my time in Singapore.”
Luke had just returned to Sydney after his Singapore stint when this one was taken at the Sky studios.
His tentative return to the ranks of Sky callers and presenters has since gone from strength to strength. Only two weeks ago Luke learned of a significant career advancement when popular caller Mitch Manners announced a return to his native Queensland to become resident race caller for the Gold Coast Turf Club. Mitch’s relocation marks a new five year sponsorship agreement between the Turf Club and Tabcorp who operate Sky Racing. Night racing is just around the corner and big prize money boosts were announced last weekend. “There are exciting times ahead for Gold Coast racing and Mitch is delighted to be a part of it. With his departure I have the privilege to become official understudy to Sky’s chief Sydney race caller Darren Flindell”.
It’s been an exciting ride for Luke Marlow who was born in Biloela in 1993 destined to spend the first few years of his life in the nearby township of Thangool - one of several strong racing towns in the region. Luke was almost ten years old when his parents grabbed the opportunity to move the family a little closer to Rockhampton. Jeff and Lea Marlow took over the Merlo Downs Thoroughbred Stud and it was here that Luke, sister Paige and brother Jack would enjoy a model childhood.
Young Luke’s interest in racing skyrocketed when his father attained a trainer’s licence and it wasn’t long before he was appointed chief trackwork rider for the hobby operation. “I’d been riding from a very early age and it wasn’t too difficult to pull up my irons, drop over their necks and pretend I was Mick Dittman,” said Luke. “I got to ride fast gallops at Callaghan Park and sometimes at Thangool. It was a great grounding for my future career.”
Luke was in the saddle from an early age.
That future career had unlikely beginnings at the Yeppoon races one day in 2008 when the Jeff Marlow trained Fleet The Bongo contested an open sprint. “You could have knocked me over with a feather when course broadcaster Tony McMahon invited me to call Fleet The Bongo’s race,” said Luke. “He knew I’d been doing phantom calls at home and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try the real thing. I was only 14 and couldn’t reach Tony’s binoculars which were fixed onto a swivel. Somebody raised me to the desired height by standing me on a milk crate, and I was all set to go. My memories of the call are blurred but I got a few nice comments from the punters. Fleet The Bongo won the race which made the day pretty special.”
Following his Yeppoon debut Luke received random invitations from race clubs throughout the region. He accepted every one of them with gratitude. He had valuable practice under his belt by 2011 when his attention was drawn to the fact that Sky Racing was calling for expressions of interest in their fourth “Race Callers Scholarship” - a concept designed to unearth new race calling talent. Previous winners had been Matthew Hill, Josh Fleming and Mitch Manners. All three have gone on to make their marks in the profession.
The inaugural Sky Scholarship winner Matthew Hill at the races in Mauritius.
Luke was one of five finalists to spend a week in Sydney undergoing a series of auditions. The most crucial test came at a Wyong race meeting when all five were given the opportunity to call one race. Despite being unnerved by the knowledge that the call was being monitored by judges at Sky’s Frenchs Forest studios, all participants delivered a noteworthy performance. It was a tough decision for the judging panel who deliberated for days before awarding the scholarship to the young Queenslander.
Eleven years on the Luke Marlow story is well documented, as is his trademark versatility. He’s adept in the calling of all three racing codes and fits comfortably into the presenter’s chair whenever required to host a full racing programme from the studio. His radio talents have come to the notice of Sky programmers in recent times. He’s a Friday regular on Dave Stanley’s popular “Racing HQ” and is currently filling in for Ray Thomas on the Sunday “Big Sports Breakfast” show. He also accompanies Dave Stanley on his country Cup roadshows from time to time. “Those trips are very close to my heart and Dave’s a delight to work with,” said Luke. “I’ve got to say I really enjoy my radio involvement.”
Two clear indicators of Luke’s ability to handle pressure situations were his descriptions of Provincial Championship Finals at Randwick in 2016 (Danish Twist) and 2018 (Serene Miss). Despite having had little experience at historic Randwick and confronted by big fields, he delivered outstanding calls of both races. In his new role as understudy to Darren Flindell he’ll get to call more races at headquarters in the future.
Although at ease in most media situations, the twenty nine year old racing aficionado is at his happiest when in the commentary box with his trusty 10x50s parked on a field of thoroughbreds. Many things have happened for Luke Marlow and they’ve happened fast. He’s already the veteran of eleven years in a business he loves, with part of it spent on the international stage. Those who caught a glimpse of the teenager standing on the milk crate at Yeppoon in 2008 must have dined out on the story many times over. If that milk crate still exists it has a fair bit of history.
Luke and Alysha step out on a rare day off.
(Banner image - Alysha was the rider and Luke was the caller when Promise The Moon won at Gosford on New Years Eve - courtesy Bradley Photographers.)