Leading race caller Darren Flindell has revealed the two horses that helped shape his career in Sydney, after admittedly struggling with the role initially.
After 16 years calling races in Hong Kong, Flindell returned to Australia in 2015 and headed up the new Sky Racing channel as the head caller in Sydney.
But his career in the racing industry began well before his lengthy stint overseas, with Flindell recalling the myriad of different roles he held straight out of high school.
Speaking to Sporting News ahead of this year's Everest race at Royal Randwick, the caller opened up on his journey through the industry that eventually landed him completing a 'childhood dream'.
“It started off with the greyhounds when I left school, I did a lot of work calling greyhounds at various country tracks and a bit of work at Wenworth Park," he said.
"I used to work in the betting rings sometimes writing down the prices – I did a whole lot of different little jobs along the way.
"I ended up getting the job in Hong Kong as the No.2 caller back in 1999, and I stayed there for 16 years and got me the international profile.
“I loved Hong Kong, I really did. The good thing about the racing there was that they only raced twice a week, and they would always get good crowds. Even on Wednesday nights you would get massive crowds, and you’re calling pretty ordinary type of races in the quality of the horses, but it’s just the whole atmosphere.
"You walk onto the track every night and even on a bad night, there would be a crowd of 15,000 there at Happy Valley. Sha Tin could accommodate 100,000 and I think it was the buzz of the crowd all the time.
"Hong Kong led the way for a lot of the services we are enjoying now in Australia, being able to watch replays in a flash and the access to form and a whole range of information.
"They were pretty big on it on Hong Kong, the customer service, and you had to be giving out as much information for free, as possible. I can see how that has really taken over in Australian racing in recent years.
"When things changed at Sky and they were looking for a No.1 caller with the home channel opening up here, I got the gig and I’ve been back in Sydney now for close to seven years.
"It was a variety of many positions in the early days, the long stint in Hong Kong and now this current stint in Sydney, which was always a childhood dream."
Flindell has risen to fame during his time back in Sydney for some legendary calls, but it wasn't easy in the beginning.
He spoke about being thrust straight into calling a Golden Slipper less than a week after returning to Australia, and having to learn on the fly after a decade-and-a-half abroad.
“It was very tough work in the early stages, because I basically changed stables in the space of 24 hours," he said.
"I flew out of Hong Kong on the Sunday, Monday I came here and picked up the car, I had to call some trials on the Tuesday morning and it was very stressful.
"It took a while to become familiar with the names here and the colours – it’s a lot to take on in a short space of time.
"I was only here a few days and then bang, straight into the Golden Slipper. It was a real baptism of fire.
"The tougher parts I’d hopefully like to think are all behind me, but there were some tough periods I would say in that first six months."
Since his early days and the tough periods, Flindell has become renowned for his booming voice and adding plenty of personality to his calls.
The most famous of those is of course the call of the 2017 TJ Smith Stakes, where he called 'The Grey Flash' Chautauqua home for a third consecutive year.
In 2015 it was a simple 'here we go, boom' from Flindell and in 2016 it was the 'boom right over the top' - but it was the 2017 call that earned him universal praise.
“I think the big days at Randwick make it so rewarding, in front of the big crowds," he said.
"I think back to horses like Chautauqua and that call back in 2017. The first one got some good feedback, the second one did as well – but the third one was outstanding. That horse Chautauqua helped put me on the map a little bit.
“I think you don’t want to rest on your laurels. People say what was your best call and for me, yes Chautauqua was – but I’d like to think there might be a few more out there in the future that will come up.
"You always want to try and capture the moment and I think that was the beauty of Chautauqua – it caught all of us by surprise to see a run like that.
"As a race caller, that’s what you want to do – you want to make something special and memorable and it’s not something you can prepare for. "
"That just happened out of the blue that day."
Watch Flindell's famous call of Chautauqua's third-straight TJ Smith Stakes win below.
During the time that Flindell was gaining a huge following for his calls of The Grey Flash, he was also lucky enough to call much of Winx's legendary career.
And according to the man himself, the legendary mare helped him 'shake the nerves' and turn him into the caller he is in 2021.
“As a caller, you always lift more when you’ve got a crowd there. So many times in the great Winx era, I could sort of say something at the 600 metres and then you’d get the crowd riding with you," he said.
“I think one thing that Winx helped me out with was it helped me deal with nerves. When the sequence was going on, I was dealing with a lot of extra pressure with Winx.
"You were constantly getting contacted by other media outlets wanting stories, and then you’d get to the track and I’d have to do something at 10.02, 10.05, 10.15. Once they jumped in the first, I would say thank goodness I can finally relax and do my job.
"I had all these extra things to do and it was all because of Winx – she really added a whole lot of pressure to the routine on raceday. I found in many respects that I don’t get as nervous now – when I call The Everest on the weekend, she helped me deal with the nerves and remain far more relaxed.
“I think the best of the Winx was the day it realistically looked like she was getting beaten. So often I had to contrive the lines a little bit and give some thought, to get everything in that chronological order that was 16 Group 1s, there was always some type of record she was breaking.
"The lines were pretty much prepared to fit the sequence, but it was that day where she blew the start by five lengths and the stablemate Foxplay slipped up the inside halfway up the straight and dashed away.
"It was touch and go whether Winx was going to get there, and to me that was the most enjoyable because the crowd went nuts when she got up and I said ‘things are getting desperate’ because I wasn’t sure if she was going to get there or not.
"For me, that was the second-best (behind Chautauqua in 2017)."
Flindell will have the crowd back in action for The Everest and the rest of the spring in Sydney, with an attendance of 10,000 given the all-clear by the NSW Government.
It makes a huge difference for the fans, jockeys, trainers and Flindell himself, who thrives in the big-race environment.
“I’m pretty excited, especially with the good news coming through during the week as well - initially we were going to have a crowd of 5,000 and now it’s 10,000," he said.
“There’s a lot of big races on the calendar in Sydney, but this is the one in previous years that you feel the build-up with. We are talking about it for months and then you get to the big day.
"We’ll have a crowd of 10,000 here, which is good – but some of those previous editions have been magic when you’ve had a crowd of 40,000 there cheering.
"I recall the first year that The Everest went off, the gates opened and the roar of the crowd was just amazing and it gave me goosebumps. We just knew back then, all of a sudden this race that had come from nowhere was going to be something special.
"During this period of zero crowds, in some ways it is sort of depressing, because there has been some great races.
"When Verry Elleegant got up and won right on the post from Riodini, I thought if there was a crowd here today they would have gone wild over the short-priced favourite getting there in the last hop.
"It’s just something you have to adapt to – certain races are much better when you’ve got a crowd cheering on a good thing.
"Fortunately, we are back in a situation where there will be some kind of atmosphere on Saturday."
