Track record

Race caller Bluey Forsyth fell in love with racing aged seven and it’s been a lifelong dream run since then.

Story + Photos Fiona Sewell

The racetrack feels grand, like an amphitheatre. Gum trees stand sentry around the barrier as the throng of 3,000 people, sporting Akubras, fascinators and large cowboy hats, await the bugle call.

Horses have raced at Laura on Cape York Peninsula for 128 years, and for a quarter of a century, above it all, in a corrugated iron box, has stood John ‘Bluey’ Forsyth. Aged 65, he’s in the box again today getting ready to do the thing he loves most in the world, with his tools of trade close at hand – microphone, form guide and binoculars. “Look at that view,” he says. “This is the most picturesque track I call at.”

The first time Bluey went to the races as a child he didn’t even look at the horses. A booming voice caught his attention instead. Once found, he couldn’t take his eyes off the race caller. “I was in awe and from that day on, every time I get into the caller’s box I’m back being that seven-year-old boy with a dream,” he says. “Lucky for me, my dream came true.”