Bert Bryant

Who was Bert Bryant?

Bert Bryant is regarded as one of Australia's top racecallers of Thoroughbred horse racing in the twentieth century.

His career as a racecaller began in western New South Wales on country racetracks. In 1948, while living in Dubbo he successfully auditioned for a job with Melbourne radio station 3UZ where his personality and colourful racecalls made him an enduring success for the next 30 years as Director of Sport. His racing programs and racecalls attracted a listening audience of 2.5 million through links to radio stations around Australia.

Among thousands of races, his call of the two horse war between Big Philou and Rain Lover in the 1970 Queen Elizabeth Stakes is considered an epic. In a very close finish, Bert plumped, rightly, for Big Philou. He said "If you got it wrong in a two-horse race, you’d have to give it up forever."

He suffered a cerebral haemorrhage in 1978 which ended his racecalling career. In 1985 he was diagnosed with a cancerous stomach tumour, which he overcame, but suffered from depression in later years and died in 1991.

In 2003 Bert Bryant was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.