SPEAK to any race caller and they'll tell you there's a myriad of things that can go wrong while a race is being run.
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Central west caller Col Hodges had one such experience on Monday at Wellington, when a gust of wind blew the window to his commentary box closed during the running of the State Wide Sheds Open Handicap (1100m).
Just as the field was about to turn for home the window slammed shut, obscuring Hodges view for a period of time, but he quickly regained his composure and was at his accurate best as he called the $1.40 favourite Shiraz home in a tight photo finish.
This came just hours after a caller in New Zealand had to contend with an earthquake while calling a greyhound race.
Shiraz, trained by Peter Nestor, only had a nose to spare in the race in question but took his career record to four wins from six starts when he held off the late charge of the Gayna Williams-trained Reece ($10.00, Ken Dunbar).
Ridden by Greg Ryan, the four-year-old didn't have his usual zip but showed a lot of heart to just hold on.
"He did a good job but, to be honest, I expected him to win much easier than that," Ryan said.
"I don't know what Pete plans to do with him now but he didn't quite feel the same as other times I have ridden him.
"He was working hard to get over the ground. He still ran a good time but his stride wasn't as long as normal and it was tougher work for him.
"That probably adds merit to his win because he's a young horse taking on open company and he's won without feeling 100 per cent."
Nestor confirmed as much yesterday afternoon, saying the horse had pulled up scratchy and would be assessed today.
"We'll have the vets go over him and do the scans and X-rays because he's no good, I probably shouldn't have run him," Nestor said.
"I've told the owners they're wasting their time having him trained here with me with the facilities we've got out here.
"If they can get him fixed up and send him somewhere where there's some decent facilities it might help him with the problem that he's got.
"In hindsight if he was 80 per cent right on Monday he would have beaten them easily and he's scraped in so he was obviously in a fair bit of discomfort."