KEY POINTS:
Bruce Sherwin is unique. He's the best racecaller in the world who has never had a fulltime calling job.
When Sherwin left Cambridge for Macau exactly 10 years ago he was understudy to caller George Simon, doing stints at Waikato barrier trial meetings.
For the decade he has
been in Macau he has been understudy to Australian Harry Troy, calling the races for the four weeks a year Troy is holidaying, plus a handful of feature meetings.
But Sherwin gets a gig in his home country today calling the Cambridge Jockey Club's meeting at Te Rapa.
He was due to fly back to Macau on Thursday night following a quick 56-hour trip to buy horses from New Zealand, but Simon convinced him to stay for the local race meeting.
"The last time I called races here during a trip it was the Waikato Steeplechase at Te Rapa, but I honestly can't remember how many years ago that was."
Sherwin is a high-class race-caller and the fact he is so little used is a major waste.
But he is very content with where he is in life.
Part of his working week consists of doing form analysis for punting purposes for Macau trainer Joe Lau, for whom he also sources horses, the reason for his current trip south. "I also do some analysis for Hong Kong races."
Before now, Sherwin purchased New Zealand horses through New Zealand agents, but he says he has found it far better to come here personally.
"It's not as easy as some think judging horses by type on video. When they arrive up there you think, 'Is that really what I saw on the video?'
"From now on I'll be coming home three or four more times a year to see the horses myself."
Lau is very successful in Macau. At 30 horses his team is half the size of most major stables, but he clearly leads the strike-rate table.
"He has regularly operated at around a strike rate of 15 to 18 per cent, but in the last year he has really cranked this up to another level," said Sherwin.
Macau, he says, is still recovering from Hong Kong banning its locals from betting on anything other than Hong Kong races.
"Sixty-five per cent of Macau's turnover came from Hong Kong and that disappeared overnight."
Horse numbers have dropped from a peak of 1200 to 700, but Sherwin says the local product is doing okay again.
"The whole face of Macau is buzzing and unrecognisable from a few years ago."
Two and a half years ago the government in Macau broke the casino stranglehold on longtime operator Stanley Ho and the result is that Macau is now starting to look like downtown Las Vegas. "All the American casinos have either built or are building there at the moment - Venetian, MGM, Sands, Wynn and even Melbourne's Crown Casino."
Sherwin says the biggest impression made on him during the last decade is the emergence of the New Zealand horses in Hong Kong.
"At the time I went up there New Zealand horses were winning their share of races, but rarely in the top grades. Now they are among the best there, horses like Vengeance Of Raine and Armada.
"New Zealanders are now a potent force and it's a pleasure to see."
Potentially one of those could be Blimey O'Reilly, who in Sherwin's part-ownership won the Waikato Guineas in February before racing in the $700,000 Mercedes Derby.
Sherwin and his partners have just sold the horse to clients of Paul O'Sullivan's Hong Kong stable and he is currently in quarantine.
"Despite a very poor exchange rate, the New Zealand horses are still value for money compared to around the world."
Sherwin was meant to be attending the Macau races last night and calling the back end of a double-headed there today, but managed to talk his Australian mate into filling in for him.
He has no idea when he will return to New Zealand, only that he will.
"If a good position came along [in New Zealand] I would consider it, but while things are going good in Macau I'm not walking away from it."
A decade overseas has not dampened his love of his home country.
"Living overseas makes you appreciate what we have here in New Zealand."