Humphreys embracing international challenge in South Korea

Former Victorian harness racing commentator Luke Humphreys says his move to South Korea has already become the highlight of his career – and he has no plans to return home anytime soon.

Humphreys left Australia late last year to take up a role as the English-speaking race caller for the Korea Racing Authority (KRA), calling thoroughbred meetings from Seoul and Busan.

“I have been living in Korea now for nearly three months, time flies,” Humphreys said.

“I’m loving it. Unless something incredibly unforeseen happens I have no intention of going home unless another opportunity became at home or anywhere else in the world for that matter.”

The opportunity came at a turbulent time in Humphreys’ career after his full-time role with Harness Racing Victoria was made redundant in mid-2025.

“It was one of a number of extraordinary race calling redundancies right around Australasia in the last 12 months,” Humphreys said

“Personally it has me very concerned about the future of the profession down under if organisations continue to make similar decisions going forward,” he said.

“I had freelance calling work, including with HRV, but decided to apply for the Korean job once I saw it only a few days after I knew I was being made redundant.”

The turnaround was remarkably swift.

“And then, believe it or not, three weeks after my last meeting as a full time caller with HRV, I knew I had a new full time calling job in Korea.

“Thankfully what happened to me went from the biggest disappointment of my life to the biggest opportunity of my life!

“I am incredibly lucky, to say the absolute least, unlike a lot of other highly competent callers who’ve been moved on and are out of race calling completely at present.”

The working setup in South Korea is quite different from the traditional race calling experience many Australians are familiar with.

Humphreys calls the races from a studio located at Seoul Racecourse rather than from a grandstand vantage point overlooking the track.

“We call from a studio at the top of the straight at Seoul Racecourse. So yes we are at the track but we may as well not be as we can’t see them with our own eyes,” he said.

“Once upon a time the English callers used to call in the grandstand and why the setup is like that now I have no idea.

“We call races here on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but we’re also required in the office on Wednesday and Thursday, because the KRA is a Government Department and employees are civil servants.”

Humphreys says the atmosphere at the track is extraordinary – even if he doesn’t hear it during the call.

“It is a shame we don’t hear the crowd noises during the race because the crowd and punters are quite frankly mad as cut snakes! They absolutely roar their heads off. It’s a great atmosphere.”

Racing in South Korea regularly attracts crowds that would be the envy of many jurisdictions with Humphreys highlighting “there are five figure crowds at Seoul every meeting”.

Korean racing also has its own unique quirks – including a surprisingly lucrative pony racing scene on the island of Jeju.

“It’s an island to the south of the mainland and ponies race with jockeys on them and people punt like crazy on them.

“The turnover for each pony race last Saturday was between 2.2 and 2.7 million Aussie dollars.”

Humphreys is also mindful of the strong reputation Australian race callers have built across Asia over many years.

“Everyone knows how big racing is in Asia and all the Australians who’ve called in Asia for years and years,” he said.

“So to now be one of them is quite amazing and hopefully I can only add to the reputation of Australian racecallers on the world stage. It’s been an interesting and amazing journey so far.

It’s been the best thing that’s happened to me, so it is funny how life goes. This experience is obviously the highlight of my career and life to date.”

The harness racing caller who began his career at the Ballarat trials as an 11-year-old and cut his professional teeth broadcasting the Mildura trots, now has his long-term ambitions firmly set on the thoroughbred stage.

“My career trajectory has effectively been greyhounds to harness to thoroughbreds. At the end of the day my eyes are well and truly on the gallops now,” he said.

“My goal is to be able to call just one of the world’s greatest gallop races and if I ever get the chance in my life that will be mission accomplished in regard to my career.”

From Terry Gange for Harnesslink