"He came up and sat in the box with me, and picked up little bits of advice," he said.

"Hopefully it will assist his calling, I wish him the best of luck. He is very enthusiastic, he has the same enthusiasm I had when I first started, and still have now."

Wilson's advice for our resident caller was simple.

"Remember the ABC, accuracy, balance and class," he said.

In return, Hardes was full of praise for Wilson, and thanked him for his assistance.

"Wayne's been instrumental in helping my race-calling style, and I wish him all the best in retirement," he said.

"I regularly send down copies of my race calls, for Wayne to critique. He's been more than willing to help, and instrumental in the development of my calling."

Hardes said racing in Mount Isa was in a pretty healthy state.

"We could always do with more meetings, but the number of nominations we had for our first meet was very good," he said.

"Another plus is that TAB are looking at expanding their coverage to country meetings on Saturdays - hopefully Mount Isa is one of them."

After 25 years in the chair as the leading racecaller in Queensland, Wilson revealed the desire to spend more time with his four rapidly-growing grandchildren as the driving force behind his decision.

"I don't like to call it retirement, but more like stepping down," he said.

Wilson's career began by calling races in Gladstone in 1960, where he spent seven years before heading to Rockhampton with 4RO for two years.

He then joined 4BC in 1969, serving under Vince Curry until taking over as number one caller following his retirement in late 1982.

"Vince Curry's calling was so balanced, and so classy," he said.

Wilson labelled the main influences to his style as Curry, Ken Hawrd and Bert Bryant.

"I looked up to all three, but I idolised Bert Bryant," he said.

"But all three of their race-calling styles have rubbed off onto me to some extent, a mix of them all."

Despite stepping down from his calling duties, Wilson will remain a permanent fixture in the industry he loves.

'I would like to think that there's more I can offer racing, hopefully an opportunity will present itself," he said.

For the last 15 years, he has maintained a strong interest in the breeding of racehorses.

"I've had a couple of good mares, and outlined Do You Remember as one of his most successful.

"Her McDougall win was a great moment, and we ended up breeding from her - she had 12 foals, and they all raced."

Wilson currently owns a couple of horses with nice futures - Blossom Baby in Melbourne, Great Man on the Gold Coast and a son of Do You Remember called I Don't Remember.

He marked the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap as his favourite race to call, and a filly who raced in the 1960s called Eye Liner as his most admired racehorse.

"There is so much pressure on, tactics play a huge part with so much jostling for position with capacity fields - it's a hotly contested race.

"Rough Habit's two Stradbroke wins, three Doomben Cups and Derby win were memorable too."

But Wilson also holds a high opinion of locally-owned gelding Shoot Out.

"He is probably the best middle distance three-year-old in Australia at the moment, and is capable of winning the Doncaster Mile or AJC Derby,"he said.

"He ticks all of the boxes, and gets through the wet nicely too."