KEY POINTS:
It wasn't quite the end Reon Murtha would have wished for.
Murtha, 65, has all but ended his commentating career at Addington but became a little tongue-tied as he called the finish of the last race at the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club's meeting.
As the outsider Keeprightondreaming was being driven to victory by Mark Jones, Murtha said in his commentary: "The finish is getting nearer. And is going on down towards the line to win the race and bring my end of commentaries to the end of an era."
Murtha would have preferred a more fluent ending but it was understandable given the emotion of the occasion.
It was Murtha's last call of a race meeting in Canterbury in a career which started 47 years ago.
Murtha still has two more race meetings to call. They will be a harness meeting at Reefton, West Coast, on December 30 and a gallops meeting at the same venue on January 10.
It was Reefton where Murtha started his race calling career on October 8, 1960.
Murtha's replacement is Darren Tyquin who has been commentating in the Bay of Plenty and Waikato regions since 1999.
- NZPA
