Cup caller keen to return

While thousands of people enjoyed the first meeting of the Broome racing round last Saturday, veteran commentator Max Simmonds was preparing to undergo surgery for suspected bladder cancer.

The 78-year-old has called the past 43 Broome Cups but the popular identity was missing from the Broome Turf Club's season opener this year.

Mr Simmonds lives in the southern Perth suburb of Waikiki but spends about three months each year in Broome for the nine-week winter racing calendar, culminating in the Broome Cup on August 15.

Mr Simmonds said he was thankful he took note of the warning signs and the cancer had been diagnosed early.

"If it happened in Broome, I don't know what I would have done," he said.

"More than likely, I would have passed it off as nothing and carried on.

"Hopefully I will only be out of action for a couple of weeks so I can get back to Broome but there is no time frame, no one knows."

Mr Simmonds said he would know more after his operation and hoped for a quick return to the place he has called his second home for more than four decades.

"This is not a major operation, it is keyhole surgery. It might be minor, it might be serious - I don't know," he said.

"I look forward to going back to Broome every year and hopefully I won't be far away from the town that has been a part of my life for the past 43 years.

"It's my second home.

"When I go back to Perth people say: 'What are you doing here, have you come down for a holiday, you live in Broome don't you?"

Broome Turf Club committee member Mike Windle said Mr Simmonds was an integral part of the racing industry.

"The first meeting was not the same without him," Mr Windle said.

"We all hope he makes a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him trackside in the near future."

In 2013, Mr Simmonds was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to horse racing.

He is thought to be the oldest racing commentator in Australia.

Mr Simmonds trained as a race caller under Keith Gollan and called his first race in 1953.

Known as the "voice of racing" in WA, Mr Simmonds has called a range of races from regional and metropolitan tracks, including 42 Perth Cups before retiring in 2003.