On a Saturday night late in September 1986, a young and enthusiastic race caller decided to be brave and bold.
The ABC nightly news was a strictly measured production that didn't rely on the gimmicks of its commercial rivals.
However, on that night, 25-year-old Greg Miles decided to have a bit of fun. He had been dared by nearly everyone at the Elsternwick home of the public broadcaster. The newsreader nervously introduced the sports report. Then the camera went to Miles, one of Australia's most promising race callers. Viewers who were expecting a shirt and tie were treated to a well-worn Williamstown football jumper. And Miles holding onto the VFA premiership cup of that year.
While some senior executives held their breath, Miles admitted that he didn't mind breaking the mould. The Williamstown-born commentator knew that to be a race caller in Australia in the 1980s was largely a moving feast. He didn't want to just stick with the much-used race calling formula for radio, as television was beginning to have major impact on the sport of kings.
Miles mixed his ABC upbringing with some commercial content and sizeable dollops of the late Bill Collins and Bert Bryant style of telling the story of a race.
This week Miles, 57, is understandably overwhelmed by the enormous publicity surrounding his retirement from race calling.
On Saturday he will climb the stairs to his broadcast box at Caulfield for the last time. His position is perched at the top of the largest grandstand on the racecourse. It has a panoramic view that stretches from the Dandenong Ranges through to the white caps of Port Phillip Bay.
"It has shocked me how much the media have covered my retirement," he said. "It's been a wonderful time and having called some of the greatest racehorses we will ever see is a personal privilege. To broadcast the likes of Black Caviar and Makybe Diva has been a privilege and an honour," he said.
After his first nervous foray behind the microphone in 1979 to call a welter, Miles achieved much in the decades that followed his rise to the top, which included a record 36 Melbourne Cups.
"How can I forget it. It was my first major opportunity to embark on a career that I had just dreamed about all my life," he said. "I was going from listening to these legendary broadcasters and then suddenly I was taking their place in the broadcast box.
"I know I was nervous wearing the footy jumper on national TV but I was just as toey when I called my first race. I think I took about six grips of my binoculars and, from memory, I think it was a pretty flat call but I just wanted it over."
Miles and fellow broadcaster Bryan Martin followed two of the hardest acts in the history of Australian radio. In the 1960s and 70s the likes of Bryant were rating higher than any other radio personality and Collins was a regular on a comedy show as well as calling Olympic games and other sports when he had the chance.
Miles came into a new era, with everything live on television, trying to stay accurate and colourful but mindful that his audience was watching. Gone were the days of adding licence to a hectic finishing battle. Punters were becoming more demanding. They wanted colour and accuracy. It seemed like a hanging offence if Miles, Martin and other callers "got it wrong" in a tight finish.
Two years ago, Miles arrived to call the Caulfield Cup struggling with his health and just managed to make his way through the call of Australia's second most important handicap. Had it not been a Caulfield Cup, Miles would have been home in bed.
But as Miles battled his way through the 10-race program his health was waning as he came to the Caulfield Cup. He knew there was no turning back. Then he mispronounced the Cup winner. The outpouring of criticism against Miles was staggering. It was a bitter and poisonous social media that lit up screens across Australia.
Miles was hurt, but went on the front foot and explained his illness to his followers, adding that he'd never encountered such criticism on social media. He has never used Twitter again.
Miles may be leaving race calling but he will continue to work in the industry at racing.com.
He has maintained his professionalism and accuracy behind the binoculars but knows that calling races draws on all his resources. He's pleased with what he's achieved and is opting out of an occupation that has given him so much.
"I would rather get out a couple of years too early, than a couple of years too late," he said.