THAT dreaded telephone call came on Monday morning.
The one I knew would come one day, but had hoped wouldn’t.
Chris Barnett, host of the City AM Punter podcast, and a man who has defied medical science for so long, finally lost his battle with illness over the Bank Holiday weekend. He was only 64.
It still doesn’t seem real when I read these words back. We recorded our last podcast together just a few days earlier and had exchanged messages over the weekend. He had been tickled pink with his winning share in Friday’s York winner Treasure Time and Chelsea had scored six too. What a weekend! Boy, how he of all people, had deserved that change in luck.
But guess what. He was dealt another one from the bottom of the pack – this time the worst card of the lot. Life seems so unfair sometimes.
Regular listeners wouldn’t know it, but Chris had been dealt a series of cruel cards in the health department over the years. There was losing an eye to cancer, battling with dialysis three days a week, not to mention constant heart and pacemaker issues. But, he never moaned. Not once.
In fact, Chris coped with more in a regular day than most of us deal with in a lifetime.
Despite being faced with these obstacles on a daily basis, Chris remained a brilliant broadcaster until the very end. A voice recognised not just by regular podcast listeners, but also by thousands watching and listening to racing and greyhounds all over the globe through his work for SIS and Timeform Radio before that. His voice remained calm and serene despite constant unimaginable physical pain.
For nearly five years, I was lucky enough to work with Chris on the City AM Punter Podcast. Me, the amateur thrown in with Chris, the ultimate professional.
On 277 separate occasions I was guided by that soothing voice. For me though, it wasn’t so much about learning from his broadcasting professionalism, that’s a given. It was about learning from the person behind the voice. It wasn’t about the horses, it was about the race itself. The human race.
You see the thing about Chris was he understood the fragility of life. He knew how precious it is and how important it is to live it while you have it. He survived CPR 12 months ago and recorded the podcast a few days later with broken ribs. That’s what Chris did. He got on with life despite every obstacle in his way. He was the bravest man I have ever met.
In Sam, Chris’ loving and devoted wife, he’d found his happiness – his Winning Post. Along with his daughter Nicola, who now lives in Germany, nothing else really mattered, apart from Bowie the dog of course.
He kept life simple. Fresh air, walks, the beach. Love and be loved. He often reminded me of the important stuff in life when we spoke.
It isn’t really all about horses running around a field after all. I shall miss those conversations. Rest easy Chris and thank you.