Collins also called important races in the UK, US, South Africa, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. He called his last race on Easter Saturday 1988 on radio 3UZ,as 3DB had already dropped its racing coverage. Moonee Valley Racecourse also featured the Bill Collins Mile for trotters, which is now run at Cranbourne.
Known as "The Accurate One", he was well known for his call of the Melbourne Cup each year. One of his most notable commentaries was the 1986 Cox Plate, dubbed the "Race of the Century". Collins' radio career began in the early 1950s in Sale, Victoria, and in 1953 he moved to Melbourne where he worked as a racecaller for the radio station 3DB, and appeared on television hosting the musical comedy program Sunnyside Up at HSV-7, leading to a Logie Award in 1959 for Outstanding Performance.
In 1987, Collins received an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for his services to horseracing, and was also inducted into the "Australian Racing Hall of Fame". In 2004, he was honoured posthumously at the Moonee Valley Racecourse, home of the W.S. Cox Plate, with the 'Kingston Town Greatness Award' for his services to the event.
