West Virginia Derby call

[dutzman]

Anyone catch the call of the West Virginia Derby on ESPN today? Oh my god, it can't get any worse than that. It was uncomfortable to listen to!!

...."and here comes Bright One..." when the horse is 5 in front!!

[blind squirrel]

Anyone catch the call of the West Virginia Derby on ESPN today? Oh my god, it can't get any worse than that. It was uncomfortable to listen to!!

...."and here comes Bright One..." when the horse is 5 in front!!

what really made me laugh,DAVE gave his "signature" call "AND DOWN THE
STRETCH THEY COME!".....just before the wire....needless to say DAVE
is a little "rusty".

[Zaf]

Yeah , he really blew that one. They should of let Peter Berry call it.

Z

[Tom]

Old Dave nearly missed.
"And Down the Stretch they CAME!":lol:

[Valuist]

He's even worse than Battaglia or Richard Grunder. Johnson must've been watching the race on tape delay considering how slow his reactions/perceptions are.

[exiles]

Dave Johnson has been an over the hiil race caller for the last 20 years

[PaceAdvantage]

Pardon my ignorance, but where does Richard Grunder call? Charles Town?

[rrpic6]

They should have brought back Jim Dolan to yell "in front", then total silence. Watching on dial-up with 56k was always an adventure,cuz you never knew who finished 2nd or 3rd.

[JustRalph]

They should have brought back Jim Dolan to yell "in front", then total silence. Watching on dial-up with 56k was always an adventure,cuz you never knew who finished 2nd or 3rd.

Man, I hated that guy. My favorite call he ever screwed up.........

a horse out of Saint Ballado is on the lead the entire race.........

I forget the horses name exactly . Something Like "Ballado's Son" or similar. The entire race he calls the horse; phonetically it sounds like this

"Balladoooooooos Son" or "Balla Dues Son"

instead of "Ballado" You would think that anybody working in racing would know how to pronounce the "Ballado" part? I mean the horse is a well known sire? The guys on TVG were laughing so hard they almost couldn't go on.

[The Hawk]

Pardon my ignorance, but where does Richard Grunder call? Charles Town?

Grunder calls at Tampa. Not sure who the Charles Town caller is, but he's solid enough.

[rgustafson]

Pardon my ignorance, but where does Richard Grunder call? Charles Town?

P.A.
As well as calling races at Tampa, Grunder is also a jockey agent here at Canterbury for Derek Bell. In the past, late in the meet, he has filled in for regular announcer, Paul Allen, when Allen, who is also the play by play announcer for the Vikings, has had a conflict in his announcing schedule.

[ryesteve]

Glad I'm not the only one who was twitching while listening to that call. The problem started when he called the same horse twice in the run down the backstretch... he realized his mistake right away, and then seemed to get totally sidetracked trying to remember the name of the horse he was missing.

[Buddha]

I am glad I am not the only one who hates when he calls the WV Derby and wish that they would just let Peter call all the races. Dave is well over the top and needs to just be done with it.

[Tom]

Dave's career: And down the tubes it comes! :lol:

[Milleruszk]

Why was Dave Johnson calling races at Mountaineer? Where was Peter Barry? I often wondered what the "regular" announcer thinks when he is replaced by the "name" announcer by the network televising the race. It would probably be Peter Barry's only chance all year to reach a national audience and he was replaced? :confused:

[JPinMaryland]

I too was messed up listening to that call, saying "here comes Bright one..." Like where is he?

On that pt. when he got the call messed up. Didnt he mess up before callign the lead horse on the back stretch? That is he stumbed over which horse was last. I think that's what happened.

[cj]

The call was painful to listen to. On the other hand, the Haskell was flawless.

[Valuist]

Why was Dave Johnson calling races at Mountaineer? Where was Peter Barry? I often wondered what the "regular" announcer thinks when he is replaced by the "name" announcer by the network televising the race. It would probably be Peter Barry's only chance all year to reach a national audience and he was replaced? :confused:

For some reason, ESPN and the other networks seem to think they have to replace the regular announcer and add about 10 useless cameras. Worse yet, Dave Johnson is definitely below average. The Spend A Buck Derby was the first time I remember the multiple camera cuts and that was over 20 years ago. You'd think they'd have figured that more isn't better but they haven't.

[delayjf]

I'm inclined to think Dave's problems is not lack of ability, rather a lack of practice. I'm willing to bet that if called races on a regular basis he'd improve, but this once a week stuff just doesn't keep his skills at the proper level.

[stlseeeek]

luke K used to be really horrible.

he would call a race final, and the leader would get caught. or call one horse a winner, when the horse on the rail held on easily.


i railed him via email and drf forums. i dont know if he read it, but suddenly, he would wait till race is over to call a winner. and close races he wouldnt call a winner, he would make a too close to call claim. and now he is a million times better announcer because of it.

[Bubbles]

The call was painful to listen to. On the other hand, the Haskell was flawless.
I hate Dave Johnson. His best work is done as the host of the TC post-position draw shows. Larry Collmus, though, the Monmouth announcer, is vastly underrated. Very articulate, doesn't miss much. He just recently picked up the fill-in gig at NYRA when Durkin's got better things to do, and he usually does a very good job with it.

[PaceAdvantage]

Grunder calls at Tampa. Not sure who the Charles Town caller is, but he's solid enough.

Wow, talk about a difference of opinion. I watch and wager on Charles Town a lot, and the caller at CT is without a doubt, the single worst PROFESSIONAL race caller I have ever heard.

I thought maybe he would get better as the years went on, but no, that is not the case. Every night it seems he blows a call, or pregnant pauses, or stammers, or just plain calls the wrong horse -- that happens a lot.

And Lord help us if the race is exciting and a couple of horses are converging on the wire at once....his head will literally explode and out will come all manner of incorrect information....

Sorry to be so harsh on the guy, but I gotta calls it as I sees it....

[PaceAdvantage]

luke K used to be really horrible.

he would call a race final, and the leader would get caught. or call one horse a winner, when the horse on the rail held on easily.


i railed him via email and drf forums. i dont know if he read it, but suddenly, he would wait till race is over to call a winner. and close races he wouldnt call a winner, he would make a too close to call claim. and now he is a million times better announcer because of it.


Luke K is quickly ascending my ladder of quality race callers....I like him a lot....

[Stevie Belmont]

Richard Grunder Rocks. I love his exciting calls.

[Richard]

Trevor Denman's the man.Maybe he should start a school for race announcers.

[ghostyapper]

He is an awful announcer. I think it was him that messed up the derby call in 2000, the last year before durkin.

Unlike any other sport, the call of a race has a dramatic affect on your enjoyment of it. Sometime I get annoyed with durkin, ie this years suburban and jim dandy, but there's nobody like him for the big races.

Denman I think is the best on a day to day basis.

The announcer from monmouth park is very underrated. Also, I don't know if he is still the announcer, but the announcer at thistledown's in 2004 was fantastic. Anyone know his name and if he is still there?

[Valuist]

Wow, talk about a difference of opinion. I watch and wager on Charles Town a lot, and the caller at CT is without a doubt, the single worst PROFESSIONAL race caller I have ever heard.

I thought maybe he would get better as the years went on, but no, that is not the case. Every night it seems he blows a call, or pregnant pauses, or stammers, or just plain calls the wrong horse -- that happens a lot.

And Lord help us if the race is exciting and a couple of horses are converging on the wire at once....his head will literally explode and out will come all manner of incorrect information....

Sorry to be so harsh on the guy, but I gotta calls it as I sees it....

Of all the thousands of races I've wagered on and watched, I don't think I've ever seen a race from Charles Town. I've got to listen to see how bad he is.

[Stevie Belmont]

Larry Collmus does a fine job. He is one of the better callers around. Good tone, and pretty accurate discription of whats happening. He does Aqueduct now in the winter. I would thing there will be some even bigger roles down the road.

Kieth Jones from Philadelphia Park is a good announcer as well.

[ghostyapper]

A couple of weeks ago I was watching a turf race on otb at like 7 at night. I think it was on the west coast but I am not sure.

Anyway as the horses came by the wire for the first time, the announcer thought they were heading towards the finish. As the first horse crossed the line, he yelled at how easy he had won and could have won by a lot more since the jockey was holding him back, instead of driving him. Then he realized that they had to go around another time. It was one of the funniest racing blunders I've ever seen. He actually recovered pretty well and made light of the situation.

Anyone else catch this race?

[Pgh. Gere]

Trevor Denman's the man.Maybe he should start a school for race announcers.

Agreed! Probably in part cause I'm a sucker for the accent, but he calls subtle things like a horse lacking room or begining to make a move. Plus I usually find him amusing. Like one race where this filly wired the field, won by open lengths, and he goes, they could go around again and they still wouldn't catch her.