Durkin's Belmont call - Horse Racing Forum - PaceAdvantage.Com

The Hawk · 06-05-2010, 10:23 PM

That was just awful at the wire.

tzipi · 06-05-2010, 10:29 PM

Didn't really hear it as I was too into the race watching it but just going on youtube and watching it again, I agree not his best call ever. It seems he just got caught up looking for the right words to match up for the wire call. Oh well, Toms allowed a mediocre one after all the greats over the years.

Bullet Plane · 06-05-2010, 10:29 PM

Somebody in the racebook was yelling, "Calvin done it again! Calvin done it again!" I guess he couldn't see the saddlecloth very good. Maybe it had something to do will the call. Not sure, couldn't hear it over the yelling.

jballscalls · 06-05-2010, 10:37 PM

total shot in the dark here, but looked like the sun and shadows made it difficult to see in deep stretch.

i've heard that FG and i think Pim are also really hard to call down the stretch late in the day

Spalding No! · 06-05-2010, 10:41 PM

Sounded to me like he was trying to catch his breath or got tongue tied. Riight before the fiasco it sounded like he thought Drosselmeyer was coming with a winning move.

Edward DeVere · 06-05-2010, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tzipi

Oh well, Toms allowed a mediocre one after all the greats over the years.

Precisely how many mediocre ones is he now allowed?

horses4courses · 06-05-2010, 11:29 PM

My immediate reaction as they crossed the line was that TD missed Fly Down.

Horse finished big, clear as day, to finish second, and Durkin called him 4th or 5th past the wire.

Not a good race for Mr. D.....but he has earned a free pass, or two.

A valid excuse might have been that he was still in shock on learning that ABC had totally bogarted the Manhattan........

smartybadger · 06-05-2010, 11:38 PM

Disappointing, but the sun will rise again tomorrow.

Robert Goren · 06-05-2010, 11:55 PM

Maybe he had a small shot of what Hank was drinking.

bobbyt62 · 06-06-2010, 12:49 AM

happy days had many fans, too, right up 'to the end.

Jasonm921 · 06-06-2010, 12:52 AM

The call was very good until the final 3 seconds....I think he has sayings for each horse prepared in case they win and it sounded like he was going to say the First Dude "prepared statement" but then realized oh sh!t not the right horse. On the flipside his True North call was very good.

Bruddah · 06-06-2010, 01:03 AM

During the call of the race, I remember thinking, how nice it was to be able to understand his call. He did miss a step at the end, all in an effort to Jazz up the finish, and got little tongue tied or winded.

While not an A effort, it still was a solid B+. Also, he had called many races to that point and sounded a little tired. Give me Durkin's calling versus the Euro's with their nasal twangs. I can never figure out what they are saying through out thier race calls. (JMHO)

Rico8812 · 06-06-2010, 09:18 AM

Did he throw in a "Deputy" right before the wire? WTF was that?

It kinda reminds me of when Dave Johnson was losing his skills. Sad to hear.

BELMONT 6-6-09 · 06-06-2010, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Goren

Maybe he had a small shot of what Hank was drinking.

craigbraddick · 06-06-2010, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruddah

During the call of the race, I remember thinking, how nice it was to be able to understand his call. He did miss a step at the end, all in an effort to Jazz up the finish, and got little tongue tied or winded.

While not an A effort, it still was a solid B+. Also, he had called many races to that point and sounded a little tired. Give me Durkin's calling versus the Euro's with their nasal twangs. I can never figure out what they are saying through out thier race calls. (JMHO)

Nasal twangggggggg......nasal twangggggggggggggg.......I don't have a nasal twanggggggggg. I speak from the diaphragmmmmmmmmmmm (and other orifices dependingggggggggg on who you askkkk.)

On a serious note, I thought Mr. Durkin's call of the Belmont was excellent for the most part. He told the story of the race and just getting a little tongue tied at an unfortunate moment will no doubt irritate him greatly.

Its not my place to give advice to such an accomplished racecaller, especially when I am leagues behind him but when I was a kid and my mentor in the business was about Mr. Durkin's age he started running into similar problems towards the end of big races, especially on busy days. His solution was to slow it down just a tad towards the end of a race and adopt a "less is more' attitude with his vocal delivery.

The result was he enjoyed probably the best calls of his career at an age when he could easily have been written off as being past it. I am sure Mr. Durkin will find a way that will suit him and he will continue to give first class calls as long as he feels he is capable of doing so.

Craig