I think I found the worst track announcer ever - Horse Racing Forum - PaceAdvantage.Com

Redbullsnation · 07-17-2019, 03:09 AM

Roger is rolling over is grave

wisconsin · 07-17-2019, 09:03 AM

Huston is not in a grave, though.

He was in Minnesota calling some races at Running Aces last weekend...

Tom · 07-17-2019, 02:06 PM

I just posted about him last week - I think he is one the best I have ever heard, bar none!

Post #1226!
http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/s...hlight=meadows

dilanesp · 07-17-2019, 06:02 PM

The worst I ever heard was the late Gunnar Friones at Ferndale. But thankfully, no recordings of him survive that I am aware of.

The worst whose voice exists on a recording was Alan Drake, the announcer at Thistledown in the late 1980's. Here he is announcing a race on ESPN, won by Lost Code (who was actually a really good horse). This is as bad as it gets. I don't even think he memorized the silks, and this was the biggest race of the year in Ohio:

Milkshaker · 07-17-2019, 08:35 PM

Drake's call was more or less fine for an announcer of a different era, IMO.

Was that a dirt training track on the inside of the main Thistle oval?

I don't watch a lot of Thistle. Those rails aren't still there, are they?

wisconsin · 07-17-2019, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Milkshaker

Was that a dirt training track on the inside of the main Thistle oval?

In the old days, it was a turf course. They converted it to a winter surface (same as Aqueduct) in the early 70's but it was short lived.

Personally, I don't understand what is so hard about planting grass again.

Milkshaker · 07-17-2019, 09:51 PM

Never knew that. Thx!

cj · 07-18-2019, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dilanesp

The worst I ever heard was the late Gunnar Friones at Ferndale. But thankfully, no recordings of him survive that I am aware of.

The worst whose voice exists on a recording was Alan Drake, the announcer at Thistledown in the late 1980's. Here he is announcing a race on ESPN, won by Lost Code (who was actually a really good horse). This is as bad as it gets. I don't even think he memorized the silks, and this was the biggest race of the year in Ohio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWD0R1dfGhw

Lost Code is one of my favorites of all time. I was at Birmingham for this race. Kind of fun to hear Larry Collmus call a race at this early stage of his career. Race starts around 33:25.

dilanesp · 07-18-2019, 03:11 PM

My favorite Lost Code race was the Pimlico Special. He was in against a great field, top to bottom, including Alysheba, Bet Twice, and Cryptoclearance, and he only lost by a head to Bet Twice, who got an amazing ride from Perret coming up the inside. (Ironically, it was the same ride, at the same track, that Cordero used on Lost Code's sire to beat Genuine Risk in the Preakness.)

thespaah · 07-19-2019, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redbullsnation

https://youtu.be/06ko7KhnUAM

Roger is rolling over is grave

Clearly he is reading the program while trying to call the race.
Not good.

thespaah · 07-19-2019, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cj

Lost Code is one of my favorites of all time. I was at Birmingham for this race. Kind of fun to hear Larry Collmus call a race at this early stage of his career. Race starts around 33:25.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAjsuHNYbK4

I watched this live on ESPN...I think Collmus was around 21 years old at the time
I remember hearing him when he took over the booth from Bob Weems at Monmouth.
I said to my friend..."Hey, thats the guy I heard at Birmingham Turf Club....Thats what they called it when the track was opened.
I went there once. In 1990.
Preakness Day.
The track was a nice place. Good formful racing, .

cj · 07-19-2019, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thespaah

I watched this live on ESPN...I think Collmus was around 21 years old at the time
I remember hearing him when he took over the booth from Bob Weems at Monmouth.
I said to my friend..."Hey, thats the guy I heard at Birmingham Turf Club....Thats what they called it when the track was opened.
I went there once. In 1990.
Preakness Day.
The track was a nice place. Good formful racing, .

I was 19 so Larry was 20. Me and another high school friend went to visit and spent the week. I remember watching Sugar Ray beat Hagler on closed circuit one night, and also being given a hard time trying to cash tickets because the betting age was 21.

thespaah · 07-19-2019, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cj

I was 19 so Larry was 20. Me and another high school friend went to visit and spent the week. I remember watching Sugar Ray beat Hagler on closed circuit one night, and also being given a hard time trying to cash tickets because the betting age was 21.

A friend of mine went to that fight ...
He made a large bet on Leonard and cashed around $5k....
That was also the same day the NY Metro area was crippled by over 2 feet of snow.
I went to a friend's house to watch the fight.
By the time I left, there was about a foot of snow on the ground.
It didn't stop until the next afternoon.
Epic.