Worst Announcer

[Hambletonian]

My favorite bad announcer was a guy at the Brown County Fair in SD twenty years back who had a great voice but may have been a bit color blind. The silks, well they were the standard fair silks, #1 is red, 2 is white,etc, but they had been lovingly used, probably for a hundred years, and were a little less than bright. This poor guy had a great voice, but white vs yellow, red vs orange, blue vs green, he could not get it right all weekend. Good thing it was a half miler so you could see for yourself, but it was a little distracting to say the least.

[RobertCalifornia]

I cringe hearing the West Virginian hillbilly accent of the track announcer at Presque Isle. They're probably crazy like a fox making people escape into the casino. It is so bad, dont know if it's just me that hurts hearing thick southern accents and an accent like that.

[judd]

Originally Posted by Doc

Hey RXB, you made me laugh with your last post. When I first heard Roger Houston I thought he was very entertaining, but he gets old REAL fast. Now I think he's kinda pathethic and I wish he'd just call a race every once in a while like he wasn't hyped up on coke and caffeine. As for the "...and there they are!" announcer, I, too, am always left scratching my head as to what just transpired in a race when he calls it, and the announcer at Penn National always uses the word "then" in his calls. Like: "It's two lengths, then, to Mr. So and So."

Announcers on the bottom tier just make you appreciate the good ones even more. I was watching the Big A today and marveled at the way Tom Durkin can make short fields in the dead of winter seem interesting.

he wears 5 rings on each hand--looks hideous

[RobertCalifornia]

Originally Posted by judd

he wears 5 rings on each hand--looks hideous

Rich man's brass knuckles ?

[SG4]

Sorry to revive such an old thread, but I thought the announcer at Tampa Bay deserved a special shout out for his call in today's 4th race where he failed to mention the name of either of the top 2 finishers over the course of the final half mile of the race. The winner he confused for another horse, and the runner up was just flat out ignored all stretch long, despite being the favorite & the late leader until nipped late. That might have a 16 over a 1 seed brand of rarity to it.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by SG4

Sorry to revive such an old thread, but I thought the announcer at Tampa Bay deserved a special shout out for his call in today's 4th race where he failed to mention the name of either of the top 2 finishers over the course of the final half mile of the race. The winner he confused for another horse, and the runner up was just flat out ignored all stretch long, despite being the favorite & the late leader until nipped late. That might have a 16 over a 1 seed brand of rarity to it.

I will tell you something I know from other forms of public speaking: few things are as difficult as catching an error on the fly and correcting it. If I am arguing a case and call someone Johnson instead of Jackson, chances are fairly high I repeat that mistake throughout the argument.

So once an announcer switches two horses, it is really easy to take that all the way to the wire. Chic Anderson even did it in the 1975 Derby

[thaskalos]

Grunder's race-call is a cacophony even when he gets the horses right.

[davew]

The guy that does ?Spanish? at AQU is hard for me to understand

although he might be doing a good job

[Parkview_Pirate]

Originally Posted by SG4

Sorry to revive such an old thread, but I thought the announcer at Tampa Bay deserved a special shout out for his call in today's 4th race where he failed to mention the name of either of the top 2 finishers over the course of the final half mile of the race. The winner he confused for another horse, and the runner up was just flat out ignored all stretch long, despite being the favorite & the late leader until nipped late. That might have a 16 over a 1 seed brand of rarity to it.

I don't know about that - Grunder's mishaps are pretty frequent. Sounds more like a 12 seed knocking off a 4 seed.

Far be it for me to be critical though, he does a much, much better job than I could ever hope to...

[Elliott Sidewater]

IMO, Ed Burgart,the Los Alamitos QH guy, is the worst announcer in American racing. Not only is his voice artficially low, it is a droning monotone that might break safety glass. In addition, he is an obnoxiouxs know it all who holds bettors, the paying customers, in low regard. Last year, not five seconds after the horses crossed the finish line, Ed was announcing how much money show bettors had lost on a 1-5 shot who was off the board. If I ran the place, I would have fired him on the spot and had him escorted off the grounds. I read he's retiring in June, so good riddance.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by Elliott Sidewater

IMO, Ed Burgart,the Los Alamitos QH guy, is the worst announcer in American racing. Not only is his voice artficially low, it is a droning monotone that might break safety glass. In addition, he is an obnoxiouxs know it all who holds bettors, the paying customers, in low regard. Last year, not five seconds after the horses crossed the finish line, Ed was announcing how much money show bettors had lost on a 1-5 shot who was off the board. If I ran the place, I would have fired him on the spot and had him escorted off the grounds. I read he's retiring in June, so good riddance.

I can stand a "droning monotone", when I am exposed to it 10 seconds at a time.

[Afleet]

thought this was a top notch call

YouTube

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

I can stand a "droning monotone", when I am exposed to it 10 seconds at a time.

Burgart's calls don't get stronger as the race gets longer?

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by Elliott Sidewater

IMO, Ed Burgart,the Los Alamitos QH guy, is the worst announcer in American racing. Not only is his voice artficially low, it is a droning monotone that might break safety glass. In addition, he is an obnoxiouxs know it all who holds bettors, the paying customers, in low regard. Last year, not five seconds after the horses crossed the finish line, Ed was announcing how much money show bettors had lost on a 1-5 shot who was off the board. If I ran the place, I would have fired him on the spot and had him escorted off the grounds. I read he's retiring in June, so good riddance.

Wow, I haven't bet Los Alamitos since I left California 7 years ago and I used to love the guy. He seemed to be pretty good at covering all the contenders in such a short period of time. When I heard other QH race calls at other tracks they seemed to pale in comparison to Ed. I think calling a Quarter Horse race must be very difficult compared to other type races as the horses never really separate or go around the track in single file. Back in his prime at the mixed Fairplex LA County Fair Meet meet Trevor Denman had to call on average two QH races and one mule sprint a day, he was absolutely terrible.

I think a lot of dislike and like for race callers boils down to personal preference. I could not stand Luke Kruytbosch and neither could my group of Hollywood Park betting friends, we were all shocked when he got the job at Churchill Downs. Obviously my group was in the minority or Luke would have never got the CD job.

[wisconsin]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

I could not stand Luke Kruytbosch and neither could my group of Hollywood Park betting friends, we were all shocked when he got the job at Churchill Downs. Obviously my group was in the minority or Luke would have never got the CD job.

2nd that.

You like some announcers, hate others, and the rest you could take them or leave them. Things were different before simulcasting. Most people liked, or were at least used the "home" guy.