Favorite Racetrack Announcers - Horse Racing Forum - PaceAdvantage.Com

trying2win · 12-11-2002, 12:00 AM

Would be interested in what some of the readers' top 2 or 3 favorite track announcers are at the thoroughbred and/or harness races:

To me, all the track announcers listed below seem to exude the right amount of excitement and pizzazz in their race calls.

My favorite announcers for calling thoroughbred races are... (not in any particular order):

...Trevor Denman -- Santa Anita, Del Mar, Fairplex
...Luke Kruytbosch -- Churchill Downs, Turf Paradise

My favorite announcers for calling harness races are...(again not in any particular order):

...Roger Huston -- The Meadows, Delaware County Fair
...Frank Salive -- Woodbine/Mohawk Circuit
...John Bothe -- Formerly of the Meadowlands (remember him when a horse was closing fast on the outside near the wire..."ZOOOO...M". I think I read somewhere, that John Bothe is now calling the harness races at Batavia Downs. Maybe someone could enlighten me on that.

Of course, there are are going to be readers who will agree with me and some who disagree with my choices above. No problem. We all have our own likes and dislikes. Clue me in, if there are some other fine announcers that I'm not familar with. That's because I haven't tuned in to every racetrack that's available via live video.

Of course there are many racetrack announcers that just don't seem to have the talent for race calling. Some announcers are dull, with no excitement in their monotone voices, some holler too much and some are not bad, but they don't do their homework and have too many pauses in their race calls etc.

Zaf · 12-11-2002, 12:10 AM

T-Breds

1) Trevor Denman
2) Michael Wrona
3) Dan Loiselle

Harness

1) Howard Oil
2) Jean Desautels
3) Frank Salive
4) Roger Huston

ZAFONIC

smf · 12-11-2002, 01:53 AM

t-breds

1-Wrona

2-Dooley

3-(tie) Denman, Chaimberlain

honorable mention; Loiselle, Becker, Mirahmadi.

trying2win · 12-11-2002, 02:53 AM

ZAFONIC, SMF:

Some forum readers might figure I've being living in a cave, if I haven't heard of Michael Wrona before. Honestly, I've never heard of him before. What track does he do the race calls for? Guess I'll have to listen to a race called by M.W. That's if he's at a racetrack that has live audio and/or video.

I've heard Dan Loiselle of Woodbine before. Yes I agree, Dan's pretty good with his race calls too.

Looks like Trevor Denman's leading the consensus for favorite thoroughbred race caller so far. Frank Salive and Roger Huston are leading the way at the harness tracks.

Funny how a lot of race callers have their favorite expressions, when calling a race. Adds a bit flair, wouldn't you say?

smf · 12-11-2002, 03:15 AM

trying2,

Mike Wrona calls races for Lone Star and the Fairgrounds. FG is running now, you can check him out Thurs-Sun this month, Thurs-Monday from Jan-Mar.

In the past, he's called races at Arlington, Hollywood, Golden Gate to name a few.

He is not everyone's cup of tea. Likes to call every runner out as they finish the race at Lone Star. He only calls the top 3 finishers at FG, likely b/c of posts made by the locals at the StartingGate forum. Before one thinks that's a stretch (announcer reading a forum and reacting in kind), the Fairgrounds track owner responds to reasonable posts there. Also used to have some trainers post till the negative-poster types ran em off.

Best thing about Wrona is that if you are somewhere in the paddock or away from the track, his calls paint a picture of the race perfectly. Never heard anyone do it better, live.

trying2win · 12-11-2002, 03:47 AM

SMF:

Thanks for the info regarding Mike Wrona. I just checked the live video schedule at the www.pennnational.com website. They do carry the live video from the Fairgrounds. I'll have to give a listen to M.W.'s race calls and find out how he sounds.

One other thing. Since Trevor Denman is probably a favorite racetrack announcer of many other bettors, you'd think Hollywood Park would be clamoring after his services too. Wonder what the deal is with Hollywood Park. Do they have their own agenda, on who they think is the best announcer for their track? Or...are the personnel who operate Hollywood Park, dictated by Churchill Downs Inc?

doophus · 12-11-2002, 07:56 AM

trying2win:

Fairgrounds is one of the very few tracks that continues to webcast live races at no cost. They have the best video that I've seen anywhere. Take a look at: www.fgno.com

Zaf · 12-11-2002, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by trying2win
ZAFONIC, SMF:

Funny how a lot of race callers have their favorite expressions, when calling a race. Adds a bit flair, wouldn't you say?

Thats true, I love when the EVD guy says " Ils sont parti" there off in french, even though he's not one of my favorites.

ZAFONIC

so.cal.fan · 12-11-2002, 11:11 AM

Michael Wrona and Trevor Denman.

My son tipped me off several years ago to these guys real value.
If you tape their race calls, you can get some first class trip notes for horses to watch.
They will often tell you how easy a horse is going or if it is struggling.
If you don't tape races, mark your programs if you hear one of these guys make an interesting observation........it is information that many players would pay to get.......and it is FREE.

levinmpa · 12-11-2002, 11:32 AM

Folks, you're all forgetting the man, who in my opinion is the best in the business. Mr. Breeders' Cup himself, Tom Durkin. He's called every Breeders' Cup race and has been calling the NYRA races for several years now. I don't need a fancy accent to be impressed. Just give me the nuts and bolts and do it with style and accuracy. He's the Michael Jordan of racecallers. No one is in his league. Just go to www.breederscup.com and click the Results link and you can hear some of the best calls ever.

Lefty · 12-11-2002, 12:32 PM

Trevor used to call every trk in So. CA but he had a falling out with Hubbard(big cheese at the time)and hasn't called there since and uses that time for vaction so don't look for him back at that plant.

Lefty · 12-11-2002, 12:34 PM

I can't figure out why Tom Durkin gets the big gigs when to my taste he's plain vanilla run of the mill. 2 best in my opinion are Wrona and Denman.

smf · 12-11-2002, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lefty
I can't figure out why Tom Durkin gets the big gigs when to my taste he's plain vanilla run of the mill. 2 best in my opinion are Wrona and Denman.

Plus, if you listen to him in big races he sounds like someone stole his wind. Out of breathe, and sounds nervous for some reason (he's been at it for a long while).

I've never judged a race caller by his accent, just his competence. Lots of BigSouthernDummy types do get bugged by the Aussie accent for some reason. Glad the folks that run racetracks aren't bothered by the small stuff, and hire these guys.

anotherdave · 12-11-2002, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lefty
I can't figure out why Tom Durkin gets the big gigs when to my taste he's plain vanilla run of the mill.

I second that!

And although he's not my favourite, I love when Davy Johnson says "And down the stretch they come!" - Letterman even phoned him up so that he could do it on the show this year.

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TenZin · 12-11-2002, 03:02 PM

Tom Durkin rules and Dave Johnson S*cks and so does his
Down The Stretch . And so does Letterman.