Breeder's Cup WeBLOG

On Sunday October 15, Derek Simon and I has the pleasure and the privilege of interviewing the legendary track announcer Trevor Denman, who will call the Breeders’ Cup races for the first time November 4, on Thoroughbred Connection.


In my opinion, and taking nothing away from NYRA’s Tom Durkin, who has done a great job calling every Breeders’ Cup race since the inaugural BC at Hollywood Park in 1984, it’s about time Trevor Denman got the assignment to call racing’s biggest event. Interestingly enough, it was 1984 when a relatively young race caller from South Africa was first heard in Southern California. Trevor took over for the likes of the great Harry Henson at Del Mar and Hollywood Park and the likeable Dave Johnson at Santa Anita.


Suffice it to say, the early returns were NOT favorable. For one thing, there was that accent. For another thing, there was that style, a style so different from the long-accepted “chart calling” style of announcing that dominated American race calling. But time would prove that the Trevor Denman “way” of calling races was so much more superior and so much more meaningful for racing fans whether they were at the track, watching on a simulcast monitor, or simply listening to a stretch call on a results line or on the radio.


What made –and still makes– Trevor Denman’s style so unique and so valuable is the uncanny way he is able to instantly analyze and convey to the fans whether a horse is challenging or dropping out of contention. Simply put, when Trevor says your horse “is not finding,” you can be 99.9% certain that your bet is a goner. Or when he says “they’re gonna have to sprout wings to catch” your horse, you’ve definitely got a ticket to cash!


Sounds simple enough, and many have tried to copy him, but Trevor Denman is in a league of his own when it comes to “analyzing” a race in mid-stream.


I really don’t know why it took so long for Trevor Denman to get the opportunity to call the Breeders’ Cup races, but I’m sure glad the higher-ups at ESPN, the network that will debut on the 2006 BC broadcast, gave him the call this summer. It’s not as though Trevor NEEDS the BC, he’s accomplished as much as a track announcer could ever hope to accomplish in his 20+ years in the United States, but –as he told us on Thoroughbred Connection– “it’s the cherry” on the top of his professional career.


As for the final week of significant Breeders’ Cup preps, there were two races at Belmont Park, two more at Keeneland, and another at Newmarket in England. Let’s start with the British race… BC Turf/F&M Turf hopeful PRIDE (FR) won the Champion Stakes over Turf/Classic possible HURRICANE RUN (IRE). In New York, SUTRA and ENCHANTING STAR finished 1-2 in the Frizette. The disappointing efforts there came from Juvenile Fillies hopefuls AWESOME ASHLEY (4TH) and MEADOW BREEZE (10TH). SCAT DADDY and NOBIZ LIKE SHOBIZ ran 1-2 in the Champagne, stamping their tickets to the BC Juvenile. GORELLA (FR) hung a nose win on KAREN’S CAPER in Keeneland’s First Lady to set up a start in the BC Mile. VACARE beat BC F&M Turf hopeful MAURALAKANA (FR) by a half-length in the QE2, with another F&M Turf possible GERMANCE finishing fourth.