T.R. Salutes: Tom Durkin- UPDATED

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com


He's a horse racing announcer for Saratoga, Belmont, and (I think still) Aqueduct. I think he still does the KY Derby and he has done the Breeder's Cup for several years but didn't renew his contract to do so starting in like 2005. It's probably better that I stop winging it and let you read his Wikipedia profile. The point is, he's awesome. Not that it is surprising, since he's from Chicago.

He's a consummate professional, though rarely consummates his relationships with other professionals while he is working, especially while eating consumme. His knowledge of the sport is extensive, and he always manages to mix in just enough silliness when necessary, to remind us all that we are watching horse racing for the purpose of having fun.

Since I don't know a whole lot about the guy, so my salutation of him will have to be primarily via YouTube replays of his most memorable calls. In a way, I feel sheepish about posting these because they're basically his funniest moments, and he doesn't fancy himself any kind of comedian. After decades of flawless announcing these moments of whimsy are anamolies, but memorable and likable all the same.

9/5/09 UPDATEUPDATE: We have an unprecedented INSTANT CLASSIC. This is Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward from 9/5/09. You can read more about the race here.



UPDATE: I TOTALLY forgot about this one and it's in my top 3 favorite of his calls. The 2004 Belmont Stakes where the horse racing world was positive that Smarty Jones was going to win the triple crown and everyone was cheering him on. He was a feel-good story for a lot of reasons and everyone was thoroughly prepared to explode with delight. I was at that race that day, the attendance was 120,000 which broke the previous record of 100,000. If I recall correctly, as I always do, that was the day Ronald Regan died. Anyway, you can hear in Durkin's voice how exuberant he is when it looks like Smarty will win ("..it's been 26 years...."), and how crestfallen he is when he utters, "...Birdstone wins the Belmont Stakes." This and the call in the last clip of the bunch are masterpieces of race calling, and of letting your human-side into your voice, but not your comments.




Arrr


A horse with a stupidly long name


"No need to call it" a good example of a less humorous call, but one that illustrates his appreciation for the sport.


Durkin's memorable call of a VERY foggy race. This couldn't have been done any better.


He was in fine voice for a horse named Doremifasolatido


Ohnoitsmymothernlaw- Good race, funny call.


Finally is my favorite sports announcing job ever, and it was done by Mr. Durkin. Allow me to put this race in context for you. The race is the Breeder's Cup Classic which is the biggest horse race of the year, monetarily, in North America. Horses come from all over the world for this race, and this is the one race every single trainer wants to win. Also note that it was on 10/27/2001, making it the first major sporting event after 9/11. While baseball and football regular season vailiantly played immediately after 9/11, those were regular season games. No major sport had had a post season yet, and the Breeder's Cup is like the entire playoffs in one day, culminating in the Breeder's Cup Classic. Furthering the patriotic undertones, several of the favorites for this race were European horses, with Tiznow being America's hope, basically. Tizow won this race last year, and if he could somehow manage to upset the favored European invaders, he would become the first horse to repeat as winner of the BC Classic. Oh, I forget to mention that this race took place in Belmont Park, a track located in New York City. It was almost the horse-racing vesion of Rocky against Drago, but on American soil. I think you'll find that Tiznow showed determination of Balboan proportion in the race as well. Here is Tom Durkin's call, my favorite call in the history of sports. Tiznow is wearing pink.