Do race callers ever make mistakes?
(I don’t see how they do it. No way I could think that fast & speak, besides memorizing the numbers to the names & all that.)
Do they have “spotters” there or anything to alert them when they start to mess up?
Tx
[QUOTE=sonomacounty;6098078]
Do race callers ever make mistakes?
(I don’t see how they do it. No way I could think that fast & speak, besides memorizing the numbers to the names & all that.)[/QUOTE]
Everyone makes mistakes. I couldn’t call a race for real if I had to, but I can after watching the same race a few times (!) call the players, moves and add in all the “jazz”. It is however generally considered even by the pros as a very stressful job. The pressures are one of the reason Tom Durkin elected to no longer call the Triple Crown races in NBC.
Video interview with Kurt Becker the caller for Keeneland on how he does it
Video interview with Tom Durkin - NYRA’s caller - on the job
Video interview Vic Stauffer - Hollywood Park - explains how he does the job
Video Monmouth caller (also Gulfstream) Larry Collmus in action he’s now NBC’s triple crown caller.
Oaklawn Park’s new voice Frank Mirahmadi recently made these reflective comments on his mistakes:
Mirahmadi, though, said it took time for him to learn the craft when he began announcing.
“It was very difficult. After I’d called a few races in California, I thought I could do this easy, no problem. When I went [to Hialeah] in 1996 I washed out. There were full fields – I was panicking. I know there were a lot of announcers out there howling when they heard those calls. Opening day, my binoculars were shaking. I was like, ‘How did this horse get over to the rail so fast?’ It was a really difficult angle for the race caller there.
By the third race, I’m calling this race, the horse’s name was Mugs Mugs Mugs, and I’m yelling, “Mugs Mugs Mugs this and that,” and he’s getting closer to the sixteenth pole, and I realize this is not Mugs Mugs Mugs, but this is Prize of Gold.
The lady who does the Equibase charts, she looks over at me and I’ve got my face in my hands, and she says, ‘Don’t beat yourself up.’ And I said, ‘Don’t beat myself up? I’m finished!’ [Track president] Stephen Brunetti called, and I said. ‘I’m very sorry, sir.’ He said, ‘No problem. Just call the next race like Trevor Denman.’ They thought I’d improve, and I did, but it took a while.”
That said - Frank just made this call at Oaklawn using his multiple voices while still being accurate about the race. That’s amazing. (The youtube video isn’t edited and was the live call)
Edited to add - I think Michael Wrona at Golden Gate Fields is one to watch/listen to on HRTV (or in person at the track) as he has a style that is worth noting. He calls the entire field in the order they cross the line, that’s unique in the US. Most callers see just note the first four let alone the jocks by name.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv8x9x5A49s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB6NdbRDVkQ
Whoops, totally missed the horses until they were open lengths in front. I don’t hold it against any of them though, I could never do it!
This is the ultimate test for a race caller, 35 runners split into 2 separate groups on either side of the track.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TrNpDOZRVI
Tom Durkin would have a heart attack.
A sensational race, amazing outcome, it was jubilation despite the pouring rain, and a great call … until the horse crosses the wire: go to the 2:00 mark to hear what Tom says wrong
It’s worth noting the actual race - the Travers.
I’m sure Tom was gutted when he realized the error.
Races always are enhanced when the call has passion mixed with a good eye and a clean voice - Marshall Cassidy was NYRA’s voice at Belmont for this 1978 race … he had a solid voice and really did convey the race such that you could hang on every word. If you had to listen to the race call on a radio you could picture being there.
Aw, wow, thanks guys. I have to run right now, but just checked in to look if I got any answers. I’ll listen to all the links later.
Much appreciated,
sonoma
I remember reading somewhere that in the 1975 Kentucky Derby when Foolish Pleasure (who was the favorite) had a lead in deep stretch that the race caller called another horse leading. Even the jockey heard that one as he was going by a speaker, and he was thinking, “Unless I’ve gone blind, I don’t see anybody in front of me.”
Here it is. He calls Prince Thou Art instead of Foolish Pleasure several times in the stretch drive, then catches it with a bit of a “whoops” tone right at the wire.
Do announcers make mistakes? They sure do, some embarassing and some just annoying; most people catch the embarassing ones, and dont even notice the annoying (to the announcer) ones. These guys work alone, in a small soundproof booth at most tracks, and at smaller venues, they are right out there, feedback and all. A good friend of mine is an announcer, has been for decades and he has made some monstrous errors and every season, I get the lament “WHY do people give the horses such odd names/”. I almost bought a horse named Norfolk And Way and his reaction was that he would have happlily strangled me had my bid been successful. His latest nemesis is a horse from Peter Pan stables and I heard him call that horse 4 times in one race and pronounce it differently each time (every one of those horses has the word pan replacing a syllable and it can make for a tongue twister). He said his most embarassing was a TB that ran here back in the 80s named Fog Ducker, and he, like the Edmonton announcer did with the Standardbred, Fog Duckin, got the ‘F’ and ‘D’ switched around…oh I will never forget that call from the Edmonton announcer: here comes Fog Duckin (patter) and it’s Fog Duckin…Fog Duckin…Dog *ucking all the way followed by a dead silence, a soft Oh shit and the rundown. My friend made the same error and said he was just mortified. Errors abound, regardless of the track and the calibre of announcer - have heard horses not in the race called, horses from a previous race inserted, wrong drivers, wrong trainers, the list is endless.
I figured one was the 2009 Derby as even I was yelling at my TV that he hadn’t even noticed Mine That Bird until he was in front by six. I realize he’s a small horse and he kind of blended in with the mud… 
sk_pacer–I have seen some names and thought “The ONLY reason to give the horse that name is to screw with track announcers.” I really think the JC/stdb equivalent need people in the naming office to read out requested names like announcers several times to try and catch out things like “Sofa King Fast”, “Fog Duckin” and “Hoof Hearted.”
danceronice - I agree that some people go out of their way to mess with names. Fog Duckin was let go because, ir I recall, he was by a horse called Storm, full brother to the great Smog. Standardbred Canada and USTA both rule out many names and request 3 new ones. Sometimes the problem is the farm name added in odd places (Peter Pan comes to mind) and other times, just lack of thought on the registrant’s behalf and sometimes too much thought. Some one in registry offices would be good for the JC too - Fog Ducker was their mistake and of course there are some names that make no sense and some just a random syllable. All breed offices should pay more attentionn because QH and Paints have some real doozies that range from disgusting to just plain weird.
