They're in the Gate for the Last Time-Tom Durkin

It's the final weekend for NYRA racetrack announcer Tom Durkin. Sunday will be his final day calling races at Saratoga (and any other track) as he retires. His last race call will be the Spinaway Stakes (2 year old Fillies).

This summer at the Spa I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of people I spoke to who were aware that Tom Durkin is retiring. The fact that so many fans know who Tom Durkin is and are aware he is retiring says something about Durkin. There are many adjectives you can use for Mr. Durkin and one of the best is memorable.

You know the sound of his voice, you know what he looks like, and you know his familiar phrases. Heck, I named this blog "They're in the Gate" after the phrase Mr. Durkin uses every time the last horse enters into the gate before a race. Listen this final weekend to how he says: "They're in the Gate"

The way he says it has the just the right mixture of enthusiasm and succinctness. I love it and it will long echo in my head.

And of course, there are the race calls himself.  We have the internet so Durkin's calls will not go away.

What I liked most about Durkin was his humor and sense of entertainment.  Have you ever watched other race calls on TVG, or your local OTB simulcast and been bored to tears by the calls. Of course you have. Durkin is smart enough to know that he is in the information business but also in the entertainment business. He could be very serious in his race calls, but when the moment called for a little fun, he knew it.

 He also knew when a big moment was here and called for a memorable call. A perfect example of this is Durkin's call of the Rachel Alexandra win in the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga. He knew many of the fans came to the track that day with one goal in mind-to see Rachel win. And when she did Durkin was ready with the big call.  I will never forget that call as the horses came around the final turn and Durkin says" A Dramatic Stretch Drive Awaits", and when she won, proclaiming "Rachel raises the rafters here at the Spa".

Simply the Best, enjoy your next venture Tom. 

A word on Moran

It is with sadness that I note the passing of award winning journalist Paul Moran, dead at only 66.

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He was a wordsmith till the end with his last column published on the ESPN website on 10/28/13.

New York City metro readers of old will remember him from Newsday, back in the day when the NY Post, NY Daily News and Newsday all had multiple pages on racing every day. That's almost all gone now as are the days of racetrack patrons walking around the track with the entries and writer selections cut out from their favorite NY tabloid sticking out of their hand or back pocket. 

Here in upstate NY I can still read the daily entries and selections of the NYRA tracks in my local paper of choice, The Times Union, but how much longer will that last?

I will miss Moran and his way with words and his biting wit that would shine through in his columns. The game goes on, just now without one of its' best writers.

Choices

 

As the Breeders Cup 2013 version fast approaches, Here are some thoughts from this neck of the woods:

Things go up, things go down. Maybe you caught Keith Olberman's show on ESPN2 this week about baseball television ratings. In 1971 37 Million people watched a Sunday afternoon Pirates World Series Game 3 win over the Baltimore Orioles. There were 61 million people in the United States at the time.

The 2013 World Series average game so far has about 12 million watching out of 300 million people.

But we live in a different world now, flooded with endless choices of entertainment including cable systems that gives you hundreds of channel choices as opposed to the 5 channel choices you had in 1971. We could do anything at anytime, between our TV's, computer and Smartphone it is all there at our fingertips. Today a weekday, I can choose from 24 different live sports events from college football, Pro Hockey, Pro Soccer, Golf, College Hockey, College Soccer, NBA Exhibition and more to watch on my cable system. Tomorrow, Saturday, that number will go over 100.  Throw in non sports entertainment choices and the choices are in the thousands.

Baseball, like Horse Racing is still very popular and those who love it will do so devotedly. When considering the other choices out there, it's actually amazing how both games have endured and how, in Racing, how many people weed through all the choices and choose to watch and bet on it.

Whitney Weekend Attendance Look

No signs of the Debbie Downer articles after a weekend of spectacular weather at the Spa.

Saturday's Whitney Stakes Day crowd was 33,148 up from last years Whitney attendance of 30,841. 

All Source handle was up from last years $15,966,346 to $16,356,246.

On Sunday attendance was 24,133 up from last years Sunday crowd of 19,762. Handle was also up this year at $9,864,118 from last years $9,431,729.

Word is the Times Union (Albany NY) has abruptly cancelled their expanded investigative upcoming report on Saratoga declining attendance.

NBC enters the gate for the Preakness

Orb is not the only winner in the Triple Crown Chase this year as NBC Sports had nice ratings for the Kentucky Derby.

Since than I have seen plenty of commercials on both the NBC and NBC Sports Network plugging the Preakness Stakes. NBC is also live streaming  the Preakness day on all media platforms (mobile, tablets, etc) on  their website.

It will be interesting to see if the Michele Beadle Bashing continues across Twitter. We all have complaints with different Sports commentators, play by play guys, commentators and the like but this particular woman appears to annoy some more than would seem appropriate. I first saw the term Beadle Bashing over at Pull the Pocket's blog and I like his take on the matter.

On Derby Day I was at a house party where you couldn't hear the TV Volume anyway so I can't comment on Beadles work. From the media critics columns I read, she did fine in the job she was employed too do. Where I come from, getting hired to do a job and than doing that job as assigned is a good thing.

Do you really want Beadle to start giving you exotic betting tips. It was not like Beadle was the solo host. If you wanted analysis listen to Randy Moss, Jerry Bailey, and others. If you want straight analysis, can't you just tune over to TVG, HRTV, your local OTB cablecast channel, or even just watch the live stream of your betting account or your Horse people full Twitter feed where analysis is 24/7 (and than some)? I don't see where hiring Beadle led to the letting go of any hard core racing analyst on the telecast (it didn't).

 Rather than lie down and take it, Beadle on her Twitter account gave it right back, probably much to the delight of her both her 750,000 plus followers and NBC executives.

Dead Heat Travers Reflections

Another Travers, another memorable race. I'll let others argue about the quality of the horses in the race, all  I can say I was among the 46,000 plus fans who witnessed the dead heat photo finish between Alpha and Golden Ticket.

Here's my reflections on this years Travers Stakes Day:

Alpha ended up being a pretty good bet. I know many prior to the race were bashing Alpha, but I felt the combo of Mclaughlin and Dominguez would be enough and publicly (on Thorofan's website) picked him as the winner. Yeah he was the favorite, but getting $4.10 back and doubling your money is not bad.

The betting day for me on the whole was a wash. I had a small win bet on Alpha, but missed all day on my exotics and the 3 pick 4's.

Made a bad audible call on leaving my Clubhouse seats to join friends at the Porch for table seating. We were at the far end of the porch, where the view of the track from our table was not all that good. Plus we got hit with the $18 "seating" fee which applies per person, not per table. My salad dish with 2 bottles of Bottled water cost me $50 not counting the tip (which the waiter expects to be calculated on the lunch and seating fee).

Next time I stick with my usual method of watching the races from my seats and grabbing lunch at the Shack Shack where I grab a Shake Burger and Beer for the more manageable $9 cost and mingle with friends at the Paddock Bar.

The post Travers fun included a fantastic dinner at The Wishing Well where I had Swordfish and for desert the classic creamy New York Style Cheeseake from the Nuns of New Skete followed by drinks downtown at the Adelphi and Sperry's.


So there you have it, another year older for all of us, another Travers Stakes in the books. They are unique, all so different, and this one will be etched in my memory bank forever.

New York Racing-On the Track

After a few weeks of NYRA bashing complete with Emperor Cuomo and New York State taking control of New York Racing, it was nice to change the focus of New York racing to where it should be-On the Track. For all the bad headlines about NYRA, about bad trainers and possible drugged horses, here was a Memorial Day which showed how good New York racing can be.

The topper of the day was the Met Mile, a small but spectacular field of 6 runners and run they did. How fitting was it that Shackleford was able to outlast a fast charging Caleb's Posse with a $1.33.30 winning time in the mile race. I love the Shack, and I'm a big fan of his trainer Dale Romans.

While other trainers hold back their horses and pick their spots, Romans does no such thing with the Shack. Shack, as Andy Serling stated on Monday's MSG Network coverage of the race, comes to the dance every time. In an era where critics abound and often state that horses are over raced, how come Shackleford shines under a very busy schedule? Maybe because he is a gifted animal who loves to work and compete. This is a horse who ran every leg of the Triple Crown series last year, something only two horses are trying this year (I'll Have Another and Optimizer). He also had a busy schedule in 2012, most recently a win in the Grade II Churchill Downs Handicap on Kentucky Derby Day.

Attendance was up also at Belmont Park, at a healthy 10,577 and total handle for the day was $14,444,665. So, racing is far from dead, especially in New York, where you can see the best horses run in the best races, despite what one may read from the critics. Now it's on to the Belmont Stakes, another big New York Day.

As for Shackleford, expect this gallant horse to show up next in Saratoga, looking to dance in the Whitney.

Searching for the Oaks

I tried looking on the NBC Sports Network website to see if they would be covering the Kentucky Oaks. The website had plenty of Hockey news on the front page, and with they NBC covering the NHL, that makes sense. But I figured there would be a banner ad or something on the homepage which would link to the Kentucky Derby week coverage. After all it is only a week away. No such luck. There is a TV listings link which takes you to a page with the weeks TV listings for the NBC Channels. You can than hit another link to finally get to the page listing by specific day. I learned the coverage on Oaks day goes from 5-6 pm. I guess that means we just get the Oaks race and maybe one race before that. I don't know for sure as the website gives no further information. I am sure I could find out by checking out other sites or contacting the Churchill Downs Media office, but how many people, especially the casual fans, want to go through all those steps?

Luck on HBO gets 2nd Season Go Ahead

After Just one episode Luck on HBO has been renewed for a second season. Based on some articles and blogs I read reviews were mixed. Some were displeased with the the characters in the show, feeling they were stereotypes and exaggerated caricatures. But remember stereotypes are there for a reason, they are usually true.

I have a few friends who are hard core racetrack gamblers who resemble the 4 slovenly gamblers who won the Pick 6 in the first episode. Anytime I have ever been to a track and retreat from the stands to watch the race from an inside simulcast TV, I see folks just like the gamblers portrayed on Luck. I love those guys-they are part of the fabric of the track and to omit them would be a white washing of who really inhabits the track. I also liked that the lingo was not dumbed down for a mass audience.

On the down side, I found the Dustin Hoffman character to be a bit over the top and his front man Dennis Farina, seemed almost too naive to be picked by the Hoffman character as a front man. But HBO dramas typically have a slow character build so lets see what happens.

Breeders' Cup Goes to NBS Sports

Really no surprise ESPN is out as the TV outlet for the Breeders' Cup coverage but I did figure it would happen not now but after their contract ran out in 2013. Over the 6 years ESPN had the Breeders' Cup their overall Horse racing coverage wilted, and this past year it really seemed they were just mailing it in.

So what to expect as the Breeders' Cup moves to NBC and NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus):

Not much bad news, although I will miss Jeannine Edwards and Kenny Mayne. Edwards never mailed it in and the humorous Mayne loves the game. Also, not everyone has the NBC Sports Coverage as part of their cable or satellite subscriptions. With less overall viewers the TV ratings might actually be down this year with the change.

However there is plenty of Good:

We get to keep seeing Randy Moss, who worked this summer for NBC on their "Summer at Saratoga" broadcasts.

We also get better branding as NBC now has the complete Triple Crown Races, a bunch of derby prep races, Saratoga racing coverage and now the BC. Now we know when it comes to racing we can turn on NBC or NBC Sports Network throughout the year, instead of wondering what or where we can find the TV coverage. As NBC continues to grow the NBC Sports Network Channel, it seems they will build it around several sports including Hockey and Horse racing. No longer will it be the ugly stepchild that ESPN treated it like.

Mirahmadi's in the Gate

As we enter 2012 Frank Mirahmadi will be the new race caller at Oaklawn Park taking over for Terry Wallace. Opening Day is January 13, 2012. Frank was the backup announcer to Wallace last year. He has called races all over and also at a stint as an racing analyst at TVG.

People's favorite announcers come down to the style of race calling you like. I like Frank as I like his style of exciting, upbeat and often funny race calls. His comedic talent comes out very easily and is often used in his races. Frank is also a great voice impersonator doing the voices of Rodney Dangerfield, Jack Buck, Hank Stram, Andy Rooney, and the late Kentucky Derby caller Luke Kruytbosch among others.

Some like the straight,by the book, calling the numbers type race call. I'll take the enthusiastic race call spiced up with humour as seen in the calls of NYRA's Tom Durkin. I will bet a Finger Lakes race maybe 2 or 3 times a year, but I do find myself listening to the race calls of Finger Lakes race caller Tony Calo because of his excitement and humour. This is what we will get with Mirahmadi at Oaklawn and that's good for the game.

Pilot Episode of Luck on HBO-DVR Alert

Certainly seems like HBO is putting a big push on promoting the new fictionalized series "Luck" -a behind the scenes look at the world of racing. If it fails it won't be for lack of talent. Headed by Dustin Hoffman, the show is loaded with veteran actors.

HBO has been running numerous promotional trailer ads on its' network and this Sunday, 12/11/11, the show's pilot episode will be shown at 10 pm following the season finale of the hit HBO series Boardwalk Empire.

The details of the pilot episode arrived in my hands and here is the cliff notes version:

As the series opens, Chester "Ace" Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) is released from three years in federal prison and is eager to get back into the racing game. We soon meet his buddy/driver/bodyguard Gus Demitriou (Dennis Farina), who will front as the owner of the $2 million Irish horse that Ace just bought.

The episode than introduces a talented but disreputable trainer (have you heard that one before?), the Peruvian Turo Escalante (John Ortiz). His girlfriend is track veterinarian Jo (Jill Hennessy).

Meanwhile we meet the veteran trainer-turned-owner Walter Smith (Nick Nolte). He also has a promising horse but he's wary as we get hints there is some sort of scandal behind the horse. Filling out the pilot we meet Four hard luck gamblers, Marcus (Kevin Dunn), Renzo (Ritchie Coster), Jerry (Jason Gedrick), and Lonnie (Ian Hart), as they pool their monetary resources to bet Jerry's Pick Six ticket.

In addition to the above actors the show also features Richard Kind, and current Jockey Chantal Sutherland and retired Jockey Gary Stevens.

Charismatic Documentary Thoughts

Thanks to my trusty DVR, I was able to watch the ESPN Documentary on Charismatic. In reading other blog recaps on the race, it seemed the diehards wanted more storytelling on Charismatic, the horse who won the first two legs of the 1999 Triple Crown. However the Documentary focused on the rise and subsequent fall of Jockey Chris Antley.

From a Documentary making standpoint, ESPN was wise to focus on Antley and his battles with drug addiction. The average viewer remains interested in an athletes struggle with addiction. One day after the Charismatic doc, ESPN went the same route again, as they aired a "E-60"documentary with former NY Mets Pitcher Dwight Gooden revealing was in a drug-induced haze and missed the Mets'1986 World Series victory parade.

If you wanted to learn more about Charismatic, you really didn't learn much but the storytelling on Antley was effective, although a bit rushed.

In other documentary notes, if you are in the Saratoga area, The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will host a pair of screenings of the documentary film "The Last Train from Bay Meadows" on Wednesday, Nov. 2 and Thursday Nov. 3 at 7 pm. "The Last Train from Bay Meadows" portrays the history and the eventual closure of the longest continually running Thoroughbred track in California. The track closed in 2008 after nearly 75 years of operation. A discussion of the documentary with producer and director Jon Rubin will follow the screening each night. And the price is right as Admission is Free.

24/7 for Racing

The New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers will be featured on HBO's Emmy award winning 24/7 reality series in this years "24/7 FLYERS/RANGERS: ROAD TO THE NHL WINTER CLASSIC". The HBO series on the NHL debuted last year and the show received across the board fan and media critics approval. I'm sure it also brought more attention to the sport and only helped to bring in some new fans.

We wrote last year that Horse Racing would be perfect for the 24/7 reality series. HBO at the time was reportedly looking to pick up a new sport for the 24/7 franchise but so far no decision has been made.

Howard Stern & Jockeys

Guest today on The Howard Stern Show on XMSirius radio were Jockeys Ramon Dominquez and Jesus Castanon. They were there to promote the Belmont Stakes (Ramon is aboard Mucho Macho Man and Castanon is on Shackleford) and a new Jockey Beefcake Calendar. Although ironically Jesus does not appear in the calendar.

Unlike the usual vanilla drivel Jocks will spill out when interviewed, Howard got honest and frank answers out of the Jockey's on several subjects.

Money: Ramon estimates only about 3% of all Jockeys actually make any real money. He cited the sobering statistics. After he gets his 10% winners share, 25% goes to his agent, 5% to the Valet and 1/2 of what's left goes to Taxes.

Making weight: Ramon said some vomit to make weight, but Ramon claims to he doesn't and lasts all day on just a cup of coffee and toast in the morning.

Whether the Horse knows they won: Both Jesus and Ramon agreed the horse does not know when he wins a race. I found this answer refreshing as most jockeys after a race when interviewed will always claim the horse knew he won.

Groupies: Ramon said female Groupies for the top jocks absolutely exist and chided Jesus Castanon for claiming he never partaked in his single days. Both Jocks are now married.

Belmont Stakes Week Television Coverage

A nice expansion of Belmont Stakes coverage by NBC Sports on NBC and Versus.

On Friday there will be live coverage from Belmont featuring the Grade 3 Poker Handicap on the Grade 2 Brooklyn Handicap on Versus from 5-6 pm.

On Saturday live coverage starts on Versus at 3 pm featuring the Grade 1 Just a Game, the Grade 2 True North Handicap, and the Grade 2 Woody Stephens.

At 5 pm NBC takes over with the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Manhattan Handicap being shown before the Belmont Stakes. As was done for the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, Versus will have a 30 minute post race recap after NBC signs off.

How many times do you think we will hear from NBC that this is only the 2nd time in the last 15 years that the Derby and Preakness winner have faced off at Belmont? I give the over/under for the Versus/NBC Saturday coverage at 14 times. I don't mind the stat, but a half dozen times it was impossible as a horse was going for the triple crown.

With Animal Kingdom and Shackleford both showing up I expect a nice turnout at Belmont Park. On non triple crown years, the weather is always a big factor in attendance and the early forecast looks good with temps in the 70's under Partly sunny skies.

2011 Preakness Thoughts

I had the wrong washed out horse in Sway Away

Luckily the audio problems with the NBC race call of the Kentucky Derby were solved for the Preakness. I though the call of Larry Collmus was adequate but I miss Tom Durkin.

A lot of people complained about NBC not showing the Dixie Stakes won by Paddy O'Prado but I knew this was coming so no complaints here. NBC sticks with what works best-pre-taped emotional driven human interest stories, quick interviews and than the race.

107,000 strong for the Preakness, looks like the Kegasus promotion worked. Someone gets to keep his job at Pimlico.

Is is just me or does Bob Costas look as uncomfortable as he did the first time he ever did a racing gig? It seems his inner voice is just screaming, "get me out of here and onto a baseball broadcast!". Costas looks like he is out on a blind date he wants no part of.

Horse Racing Coverage-Versus Good...SiriusXM Bad.

I enjoyed the Versus Television Coverage of the Kentucky Derby weekend and look forward to it again for their Preakness coverage. In addition to the coverage of the Black Eyed Susan on Friday and Undercard coverage on Saturday-remember after the NBC Coverage there is a 30 minute wrap up show on Versus from 6:30-7:00 pm.

On the radio side very disappointed to learn of the changes (cuts) on SiriusXM Satellite radio's horse racing coverage. Steve Byk's At the Races show was broadcast live from 9 am -12pm weekdays on Sirius Channel 93 (and Channel 210 On XM). When Steve signs off the channel picks up the audio feed of TVG. I make my living on the road driving from appointment to appointment with ample windshield time. When I am driving, I can't be looking at a computer, Smartphone or TV, so listening to Steve Byk on Satellite radio and his many regular guests (Steve Haskin, Gary West, Steve Davidowitz among others) and hearing the audio of TVG was a godsend.

However this week SiriusXM made a programming change, broadcasting only 1 hour of Byk's show (from 8-9am) and no TVG coverage at Noon. Instead at 9 am SiriusXM listeners tuning to the channel now hear sports talk from 3 ESPN owned radio programs- ESPN Chicago’s Waddle and Silvy, ESPN New York’s Mike Lupica Show and Michael Kay Show.

WTF....instead of hearing something I can't hear on regular radio, I now lose racing coverage for simulcasts of general sports talk shows that can be heard on regular AM radio. No word yet if SiriusXM will find another station for Steve Byk's show and TVG coverage. Of course, SiriusXM Executives felt that the middle of Triple Crown season would be the perfect time to cut racing coverage and replace Byk and TVG.

Wrap Up of the Kentucky Derby TV Coverage

The Good:

Production Values: The NBC Sports Production crew shined as the production value was first rate. And if you watched it in HD, it looked even better. If ever a sport was made for High Definition it is Horse Racing.

Broadcast Crew: On Derby Day Laffit Pincay III and Randy Moss handled the coverage on Versus while Tom Hammond and Gary Stevens took over on NBC. Always love the old pro Tom Hammond but much prefer Randy Moss over Gary Stevens. Randy Moss explains just enough for the casual viewer to understand without dumbing it down for the hardcore fan.

Hours of Coverage: No complaints here as Versus had the coverage from 11-4 pm, NBC from 4-7 pm and than Versus with post race coverage from 7-7:30 pm. 6 races including the Derby were shown on the 2 channels.

The Bad:

The segments featuring correspondent Maria Menounos: Like any red blooded male I enjoy seeing a short 30 seconds or so interview with Maria interviewing a hot chick, but it got quite campy when throughout the 2 broadcasts they paraded hot chick after hot chick telling us that they are betting on Pants on Fire because she has a female jockey.

The audio on the race call: The call by Larry Collmus was actually pretty good, that is if you could actually hear it. I only know what he said because I played it over a couple times on the NBC Sports Website. Collmus followed the golden rule of calling every horse in the field and their position by the first turn, he correctly noticed Animal Kingdom's move down the final stretch,called him the winner smoothly right before the line and than quickly called out the 2nd-4th finishers seconds after.

But let's be honest, who really heard the call? Watching live on NBC all I could hear was an annoying echo combination of Collmus and Churchill Tracks announcer Mark Johnson in the background. Try explaining to the casual fan why two announcers are calling the race at the same time with one slightly louder than the other.

Kentucky Oaks Day brought to you by Twitter

Oaks Day at Churchill as followed on Twitter per select Tweets from people I follow:

Is anyone surprised? RT @TTimes: BREAKING NEWS: Uncle Mo scratched from #kyderby

The world must be coming to an end.....First Dude won a photo!

How weird is it to see Randy on Versus?

What channel is Versus? I can't find it.

Home w/the#KYOaks on now. Don't think I've heard of most of the 'celebs' mentioned in the teaser for tomorrow

Racing in HD is through the roof....years better then what you get on TVG and HRTV

That was some ride by Rosie on St. John's River. Tough beat, but Plum Pretty was best, first move into the strong pace. Figs didn't lie