Isn't that a bit extreme? We all have bad days, he just happened to have his during the biggest race of the year.

19 mud covered horses, 2 minutes to call a race, multiple horses from some stables with the same silks. a horse squirts thru on the rail while you've got a three horse race down the center of the track, and those three finish noses apart. yeah, it's so easy, a monkey could do it.

I haven't seen the Derby or the 2 calls yet but calling the Derby the Darby is a very rare error for Mark. He has presented American racing on the TV for the last 8 years or so and I can never once remember him calling any American Derby race as the DARBY

He does have a huge inbuilt advantage over Tom and every other American racecaller. And that's there is only one chance a year in the US to call a race of this field size.

There is one sure thing about Mark Johnson. This was week 1 of his new job. He's going to be even better by Stephen Foster day and better still by the end of the fall meet

you guys have to lighten up. you couldnt even see him coimg up the rail behind all those horse.

not to mention that he was covered in mud.

Don't forget the little town of Ai-thens, not Athens. Ever been to Desha's in Lexington? Duh-SHAY'S. We do have our quirky pronunciations.

In fact, the 'er' combo is always pronounced 'ar' in English English. 'Clark' is a phonetic spelling of clerk, and Berkshire, home of many racing stables, is 'Barkshire'. Our way of saying 'Derby' is more like 'Durby.' Nobody actually says the 'er' sound - would be Dairby.

The only thing I noticed...

Mr Hot Stuff had a shadowroll, Advice had a white bridle with no shadowroll or blinkers, Hold Me Back had a dark bridle that was indistinguishable. Would have been the only way to tell them apart...well, except for the fact that you would have known if one of them was making an absurdly premature move, it had to be Hold Me Back because Desormeaux was riding.

Wasn't Durkin's finest hour at all. Mark Johnson did a great job. Wish I could have heard that on NBC.

I've listened a couple times, never heard him say "Darby", only "Derby' with his accent.

Well said:tro:

I think Johnson did an excellent job, especially under such sloppy conditions.

Yep, I'm on board with him. Did a fine job and like his calls

I play the Japanese races and the Australian races where 20 horse fields are fairly common. Their calls are vastly superior to what Durkin subjected us to. "Spectacular, Spectacular" - hey tell me what's happening, who's in front, who's coming, is he pulling away? Is he hanging on? what duh????????

I also enjoy when the announcer gets a call in the booth from the track crew when a scratch is happening or something of the like...and the announcer answers on air.

Look he's done a lot of great calls in his life. This was not one of them. It happens.

My thing is that I will not bash Durkin for what happened. Sure it wasn't his finest moment but we know he's really good at what he does. My point is that had that been Denman, people would have been on here crucifying him anew. It's a hard job and there's a lot of pressure. They both do great jobs 99% of the time.

Not for nothing, but he missed him the first time by as well. His first time through the fireld he called Mr Hot Stuff "last of them all" before mumbling something that was difficult to make out...then he says that Mine that Bird is well behind the rest of them...

It's one thing to miss the "middle move", but it's comical that he says that Mine that Bird is down on the inside and coming on through when he already had 5 lengths on them...

I think it's 50/50 whether or not any announcer out there nails Mine That Bird just as he makes the move. It's a matter of whether or not you're looking at that spot. If you're on the wrong side of the coin it's tough. If you're on the right side, you're a genius.

I know the binoculars most announcers use have high power, which means there's more moving around the field. That's why missing horses who are way behind is an easy thing to do. Also, especially at Churchill, when they come down the stretch, they are literally running straight at you... so while your binocus are looking outside for horses closing, one can be sneaking up either farther out or down inside.

Say you just announced Pioneerof the Nile taking the lead, knowing that DerbyTrial.com is going to blow-up if he holds on. So you move outside to see if the others are closing, and because of the binoculars, your view looks like this:



And so you announce those horses in view and take down the binoculars because they're close enough to see with your naked eye and you see this:



It's really all about timing and where you happen to be looking.

Very sharp post.

:tro:

you are right, thats a tough job. why is everyone complaining? heres something novel , watch the race yourself. i hardly ever listen to the call anyway. and if you can't tell, what makes you think the announcer can? complaining about the call is sour grapes, unless you are just listening. i follow the silks all the way around. could care less what the guy is saying anyway, boo-hoo he missed a horse. should we have a re-do? how does this matter? did a different horse really win or something?

Good comments Travis. It wasn't Tom's best but clearly he was not only surprised that someone shot the rail (though with Calvin in the race...) but was shocked as all of us to find who it was. I'm sure (as someone who speaks often in public) that his "Spectacular, spectacular" coments were cover as he was double checking who it really was.
When you speak in public often without a teleprompter, or script, you develop certain phrases that become rote. When you are caught for something to say or while you are checking your notes you fall back on these phrases to "cover" the silence. Your mind knows them so well that you can utter them thoughtlessly while thinking about something else. (Anyone who has taken a long drive in a car with a chatty child has done this many times.) I'm sure that while he was saying these "mindless" words, Tom was double checking that yes indeed that was a 50-1 shot that had just blasted by the entire field in the KY Derby.

I can't completely blame Durkin for missing Mine that Bird on the backstretch instead thinking Mr. Hot Stuff was last of all - did y'all see how far behind the winner was after the first half?