Trevor Denman
 

Ok not a bad job today. Not great but not bad. The only real criticism is that he didnt mention Pine Island taking a bad step at all during the call. Now I dont know if it was intentional or not, but he should have said that Pine Island is out of the race.

...and he didn't call Street Sense until they were taking his picture in the winners circle....:)

Completely missing Street Sense was pretty disgraceful.

Say what you want but Tom would not have missed him.

Didnt even notice him not catching Street Sense. Tom would have called Pine Island and Street Sense. I bet Pine Island and I was like--where the heck is she.

We were on the finish line and I bet Street Sense but wasn't able to pick him up and considering Denman's call I assumed it was Great Hunter. Around the sixteenth pole it occured to me those were Street Sense's silks drawing away.

I just watched the replay and I think TD had some money on CQ--lol. I was about 100 yards from the finish line and I didnt know it was SS until he went by.

So you were in 319? I must have walked by you ten times today. Too bad.

I was in 119 in the front row. I could reach out and touch the starting gate in both Juve races. I love being down on the rail. I heard Pletcher bitching to himself when he walking down to check on Fleet Indian. Aidan O'Brien grabbed a snickers from me - that was a bit odd.

i could NOT believe there was no acknowledgement of the fave, and then the second fave, in that race both being out of it.

hey, those of you who biatched about durkin these last months...denman isn't fit to shine his shoes, let alone try to fill them.

In fairness he did mention than Fleet Indian was being pulled up. He said it twice and then moved on to the stretch. I am fine with that--but to completely miss Pine Island is not acceptable.

mmm...i guess i was too wrapped up in listening for pine island news to notice. my mistake. i saw fleet indian pulled up, but didn't know really why....

Well really though I didn't have a clue anything had happened to her til the race was over which some might blame Denman for but I think, with this many horses, if I could blink and miss it then I don't blame him if he did. I was trying to talk to somebody online at the same time as the race was going on and I looked away for a few seconds. If you're trying to use your binoculars to move from silks to silks he probably didn't see her go down and then there were so many that he just didn't catch that he didn't already call her.

Sure Durkin would've caught it but he also probably would've made so much of both horses that frankly I'd have probably ended up with more of a gut wrenching than I already got from the replay. Seriously guys, go "this might make you queasy, we're about to show the breakdown" will ya? Once I looked up during a post-race review and just saw it right out of the blue. Some people are trying to eat geez. Before we knew what was wrong I'd gone back and watched it in slow motion on tape to see what happened and it left me just shaking for that poor sweet girl. She looked so beautiful and then just fell. Seeing Javier try to save it before they both flipped was so heart wrenching.

When I hear "Fleet Indian is being eased" or whatever I didn't catch it til they're coming down the stretch and I'm looking all over going what? Where?...then at the top you see a horse moving slowly. See for all I knew Pine Island too had been eased because I just turned away for a second and was probably looking at a different part of the field when she fell. It happened so quick I just don't blame anybody for not knowing.

Street Sense however did bug me cuz I was like 'who the heck is in front??? I just know who's NOT winning.'

Give me a break. He proved once and for all that he's not fit to do anything but announce those Southern California dog tracks for the rest of his life. Durkin's not perfect, but he's one hundred times better than this guy.

You guys are crazy, he called a great Breeders Cup. I would like to see each of you call one race, let alone 8 nationally televised grade 1s. He didnt miss Pine Island breaking down, hes probably not as stupid as half of you and realized calling it would hurt racing. Maybe he should have said "Pine Island is down, shes snapped off her leg right by her ankle, undoubtedly she will need to be euthanized". "Probably on track since she cant walk, in front of 75 thousand fans" Then would he have called a good race? So what, he missed Calvin slipping up the rail for a moment, big deal. He called a good day of racing, hes a fantastic racecaller, period

oh please. durkin called about barbaro in the preakness, how could he not, certainly not in any disgusting graphic way like you just suggested. denman could have said something about her being in trouble, or out of it, in distress, whatever. instead of any of us who saw her bobble and the jock start going airborne left wondering.

Im sure the reason he didnt call it is BECAUSE of the Barbaro situation. Fact is she wasnt eased out of it like Fleet Indian, she wasnt in distress, she SNAPPED OFF HER LEG. There is no diplomatic way to say that to casual racingfans, they simply dont understand. He did what any thinking man would do, pass it over to the program hosts, let a doctor or commentator deliver the bad news with an explanation.

thanks bid, for reminding me of her injury yesterday in your two posts like that. just what i really wanted to read this morning...




and you know, after reading posts here and in other threads, does anyone REALLY give a damn about the casual fans? casual fans aren't going to save this or any sport. it'd be nice if the sport would cater to the real fans, their base and the ones who keep it going.

I don't. To hell with the casual fans. I'm tired of them always being the ones being catered to.

Danzig, thats the cruel truth of the situation. I think Denman was just thinking not making that call. Noway do you lose a 1200lb favorite on the racetrack. Believe me, he didnt call it on purpose and I dont blame him.

I give a damn about kids watching a race for the first time, women who maybe dont care for the sport and are trying to learn, fans who go to the track everyday. I care about all the fans, and Im sure Denman does too, lord knows ESPN does. Im sure they werent on him for "Missing" a catastrophic breakdown.

how can you be a casual fan anyway??? that's an oxymoron.

I would say a casual fan is someone who flips back and forth from College football. Maybe someone who watched gameday and sparked an interest. Someones girlfriend who never goes to the track and comes over on Saturdays. Little kids having a piece of pizza around a room full of adults watching the races. The cat? Those are casuals, and probably none of those people understand a big beautiful animal breaking her leg in the biggest race of her career.

Who are you, Denman's little brother? You cannot possibly be serious with any of this. Completely missing a horse BREAKING DOWN in a BC race, especially one of the favorites, is absolutely, totally inexcusable. As is not calling Street Sense until he was back in the barn cooling out. As is mispronouncing name after name after name like a novice. As is somehow defending this guy after he does one of the worst announcing jobs you'll ever hear in your life. He's just like Lava Man. A lot of hype in California, but on the big day, he's nowhere to be found.

he murdered 'miesques approval'. said mystique....ah well, he's got the job at any rate. he did ok.

but this board will have a lot less postings on it if we can only critique a performance after attempting it ourselves!!!

and i just caught the 'stupid as half of you' remark after seeing it in ateams post above.

handle was an all time high at churchill yesterday, this after ruffian killing the sport, landseer, go for wand, barbaro--oops, tom durkin kept us advised on him throughout that race, it's a wonder anyone bought tix to yesterdays event after that....this sport has been dead and buried how many times now?? i think that horse racing is far too resilient, and has far too much time and money invested in it to go tits up based on a horse breaking down.

He didn't miss her all the way but just last year, Durkin didn't catch Pleasant Home's winning move until she had hit the front in the Distaff. He was totally taken by surprise by her.

At one time, you were a "casual fan" too, until it hooked you. It might have taken 10 second of the first race you ever watched, or it might have taken years. Either way, put yourself in the shoes of a first time viewer. Would you have so easily taken to racing with such a catastrophic break down? Im sure it turned off a lot of viewers... hell, look how much it affected the REAL and seasoned fans.

I was watching the race and I missed Pine Island going down. Trevor was going through the complete field for ALL of those listening to know where their horse was and soon as he got to the end, he switched his attention immediately back to the front and in that exact moment is when it happened. It wasn't hard to miss it. Should he have caught it, yes. But that doesn't make his day horrible. With the exception of missing Street Sense, I thought Denman did his job and did it well. I could have closed my eyes and listened and known what was going on. That's what I want.

"And i'm gonna have to stop gambling to notice street sense winning the race. This race was brought to you by Nasonex. A wise choice!"

in no way did i say that denman should have been graphic, or that they should have zoomed in on pine island. i just felt he could have said something about the fave being out, pulled up, lost her jock, took a mis-step, whatever
i do think however that too much focus is placed on what a casual viewer would think, while those of us who know the sport are ignored.
also, IF espns intention was to sugarcoat, than why show the entire replay of pine island going down?? and more than once at that?

and i was a huge horse fan before discovering racing, and that after i already knew about ruffian and her sad tale. non fans know horses break down, so casual fans would as well...it's not as tho all those writing to barbaro have rose colored glasses on, and think all stories like his have a happy ending.

Denman's the best -- has been for last 25 years. If anyone else was even close, we could argue...
All those Durkin lovers have never heard a REAL race call before, so it will take them some time to get use to one.

I think Denman missed the Pine Island tragedy because the field was on the backstretch. At that point, he's using his binoculars to see the horses, which I'm assuming gives him a very narrow look at the field. He had just finished calling the 14th place horse and had gone back to the front of the pack. She was about a dozen lengths back at that point. He's probably not going to see her. Obviously, many were left wondering "where's Pine Island", but when you're calling a 14-horse championship race, you don't have time to ask yourself that question. In contrast, Fleet Indian was near the front and in his frame of vision.

I think Denman is a fine caller, but I was worried he wouldn't raise his game. The fact is that the BC is not a state-bred claimer and deserves to be called as such. I think he did an okay job. Sure, he missed a few spots (Street Sense being the notable one), but I kind of expected that for his first time. Like someone else mentioned, it seemed he did pay attention to the favorites a little too much in a couple races.

I don't envy Denman's position. I was pissed that Durkin wasn't going to call this year's Cup. He's THE voice of the Cup. That's what happens when one guy calls it for 22 years. Durkin became as much of the Breeders' Cup's identity as the races. His race calls make those commercials the NTRA was airing pretty neat. It's not going to be easy to get used to the change, but Denman represented himself well for his first time. And this is coming from a guy who initially thought Denaman would be absolutely terrible for the Breeders' Cup.

As i said on a thread that i had started is that i don't think Denman prepared the same way as Durkin.Durkin would of had been prepared for certain instances in races in advance.Example Ferdinand and Alysheba where he stated the 2 derby winners hit the wire together.I think that he put that in his mind days before.No matter how long he calls the cup races i don't think you'll ever get any catch phrases from Trevor.the difference as i stated on the other thread,Durkin,race caller/entertainer.Denman,race caller.

durkin said he planned ahead for things. i remember him talking about it before smartys belmont.

really, missing pine island was my only real beef with denman, so i don't understand why my comments generated to much flak. all in all i guess he did pretty well.

So I guess a "real" race call entails missing the breakdown of a BC Distaff favorite, mispronouncing name after name and not even mentioning a winner until he's 8 lengths clear at the 1/16th pole?

If this is the case, I'll take a phony race call any day of the week.

I thought Denman did an okay job, Street Sense notwithstanding. I like that he frequently gives the jockey silks colors during the races-- it makes it easier to quickly find who he's talking about. I like Durkin best because I think no one calls races with as much dramatic flair as he, but I was fine with the calling yesterday.

I just came back from 45 minutes of watching the New York Marathon, trying to spot my two friends running in it, and boy, do I have a raging headache now. Fortunately they saw me! Yet another reason I could never have been a race caller... I can't find my friends who are running barely six miles an hour, coming straight at me!

I was at otb and couldn't hear the calls from Trevor. The local radio shows in LA are all saying he chocked on the big stage, but in his defense you got to change the saddle cloth colors to help spot the horses. When you have 14 horses its like a Easter Egg hunt to call them by the racing silks. You have 25 minutes between races to memorize the jockeys colors because you aren't going to see the # on the saddle cloth. After you listen to him call the races, most are not as good. Trever not only calls the position, he tells you what kind of trip the horses are having. Just my thought after 35 years of race watching.

Luke Kruytbosch started the day with the first 2 races. The change was definitely heard. It was not for the better either.

i really don't think when it all comes down to it that the race caller will make or break the show.
i was more peeved at lack of split times being shown on screen.
analysts were good, i think only real room for improvement is they need to show more of the horses before each race. all in all, a good day. really, it was a very good day, a good showing and a good effort from espn.

The lack of split times annoyed me, too. Some of the races they didn't post them until the first half mile- and then once or twice they flashed up and went away before I could read them. Made me very cranky.

But I was overall pretty satisfied. Especially with all the praise lavished on Ouija Board before and after the race.:) And the cameraman being sure to catch Dettori's antics.

Beyond missing Street Sense completely he did ok... I just miss Durkin for the emotion and tone he puts into his calls. Durkin was put on this planet to call those races. It's too bad they couldn't work it out with NBC to get him on.