jimbo66 Wrote:
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> Just wondering what some of our \"west coast
> regulars\" think of Trevor Denman?
>
> The guy has a great voice and all, but it seems he
> continues to have major mistakes when calling
> races. He of course had the Breeder\'s Cup
> debacle a few years back where he screwed up
> several races, but even though I don\'t watch a ton
> of California races, he just seems to be getting
> worse.
>
> In today\'s last at Delmar, a horse seemed to break
> down (#12?), the jockey was thrown, he collided
> into two other horses, with one other jockey
> possibly being thrown, and Denman missed the
> entire incident in his call. I don\'t know how
> that is even possible.
>
> Vic Stauffer may not have the elegant pipes of
> Denman, but his calls are \"on target\" from a
> substance perspective, if you ask me, especially
> relative to Denman.
>
> Sorry for the \"non-handicapping\" post, but with
> Denman starting to remind me of Mike Battaglia, I
> needed an outlet for the comment......
Jimbo,
If you are getting back at me for referring to you as JB\'s boy, you couldn\'t have done a better job than to compare Denman to Battaglia. You say that he has \"a great voice\", which immediately disqualifies Trevor from being compared to Battaglia. Hands down, Battaglia is the worst track announcer alive.......and perhaps the worst of all time.
Not a fan of Mr. Battaglia.
Denman has certainly lost a step. IMO, Denman along with Durkin are 2 of the best announcers of all time. They have been so good for so long, that when they slip it is noticeable. Yes, Denman has had some issues with some BC races, that cannot be disputed. However, his day to day calls are still very good.
He\'s like the guy who hits .330 year after year. Then he hits around .310, finally dropping down to .290. Not as great as he was in his prime, but hitting .290 is still pretty good. You\'re just used to him hitting .330 year after year.
I think that, generally speaking, mistakes are noticed more than good calls. I still enjoy his race calls, they are usually very accurate, contain a nice mix of excitement and he still can see which horses are making a move into contention.
As for the last race today, the only thing I can think of would be this: He calls the entire field from first to last. After calling the last horse, he swings his binoculars back to the front of the pack, and perhaps missed the #12 (who was around 5/6th) as the filly broke down and backed up. I\'m not excusing this, as he certainly should have seen it and put it in his race call. I\'m just speculating as to why he may have missed it. It was indeed inexcusable.
I\'ve posted several times that I am a fan of Stauffer. I think we had a bit of fun on the forum last year when he practically lost his voice as Zenyatta ran down Switch. He mixes enthusiasm, accuracy, and anticipation into his race calls and I enjoy his work immensely.
Being a Bay Area guy, my race track trips are usually Santa Anita and Del Mar. I\'ve never had the chance to visit Saratoga, as many of you get to do several times a meet. One day I\'ll make it out there. Best of luck to you and everyone else making it out to The Spa this summer. Sounds like a great time.
