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Vic Staufer
Does anyone else get a kick out of him like I do. This dude was cracking me up over the weekend on TVG. Not too crazy about his picks but he is one funny dude.
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I think Vic is a great race caller, only behind John Dooley in my eyes. He is sometimes comical on TVG, but when he hosted 58 flat last week, he fell 58 flat on his face. I dont hold it against him though, not his style.
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Vic has a good sense of humor and is quick-witted, which is helpful for him when on camera, but other than that he is a fairly bad TV personality/commentator....he is too overly opinionated and is a horrible handicapper - and then makes excuses when he loses most of the time.... Best callers: (IMO) Technical: Trevor Denman - easily the best at this..he calls moves before they happen...great understanding of horses and jockey body language, pace, class, track-play, etc. from gate to wire... Excitement Component: Tom Durkin - his voice exudes class and prestige, and his stretch calls are so powerful that they emotionally attach you to the race...(although he is not as good as he used to be IMO).. Most Underated/Unknown: Frank Mirahmadi - This guy is the most talented race caller IMO...he possesses it all...he uses an intelligent vocabulary to describe what is transpiring on the track without over doing it, and his level of excitement with timely adjectives and a raised tone in the stretch is powerful and compelling...On top of that, he is also a very good technical caller, which is far more important to serious horse players than the average racing fan may think. |
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What I enjoy about Durkin is that the pace of his call matches the pace of the race. He will using a low tone when the pace is fast and then his tone gets higher and speech gets faster as the race goes faster and get heated.
Denamn is unreal at spotting a horse that is going to make a move when he actually hasnt made it yet. He is extremely good at that. I like Vic alot but I can always tell when he has money on a horse in the race he is calling. That drives me crazy. |
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"and now flying from the back of the pack is Chindi..Chindi is picking 'em up and laying down and is stroming home to another win in the King Cotton Stakes.." ..the freakin' horse finished like 4th and he never acknowledged the first three finishers until after they crossed the wire....It really made me mad and so embarrased that he did that.. As for Durkin, your right...he is good at that, but I think he doesn't take his job as seriously as he used to..he takes some days off where he is lifeless on the Mike...kind of like TO taking plays off as a snobby WR....speaking of pace with him, that is another thing he has gotten horrible at judging IMO...he yells emphatically about these blistering 22 and three opening quarter miles like it is a suicide pace, but in fact it is a moderate pace for most of the class of horses he does that to...I think to myself evertime he makes a big deal about a fast pace: "What the hell is he talking about?"...and usually the speed always wins or holds on well.....not a very good "technical" caller IMO.. |
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He used to call at Hialeah Park before it shut down and then called at Louisiana Downs for several years and now calls the Fair circuit in California....you may have heard him subbing in at Fair Grounds or Turf Paradise on occasion...he used to start the old FG meets when the Krantz family owned the track because Wrona couldn't fulfill his calling duties in November, and he would also finish Turf Paradise for Luke Krybosche when Luke had to go to Churchill Downs....he's good |
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i became fond of vic several years back when he called 1 race meet here in chicago@hawthorne just before he moved onto the big time........was very sad to see him go! i like dooley was well and some of his lines are very catchy like"shes charging faster than a little girl with daddys credit card" but at the same time other lines are very cheesey! wrona is my fav caller in the game, and my 2nd kevin goemmer(rip) passed away a couple of years ago unfortunately
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Joel putting Trevor ahead of Durkin is just plain foolish. Perhaps you don't realize this but Trevor fails to do a "little" thing thats called giving fractions. Now that may not seem like such a big deal, but every time Durkin has to interrupt his call to give a fraction it interrupts teh flow of his call and also causes him to have to start with a new cadence upon resuming the fractional call. Now look, if Durkin didn't have to interrupt his superlatives and adjectives with the fractional call(like every great race caller in history has done) I'm sure his calls could be every bit as "technical" as Trevors. fact is Trevor has always punked out and not called fractions so he can showboat with adjectives. hes about 1/10th the race caller that Durkin is. |
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Durkin
John G the best 2 in the game Denman, and Stauffer battle for 3rd and 4th. Somewhere in between is Dave Johnson Then below that is Luke K, Hoover at Keenland, Larry Colmus, Michael Wrona, Tony Calo |
i think we are all in agreement that Battaglia sucks
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..When I say technical, I am referring to everything except the glamorous voice and vivid adjectives or anything else that is cosmetic about the race call. A good technical race caller paints the best picture of how the race is unfolding...it takes great forecasting and handicapping ability and Denman is leaps and bounds better at it than Durkin....I've seen several races in New York where a jockey dropped his stick, or there was significant bumping, or a horse was closing from the clouds and Durkin never saw him.... ..great example was this year's Wood Memorial..Durkin was so caught up on Keyed Entry and Bob and John walking home in that race that he didn't even mention ONE WORD about Jazil closing until after the wire he yelled "Jazil"...horrible...How can you miss a horse that closes from 20 lengths out of it?..I was hoping he would win to see how Durkin was going to wiggle out of it..LOL. Denman understands the horses a lot more than Durkin and it shows in his race calls.....Howvere, I do prefer the class and power in Durkin's stretch calls. As for the fractions, Denman will say them when he feels that they are relavent....Durkin thinks every first quarter is "blistering"..it's hilarious. As a horse player, I guess I don't value a race caller telling me the fractions unless they matter...i.e. too fast or too slow...I have trained myself to get the fractions off the monitor because they are available to read a few seconds before Durkin says anything - thus he is being redundant half of the time he is saying the fractions anyway....I would rather an announcer be accurate with his call and be able to see things that are about to happen and communicate them fast - instead of reacting late like guys like Tom Durkin and Terry Wallace do most of the time....just my opinion... |
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Joel when Durkin came up full fledged simulcasting and in house tv screens were not in abundance. back then to accurately call a race for the majority of listeners you had to give fractions. And if you don't think working in fractions is a lot harder than saying "they're going every fast early" you are kidding yourself. I agree that with in house tv's everywhere and full fledged simulcasting all over the country that giving fractional times is not as important as it was, but Trevor has been calling here since the mid 80's and I can remember only getting the call and not the picture back then in college and screaming "why won't this foreign fruitcake give me the fractions?!! " |
Durkin is the best, if anyone disputes this then I dont know anymore. He paints such a vivid picture and tells a story in his race calls, dont know anyone else who can do that.
Kent Desormeaux imploring Real Quiet Rock of Gibraltar languishing in back Jerry Bailey has St Liam In hand War Emblem hes got another gear Funny Cide the gutsy gelding a picture is worth a thousand words, this photo is worth 5 million-- I mean whoa who else can come up with that |
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Mike Smith asking Lure for everything he's got!!! AND HES GETTING IT!!!! Chris McCarron IMMPLLOORRRING Deputy Commander for ONE MORE FURLONG!!!! Unbridled!!! gets to the front!!! AND WINNNSSSS!!!!! Compare that to that wing sprouting bull**** with an accent no less. |
ya follow!
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That's why this game is great...we all have opinions and we are all right...some like announcers for certain reasons and some like announcers for other reasons...I come from the new school of horse players and I prefer better technical race callers, and I will say this - the struggle of our industry right now is that we haven't been able to adapt and lure in the new school horse players of tomorrow...the NTRA and tracks have struggled miserably with marketing to the next generation of horse players, WHOM EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY.....we don't care about Durkin wasting time telling us fractions because we know that we can read them off the monitor 3 seconds before Durkin announces them....we just wish that Durkin wouldn't misslead people into thinking horses are running a "blistering" pace all of the time when they really are not...when Bishop Court Hill won the Carter wire-to-wire earlier this year, Durkin yelled "and he ran the first quarter in a blistering 22 and 1" and I was thinking to myself "What the hell is he talking about...this pace is VERY moderate for these kind of horses"...and sure enough, he drew away to win gate to wire....horrible call and it is because he doesn't understand racing as well as the likes of Denman, etc.....just my opinion..
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Well you have to admit that the wing sprouting nonsense that Trevor uses is as bad as anything in racing. The guy who calls Finger lakes has more dignity than to use a horrible line like that!!!
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damn technology, I care about the quality and detail of a race call. If 22.1 isnt a blistering pace, then I dunno..lol 22.1 in Ny is blistering my friend
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Lets face it, Durkin use to be a lot better. He is missing horses like Jazil closing in the Wood and he refuses to call photos anymore. In fact he calls that there is a photo finish before the horses even hit the line, in races where there is a clear winner. He did that the other day in a race. The race was won by almost a half length.
He doesnt have the balls to make an assumption on races where any nitwit can see who won. Stoffer and Denman almost always do unless the race is a blanket headbob finish. I have to agree, I like Durkin's voice better than Denmans, but I agree Denman is a far more astute caller of the game. Maybe its time for Tom to retire and leave his best calls behind them, thats clearly where they are. As far as Battaglia goes, that guy just simply needs help. Hes an utter mess. |
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And "the gutsy gelding" isnt as cheesy as that pizza I just downed? Pleeeasse. Horrible line and so overused and beaten to death.
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Not that day on a sealed track for Grade I horses...comon, you know better than that...Anew just went 22 flat this past weekend in the True North and finished like a gorilla in the stretch...Grade I or II sprinters can go 21 seconds all day long... |
Thats because he had a bunch of sea monkeys chasing him. Tiger is an utter mess and only won his last race due to a dream set up trip. Even his trainer admitted that 4/5 on his horse was one of the most weird odds hes ever seen on one of his own horses.
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But I've got to tell you that for me he is not that far above Battaglia and a few others as a caller. It's not that he doesn't call a fairly accurate race, he does. It's just the corny expressions, the mechanical ennunciation and his nasally voice that really grate on me. "Earlie Fires partners number 5 Brittle Shins next into the gate" "The milers meet up with the main track" "Bronco Billy! is being produced down the center of the track" so and so is "holding favoritism" at two to one. plus all of the this's and that's. Like I said he annoys me but seems like a very genuine and nice guy. |
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Certainly better than Stauffer's "Cowabunga Dude" for Surf Cat three weeks ago, which made little relevant sense to the race and was just plain lame. And I like Vic, think he is a good caller. Also, as mentioned before, Larry Collmus who does Monmouth, Suffolk and Aqueduct is very under rated. |
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I must say everyone of the expressions you note above are DEAD ON hahaha and I'm laughing about it. But you forgot, "CD Player HOLDS THE LINE on the front end BUT HERE COMES Saratoga Paperclip rallying on the grandstand side!!!!" All this Dooley stuff has me laughing now :cool: |
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