Collmus or Stauffer GP 2009 (Poll)

[Indian Charlie]

People complaining about track callers, they've obviously never been graced by any single race call from Bill Gahr. Ghar? Gar?

I remember listening to him in the car when I had a bet and thinking how useless it all was. He was so bad, that one time he called my horse finishing third. I was so suspicious that I called one of those result lines (1980s) a few minutes later and found out that my horse had indeed won!

The day I heard my last Bill Gahr race call on KIEV, with it's compulsory Lathrop Hoffman car ads, well, that was a glorious day!

[Rupert Pupkin]

I think there are only a few race-callers who truly add excitement to a race. My two favorites by far are Vic and Durkin. I think both of those guys really add excitement to a race. In some of those big races, their calls are so good and so exciting that years later when you look back on some of those great races, you not only remember the race but you remember the great call.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by Indian Charlie

People complaining about track callers, they've obviously never been graced by any single race call from Bill Gahr. Ghar? Gar?

I remember listening to him in the car when I had a bet and thinking how useless it all was. He was so bad, that one time he called my horse finishing third. I was so suspicious that I called one of those result lines (1980s) a few minutes later and found out that my horse had indeed won!

The day I heard my last Bill Gahr race call on KIEV, with it's compulsory Lathrop Hoffman car ads, well, that was a glorious day!

Bill Garr was a piece of work. He has got to be the worst of all times. A race caller is obviously very important when you are listening on the radio because you can't see the race. You are depending on the race-caller to describe what is happening. With Garr, even after the horses had past the 1/16th pole you had no idea what was going on. He would say, "And as they come down to the wire it will be.........". And you would have no idea who he was going to call. Sometimes he would say, "As they come down to the wire, it is so-and-so quickly pulling away to win by 8 lengths." And you had no idea that the horse that was pulling away by 8 was even winning the race until Garr called him in front by 8 at the wire.

Old English Rancho was one of the regular sponsors of the show. They always had commercials on there every week. If my memory is correct, the law offices of Dirnfeld and Zelner had commercials on there too. Bill Garr seemed like a nice old guy. He just couldn't call a race. I'm not sure whether he is still alive. If he is, he must be well into his 80s.

[Indian Charlie]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

Bill Garr was a piece of work. He has got to be the worst of all times. A race caller is obviously very important when you are listening on the radio because you can't see the race. You are depending on the race-caller to describe what is happening. With Garr, even after the horses had past the 1/16th pole you had no idea what was going on. He would say, "And as they come down to the wire it will be.........". And you would have no idea who he was going to call. Sometimes he would say, "As they come down to the wire, it is so-and-so quickly pulling away to win by 8 lengths." And you had no idea that the horse that was pulling away by 8 was even winning the race until Garr called him in front by 8 at the wire.

Old English Rancho was one of the regular sponsors of the show. They always had commercials on there every week. If my memory is correct, the law offices of Dirnfeld and Zelner had commercials on there too. Bill Garr seemed like a nice old guy. He just couldn't call a race. I'm not sure whether he is still alive. If he is, he must be well into his 80s.

Yeah man, he sure was a suspenseful caller! I can't remember how many times I would scream at my car radio things like "WHO THE FU-K WON THE FU-KING RACE! TELL ME WHO WON!!!" or "How the fu-k did that horse win by 8, you never even called him once in the race!?".

I always kinda wished that Paul Wallach and Bill Garr would have switched radio shows for a week, even though Wallach gave out pretty good restaurant reviews.

[ArlJim78]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

He doesn't have memorable calls because:

1.) He hardly ever gets to announce memorable races.
2.) He doesn't throw in the gimmicky lines that Vic does (I'm not trying to bash Vic, he's obviously one of the best, just saying).

How many memorable calls does Kurt Becker have? Does that make him a worse announcer than Stauffer or Durkin or Denman? IMO, no.

Becker is so much better than Collmus it isnt funny. he has crafted his style around the overall image that Keeneland is striving for, and it works. they don't want him to add any bells and whistles to the calls. Collmus seems to being trying to make the Gulfstream racing exciting with his calls, just for me it doesn't work, like it has a screachy phony quality to it.

[Bigsmc]

Originally Posted by GPK

Pete Grunder!!!!

Get it right dumbass.

Richard Grunder.

[hoovesupsideyourhead]

top 5 all time

the arlington guy old school and a great guy..name escapes me
durkin
vic
becker..
wrona..

[Scav]

Originally Posted by hoovesupsideyourhead

top 5 all time

the arlington guy old school and a great guy..name escapes me
durkin
vic
becker..
wrona..

Phil Georgeoff?

[hoovesupsideyourhead]

Originally Posted by Scav

Phil Georgeoff?

bingo ..

[jcs11204]

durkin is a legend, but he butchers tons of names... just this weekend, he messed up at least 3

[tector]

Vic is a moron. He pronounced Nebuchadnezzar as "knee-BACH-an-eezer". Is he that much of an uneducated dolt? And I don't need bogus emotion for every call--I am not an 11 year old watching wrestling, for Christ's sake. Clarity is the number one virtue in a race caller, unless something exceptional is happening on track.

Collmus is underwhelming, but solid.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by tector

Vic is a moron. He pronounced Nebuchadnezzar as "knee-BACH-an-eezer". Is he that much of an uneducated dolt? And I don't need bogus emotion for every call--I am not an 11 year old watching wrestling, for Christ's sake. Clarity is the number one virtue in a race caller, unless something exceptional is happening on track.

Collmus is underwhelming, but solid.

Oh yeah? Well I think Tiger Woods is a lousy golfer. So there!

[Scurlogue Champ]

Originally Posted by jcs11204

durkin is a legend, but he butchers tons of names... just this weekend, he messed up at least 3

Maurakalana was a nice one. And it wasn't just once.

It was repeatedly

[Scurlogue Champ]

The Aussies have us beaten hands down.

Those announcers are the best in the world.

Just a heads up. At 8:00am Tues. morning I'm going to print out what's been posted and send it to Gulfstream. So If you'd like to have your voice and opinion heard please share it soon.

BTW great job with all your responses.

Thanks

Ace

[SentToStud]

If my vote counted, I'd say Collmus. Since the next Gulfstream GM is probably a rookie teller at Remington or Thistle right now, my vote probably won't count.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by jcs11204

durkin is a legend, but he butchers tons of names... just this weekend, he messed up at least 3

tons? more hyperbole....

he calls about 200 horses names out (based on all six horse fields) in a three day period, and you're bitching cause he messed up three?

i wonder how many critics here have messed up three words in a casual conversation, let alone trying to name every horse, keep track of who is where, while also watching a clock-and keeping up with who's up front, as well as the action behind, who's moving forward, who's dropping back-all in far less than 2 minutes most of the time.

[Bobby Fischer]

The best thing I can say about Stauffer, is that he is good for the fans, and that he makes the horses sound great.

That is what these guys in football and the NBA do. A man just ran a piece of leather for 20 feet, and they make it sound historical. They are constantly selling their sport through the mass media. Stauffer gets it.

Stauffer is so convincing, that when you handicap the replay, you kind of have to check the fractions twice and watch a replay again with no sound. -To see if that horse really was that good.

A story to remember is the time Vic Stauffer made Molengao sound so good in the 8.5furlong Mervyn Leroy,lol.
I think I stood up and pumped my fist . Every wise guy was picking him to beat Lava Man in Lava Man's 10furlong Gold Cup last year, nearly going off the favorite over Lava Man. Molengao 8/5 , Lava Man 7/5.
Here was a horse that I was tossing from the exacta. The public viewed it as a competitive race. Some of the enthusiasm was in no doubt, at least in part affected by Stauffer's high-energy call of Molengao in the Mervyn Leroy:

"Molengao charges in the center of cushion track... , BUT NOW "MOLENGAO OPENS UP A THREE LENGTH LEAD, LOOK AT MOLENGAO! ROLLLL!L AWAY! HES SUDDENLY 5 IN FRONT! MOLENGAO WOWWW thats a big one molengao won by 5..."


The handle for the 2007 Gold Cup was a record 22,000,000 Up 45% from the 2006 handle of 15,000,000.

[hoovesupsideyourhead]

sometimes 24.1 is SCORCHING FRACTIONS UP FRONT!!..but all in all he does and has done a great job for along time..

[CSC]

Can't remember the guy's name Wrona I think...but the Aussie guy from Golden Gate and or Bay Meadows is very entertaining and his calls are pretty descriptive. With Trevor Denman slipping in the past few years I think this guy is better right now.