Announcers Collmus, Stone Adjust to Postponed Derby

After the past couple of months spent walking, completing crossword puzzles, and watching Netflix while homebound because of COVID-19, Larry Collmus finally gets to utilize his real talent May 2: announcing.

The voice of the Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup on NBC returns behind the mic for several race calls, though not the race everyone typically expects on the first Saturday in May. He will call two virtual races, the HRRN Fantasy Derby on Horse Racing Radio Network (streamed on BloodHorse.com) and the Kentucky Derby: Triple Crown Showdown on NBC, with both races featuring horse racing greats from years gone by. Then, for fun, he will add his voice to the Kentucky Turtle Derby on the Old Forester Bourbon YouTube channel.

It's not the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1)—postponed this year to Sept. 5 due to the pandemic—but it beats a 15-mile saunter around his home in New Jersey, which Collmus found himself doing once to pass the time this spring.

"This week has actually been a little crazier than normal because there are actually things going on, being 'Derby week' and all, even though it isn't," he said.

The Kentucky Turtle Derby will be high speed compared to the paint-drying call he delivered for laughs for America's Best Racing in late March.

America's Best Racing: Larry Collmus Calls Classic North-South Showdown

The virtual Derby races will be taped prior to their airings Saturday, Collmus said, but don't look for any inside information from him.

"So I will know in advance, I guess, who won—but I won't tell anybody. I'll be really good about that," he said this week. "I imagine what I'll try to do is sort of watch the race a couple of times and see what happens, and then attempt to call it after that. So it'll be a lot of fun to call the names from the past and have them all in together and see who wins."

Like so many fans, he will miss the Kentucky Derby—his annual highlight as an announcer.

"The Derby is always No. 1," he said. "It's the race, year in and year out. It has the most people watching. I guess it has the most on the line because there's just so much excitement leading up to that race and when all those horses finally get together for the first time. And the fact that it's the Kentucky Derby, the most famous race in America, if not the world. 

"The only time the Kentucky Derby can be beaten as the top one is when there are horses going for the Triple Crown. I always tell people that American Pharoah 's Belmont is the biggest race I've ever called, but after that, it's probably just all the Kentucky Derbys, and Justify 's Triple Crown, of course."

The importance of the Derby means preparation begins months in advance, said Collmus and Travis Stone, the track announcer for Churchill Downs. Prep races are watched, silks are memorized, and running styles are noted.

"The whole game plan is when those horses come onto the track and they play 'My Old Kentucky Home.' Those 20 horses have to be your best friends, and you have to know them like the back of your hand," Collmus said. 

Stone, who started working at Churchill Downs in 2015, calling the race on-site and over Churchill's simulcast network, said the absence of the Derby this year on the first Saturday in May is a "bizarre experience and feeling."

Normally, he would be knee-deep studying the 20-horse field, envisioning the flow of the race and potential scenarios.

At least he will be returning to the announcer's booth at Churchill Downs in short order. The track's delayed spring meet will begin May 16, conducted, at least at first, without spectators.

Although Churchill Downs officials hope safety precautions are eased and that spectators will be able to attend the Derby in September, government and health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading public health expert on President Trump's coronavirus task force, have expressed pessimism that fans will be able to safely attend sporting events this year. The Derby attracted 150,729 people in 2019.

"It would be weird, no two ways about it" if fans cannot attend, Stone said. "One of the coolest things about the Derby is the reaction of the crowd, all the moments throughout the day, from the call to the post when they come on the track, to the playing of 'My Old Kentucky Home,' to the moment they load in the gate and the crowd roars. It is so loud that I can hear it not only through my glass-enclosed booth but also through headsets that cover my entire ears. That's how loud it is. 

"So that'll be weird. I don't think there is any other way to put it. It will just be different, but hopefully we are still (four months away). It's a long time until the fall. Hopefully, some progress is made on all these fronts, and some sense of normalcy can return by then. But, if not, you know what, it will still be the Derby and we'll have fun."

In the Booth: Travis Stone Calls the 2019 Kentucky Derby