Stauffer Excited for Opening Day at Oaklawn

As the soon-to-be agent for Bobby Lester, a big winner at Oaklawn Park during the mid-1990s, Vic Stauffer was laying the groundwork for a meet a few years later in Hot Springs when he checked in one morning with the jockey's major client.

Stauffer's visit with this trainer was literally the beginning of the end.

"I was here only two or three days, at the most," Stauffer said, recalling one break in a lengthy career as a track announcer. "Lester had lost the trainer's barn and forgot to tell me. They had 60 horses and he was riding them all."

Stauffer said his parting words to Lester, whom he had previously represented, were: "Drive me to the airport, please."

"I was here for no time at all," Stauffer said. "Literally, I think I was here for 72 hours."

Almost 20 years later, Stauffer is back at Oaklawn, and this time to stay—at least until mid-April. When Oaklawn's scheduled 57-day season begins Jan. 13, Stauffer will be just the sixth announcer in the track's history.

Stauffer, 57, has called more than 40,000 races at some 12 tracks across the country since 1985, including Gulfstream Park, Hialeah Park, and Golden Gate Fields. He also spent 12 years as track announcer at Hollywood Park before the storied Los Angeles venue was shuttered in 2013.

Save a 10-day stint in October at the Big Fresno Fair in California, Stauffer said he hasn't called races on a regular basis since Hollywood Park closed.

Stauffer said he was so concerned about rust, that leading up to the Oaklawn meeting he planned to go to Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots and practice calling races from the press box.

"Doing Fresno really helped, because before I did Fresno, I didn't even know if I still knew how to do it," Stauffer said. "But once I did Fresno, I felt totally comfortable. ... Fresno made me believe that I didn't have to (practice at Fair Grounds)."

Stauffer said he has "supreme confidence" that his calls at Oaklawn will be "worthy of the races that we run."

His past-performance lines include calling icons like 2002 Horse of the Year and three-time Oaklawn Apple Blossom (G1) champion Azeri; 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta, a two-time Apple Blossom winner; and 2006 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Barbaro.

"And when I say rust, my calls three weeks into the meet will be better," Stauffer said. "But my calls on opening day will be good."

Stauffer, who has won two Eclipse Awards for radio broadcasting, said if he had been tapped as Oaklawn's track announcer in, say, 2000, it would be a "springboard" to year-round work.

But these days, Stauffer said he's comfortable with his slices of life, at home, in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is president and minority owner of the Pittsburg Diamonds, an independent professional baseball team in the Bay Area's East Bay region that plays in June, July, and August, and is an accomplished horse racing tournament handicapper.

Adding 57 racing dates in late winter and early spring at Oaklawn, Stauffer said, completes what he calls his "Valhalla."

It's certainly different than the 72 or so hours Stauffer, who would later represent big-name riders like Joel Rosario and Martin Garcia, spent in Hot Springs almost 20 years earlier.

"The one thing that didn't change was everybody is happy, which you don't see at the racetrack a lot," Stauffer said. "But at this place, everybody is just happy to be here. Me, too."

Stauffer, also a former California steward and analyst for TVG, was hired in August to replace Pete Aiello, now the track announcer for Gulfstream Park's winter meet.