Battaglia Elected to Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame

No matter how often he recounts his own tale—and even he has lost track of that number over the past four decades—it never fails to make Mike Battaglia unleash that warm chuckle of his, equal parts amused and incredulous.

He laughs due to the ridiculous good fortune of it all, because even the most fantastical of crystal balls wouldn't come up with the scenario that allowed the affable multi-hyphenate to carve out the career he reflects on. To go from announcing his first race at Miles Park in 1972 at his father's urging, to calling an eventual Triple Crown winner in the Kentucky Derby (G1) six years later at Churchill Downs, to becoming a presence that generations of racing fans have never known the sport to exist without, Battaglia has literally and figuratively become part of the lexicon of Kentucky racing.

"Actually, the whole thing has been crazy," Battaglia said. "If you go back and look, I never really aspired to do any of this. I didn't think I was going to be an announcer. My dad kind of told me to do it. So I did it."

The signature industry of the Bluegrass has been better for it. Which is why on the evening of June 1 at the Louisville Crowne Plaza, just miles from the track where Battaglia's voice served as the soundtrack for nearly 20 years, the longtime announcer, analyst, and odds maker will be recognized when he is inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame.

Battaglia was announced March 6 as one of eight inductees in the 2017 Hall of Fame class—ranks that include the likes of Lane's End owner William S. Farish (Class of 2008), Secretariat (2007), and D. Wayne Lukas (2005). The news came down just days after the Covington native gave his old stomping grounds a mini history lesson on what led to his latest round of accolades.

Last March, Battaglia retired from his 44-year stint as track announcer for Turfway Park, though he has remained with the Florence, Ky. track in the role of associate vice president. On March 4, he made a planned return to the booth to call the $100,000 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes, the race named for his late father and former track general manager.

It was the elder Battaglia who kickstarted his son down his defining career path in 1972. Then the manager of the now defunct Miles Park in Louisville, John Battaglia urged Mike to get behind the mic when the legendary Chic Anderson had taken a job elsewhere, telling his son, "if you screw up, I'm not going to fire you."

Something in Mike Battaglia clicked that day, mostly the fact that he was pretty good at handling a job that is among the most high-profile and least forgiving in Thoroughbred racing. By 1978, he was calling Affirmed and Alydar in his first Kentucky Derby as announcer for Churchill Downs, a position he held until 1996. In addition to remaining the oddsmaker for both Churchill and Keeneland—where he also maintains his analyst duties—Battaglia spent more than 20 year covering the Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup as part of the NBC Sports broadcast.

"When I found out about (the Hall of Fame), I thought, 'Wow, that's a huge honor,'" Battaglia said. "I feel very appreciative. I've been so blessed my whole career. I haven't had to leave Kentucky. I'm one of the few announcers that have been able to spend their whole career just in one state without having to move around, without losing my family ties. 

"I've been so lucky. With the NBC stuff and all the friends I've made and now with the Kentucky Hall of Fame, it's icing on the cake for me."

Battaglia's calls were always rooted in the straight-forward rather than the superfluous, letting the tone of the race dictate the timbre of his delivery.

He still recites details of his Derby calls as if he were viewing the race through his binoculars in real time, from the Grindstone-Cavonnier nose-to-nose battle in 1996 to when darkened, overcast conditions forced him to guess—correctly, thankfully—that Sunny's Halo still had the lead coming off the final turn in 1983. He won't pick a favorite among the races he has narrated, but he will marvel at the amount of historic moments he was able to play witness to.

"It is really is hard to beat my first Kentucky Derby that I called, Affirmed and Alydar, I always remember that," he said. "I got to call Ferdinand, (Bill) Shoemaker's last Derby win, and Pat Day's only Derby win, Lil E. Tee. There have been so many, and so many (editions of the) Blue Grass Stakes (G1) I got to call because I was calling for the simulcast at Keeneland. It's just hard to pick out even one or two in all the races."

Battaglia's venture back into the booth for his father's race was good for his soul, but it also reminded him his head and heart made the right call to walk away from that task full-time. He is still engrained in the state's racing culture, but now has time to playfully debate with his wife over who gets to babysit their granddaughters.

His is still a charmed existence. And Battaglia will be the first to admit it.

"To be able to go out and call that race and still be able to do it after a year off, that was a lot of fun," he said. "I'm glad I did it, but it didn't make me sorry I retired from it. I definitely made the right call. I have so much more time now to do things I want to do and to be with my family."