Durkin honored at 84th annual Thoroughbred Club of America
Testimonial Dinner
Tom Durkin kept the audience entertained as the Thoroughbred Club of America
honored the acclaimed announcer at its 84th annual Testimonial Dinner on Tuesday
evening at Keeneland Racecourse.
Durkin, the voice of the Breeders’ Cup and Triple Crown for many years, paid
tribute to his Irish heritage at the podium.
“I’ve been blessed with luck,” said Durkin, who retired in 2014 after 43
years of calling horse races. “I was born Irish, telling stories infused me with
the gift of gab.”
Keeneland will play host to the Breeders’ Cup for the first time at the end
of October.
“Enjoy, appreciate the Breeders’ Cup of 2015 when the best of the best come
to Keeneland,” Durkin told the audience. “Dreams can come true in horse racing.”
Sportscaster Tom Hammond, who was hired along with Durkin to work the
inaugural Breeders’ Cup broadcast in 1984, provided the introduction.
“Tom revolutionized race calling,” Hammond said. “He interjected drama into
race calls, Tom was a drama major.”
Born in Chicago in 1950, Durkin began calling races — Quarter Horse,
Standbred and Thoroughbred — in the 1970s and credits getting the Hialeah race
caller job in 1981 as a career breakthrough. He was hired by NYRA in 1990 to
call races at Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga, and served the same capacity
as well at Gulfstream Park.
Durkin estimates he called more than 80,000 races, with approximately half at
NYRA tracks. He called Breeders’ Cup races until 2005 and the Triple Crown races
on television from 2001-11.
“One of the luckiest SOBs on Earth,” Durkin said. “Providence has shined upon
me brightly.”
Video highlights of his memorable calls included:
Alexandra the Great!”
close. It’s going to be…a filly in the Belmont. Rags to Riches has beaten
Curlin and a 100 years of Belmont history.”
invincible, unbeatable Cigar!”
Durkin credits his success to the horses, “It’s the Irish in me: We love
words, we love horses, we love beer.”
And he mentioned the 1988 Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs as one of his
favorite memories.
“The first Breeders’ Cup in Kentucky (1988) was the greatest race card ever
assembled. Greatest racing program I’ve ever been part of, more drama than in
any day in history,” Durkin explained.
“(D. Wayne) Lukas won three of seven races, finished a nose second in
another, and finished one-two-three in the Juvenile Fillies. Miesque became the
first repeat winner in Breeders’ Cup history, Personal Ensign, the midnight
classic with Alysheba.”
With unique flair, Durkin brought a sense of excitement to race calls for
more than four decades. His distinguished service to the sport will be
long-remembered.