Lexington, Ky. (Jan. 12, 2026) ─ The Nationwide Thoroughbred Racing Affiliation, Day by day Racing Type, and the Nationwide Turf Writers and Broadcasters have introduced that legendary race caller Trevor Denman might be honored with the Particular Eclipse Award for Profession Excellence.
The dominant voice of Southern California racing for greater than 30 years, Denman might be celebrated on the 55th annual Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards on the Breakers Palm Seashore in Florida on Jan. 22.
“What a beautiful solution to finish a 53-year profession,” stated Denman “I’m so honored to obtain this award and can treasure it ceaselessly. I want to thank Alan Balch of Santa Anita Park and Joe Harper of Del Mar for giving an unknown child an opportunity to name at such prestigious tracks again in 1983. I additionally thank all of the followers for his or her great assist over time. Thanks all!”
Born in Germiston, South Africa, Denman confirmed an early curiosity in racing as an train rider however realized his abilities lay elsewhere, particularly the announcer sales space. He started calling races at 18 in 1971 in South Africa, and someday later he was seen by Californian Invoice Kolberg, who was in South Africa and caught Denman’s race calls. When Santa Anita Park was on the lookout for a brand new race caller, Kolberg gave racetrack officers a ringing endorsement of Denman, who was given an audition and handed it at age 31. He started calling races on the Oak Tree Affiliation Assembly in 1983.
However his distinctive accent, Denman broke the mould of conventional race callers with a welcoming and modern fashion. Whereas most American announcers caught to the fundamentals of calling the particular order of the races and lengths in entrance or behind horses throughout factors of name, Denman included commentary and evaluation into his race calls, and offered clues to the gang as to what horses had been in good place and people who had been falling again. And he created a signature stamp on the gate break for every race with “And away they go.” He additionally included catch phrases like “transferring like an specific prepare!” and “they’ll must sprout wings to catch him.”
“What Claude Monet did for water lilies with a brush and canvas, Trevor Denman did for the Thoroughbred together with his voice and a microphone over the course of a 40-plus-year profession because the race caller at Southern California’s iconic race tracks,” stated longtime business govt and present accomplice and senior advisor at Brown Advisory, Craig Fravel. “These of us lucky to have heard him work day-in and day-out at Del Mar, Hollywood Park, Pomona and Santa Anita had been handled to the artwork of storytelling that made the tempo, drama and dynamics of a race clear from begin to end even together with your eyes closed. His iconic calls within the 1989 Preakness Stakes with Sunday Silence and Simple Goer and the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Basic received unbelievably by Zenyatta will dwell on as good enhances to the greatness of the equine athletes on the monitor. That is an award well-deserved.”
At one time, Denman was calling the races at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park, Del Mar and Pomona (Fairplex) throughout a prolific annual schedule.
In 2009, whereas calling the Breeders’ Cup races for ESPN, he delivered to a global viewers one in every of his most memorable calls ever when the good race mare Zenyatta got here flying down the Santa Anita stretch within the Breeders’ Cup Basic, passing horses one after the other, and above the roar of the gang, intoning “That is un-be-LIEVABLE! Zenyatta! What a efficiency, one we’ll always remember!”
Denman known as the races at Santa Anita till 2015, and at Del Mar from 1984 by way of 2024. He introduced his retirement from Del Mar on March 6, 2025.
“This is likely one of the hardest choices I’ve ever made,” Denman stated to Del Mar publicity. “However my soul is telling me that now could be the time.”
Denman known as races for greater than 50 years. In addition to his in depth Southern California stint, he labored at tracks within the Bay Space and on the East Coast, in addition to calling the Breeders’ Cup races when ESPN had the TV rights to the championship occasion. Moreover, he offered the calls in a number of racing films and dozens of tv reveals. He at the moment lives together with his spouse, Robin, on a 500-acre farm within the Minnesota countryside.
