Denman skipping Del Mar summer meet; Collmus to call races

Trevor Denman, the popular and influential racecaller who has been at the helm at Del Mar since 1984, will miss this summer’s meeting out of an abundance of caution related to the coronavirus pandemic, as he is choosing not to travel from his home in Minnesota, which he does every year for the summer and fall meets.

Fortunately for Del Mar, a top free agent was available to pinch hit.

Larry Collmus, who for the past five summers had called the races at Saratoga and for the past nine years has been the racecaller for NBC Sports, will fill in for Denman during the summer meeting, which opens July 10, the track announced Wednesday.

“I’ve known Trevor for more than three decades. I’m happy to be able to pinch hit for him for when he needed to take this time off,” Collmus said in a telephone interview.

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Denman and his wife, Robin, make their regular home on a farm in Minnesota. Denman is planning on returning for the fall meeting beginning Oct. 31, the track said in a press release Wednesday.

“When Trevor told us of his situation, we naturally had to respect what he was feeling,” Josh Rubinstein, Del Mar’s president and chief operating officer, said in the release. “We immediately worked up a short list of possible replacements, and Larry was the man we zeroed in on. Happily, he said he was available and would be delighted to call our meet.”

Denman took over for Harry Henson in 1984. Henson called at Del Mar beginning in 1968, replacing Joe Hernandez, who is best known as the long-time announcer at Santa Anita but called at Del Mar for nearly three decades, through 1967.

Collmus, 53, began calling races at 18 in his native Maryland. Prior to his stint in New York, where he called at Belmont Park and Aqueduct in addition to Saratoga, he called at such major tracks at Gulfstream Park, Monmouth Park, and Churchill Downs. Early in his career, he called three years in Northern California at Golden Gate Fields, which is where he first met Denman in 1988. The only time Collmus has called races at Del Mar was at the 2017 Breeders’ Cup, but that was for television only.

Del Mar is scheduled to open July 10. The track will run three days a week, Friday through Sunday, with the exception of closing day, Labor Day, Sept. 7.

Collmus will miss the final week of the meet owing to having to call the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5 for NBC.