Denman wins Special Eclipse for Career Excellence

Trevor Denman’s world today is a long way from the California tracks where he spent decades developing a reputation as a ground-breaking race caller.

Denman’s home is a farm in southern Minnesota, about 75 miles south of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

“You should see my farm,” he said in a weekend interview, looking onto the property. “There’s a forest line over there and small mountains to my left. I’ve got a mile-long driveway. This is heaven.”

Denman, who announced his retirement last March, called his final race at Del Mar in September 2024. While he is away from racing on a daily basis, Denman’s influence on the sport is unwavering.

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For his lifetime of accomplishments, Denman will be recognized at the Eclipse Awards in Florida on Jan. 22 with a Special Eclipse Award for Career Excellence, an honor announced on Monday.

Denman said the distinction came as a surprise.

“Wow. I can’t overstate how I felt,” he said. “It was the perfect fit for 53 years of calling races. You couldn’t ask for anything better. It’s a coveted prize.

“Once they give it you, that’s it. It’s a fitting end to a career. Just a little bit of respect goes a long way.”

Denman had more than a decade of experience calling races in South Africa before moving to California in 1983. He started at Del Mar in 1984 and became Santa Anita’s full-time announcer for the 1984-85 winter-spring meeting, a position he held through the fall of 2015.

Through the 1980s and into the early 1990s, Denman’s popularity soared courtesy of his style of not only describing the position of the runners, but also adding in-race commentary of how a race developed. Countless younger announcers adopted similar habits.

In the 1990s, Denman was at his most active. He called races at all three major Southern California tracks, including Hollywood Park, and the Los Angeles County Fair meeting at Fairplex Park in Pomona. He worked briefly in the Bay Area and on the East Coast early in his career.

Denman, 73, took fewer assignments in the early 2020s before deciding to retire. He called only at the Del Mar summer meetings in his final seasons.

In early 2025, Denman spoke with his wife, Robin, before finalizing his plans to retire.

“Obviously, you’re thinking about it for the last few years,” he said. “You’ve got to think about it.

“I said to Robin, ‘The time is right. I don’t want to hang on too long.’

“I had nothing to prove. I can say it happened almost overnight. I was thinking very hard and she said, ‘Do it.’ ”

Denman’s farm is remote enough that he is seven miles from a gas station and farther from a small town with more facilities, he said. Occasionally, the Denmans get snowed in at this time of year.

Denman follows racing as well as his other sporting interest, soccer. There will be plenty of time this summer to watch the World Cup across North America. By then, the mantle at home will include a coveted Eclipse Award.

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