Larry Collmus, the longtime track announcer at Monmouth Park in New Jersey and race caller at Gulfstream Park in Florida since 2007, will be the new voice of the televised Triple Crown races, NBC Sports announced on Wednesday.
After 36 years in the saddle, Kerwin Clark will ride in his first Kentucky Derby this year. “It’s like a dream come true,” said Clark, who recently celebrated his 52nd birthday. “For something like this to happen at his point in my career, it is truly remarkable.”
Jockey Calvin Borel has won the Kentucky Derby three times in the last four years, but not until Wednesday did he line up a mount for this year’s race on May 7. Borel secured the assignment on Twice the Appeal, a horse he has never ridden and who only got into the Derby after scoring a 25-1 upset in the Sunland Derby with jockey Christian Santiago Reyes.
Silver Medallion, who finished fourth in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on Saturday, is not under consideration for the May 7 Kentucky Derby, a decision that affects the graded stakes earnings list and moves Anthony's Cross into the bubble at number 21
Handicapping the Louisville weather isn’t quite as difficult as picking the Derby superfecta, but it can fool anybody at any time. Kathy Ritvo was second-guessing herself in mid-morning Wednesday as rain pelted the roof of Barn 41, albeit not quite as hard as earlier, when she went ahead and sent her Derby prospect, Mucho Macho Man , out for a two-mile gallop around 7 a.m.
Trainer Todd Pletcher called an audible on Tuesday morning, sending out Uncle Mo shortly before 6 a.m. to work five furlongs in 1:01.69 over a sloppy track at Churchill Downs.
The likely starting field for the May 7 Kentucky Derby came into sharper focus Tuesday when Uncle Mo, the heavy Derby favorite until his loss in the Wood Memorial, had an encouraging workout at Churchill Downs, and the connections of both J P’s Gusto and The Factor finally made official what had long been expected, that neither would participate.
Looking to alleviate some stress from his life, Durkin will no longer be the voice of the Triple Crown, deciding not to seek a renewal of his contract with NBC Sports, with whom he has been affiliated for 27 years. Durkin, who has called the last 30 Triple Crown races on network television, will continue to work as the announcer at the New York Racing Association’s three tracks – Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga.
Jockey Ramon Dominguez will ride Gotham Stakes winner Stay Thirsty in the Kentucky Derby on May 7, owner Mike Repole said Tuesday.
J P’s Gusto on Tuesday joined The Factor as horses who were not expected to run in the Kentucky Derby and whose connections finally made that news official.
