Loiselle’s last race call marks end of an era

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – After 29 years and more than 55,000 race calls, Dan Loiselle will call his final race Sunday at Woodbine.

The $125,000 Lady Angela Stakes, race 4 on the program, will be Loiselle’s final call. Loiselle will present the trophy to the winning connections after the race and will greet fans on the second-floor grandstand during a ceremonial cake-cutting. Dawn Lupul will call the remainder of Sunday’s card, and Robert Geller, formerly the track announcer at Emerald Downs, will be the permanent replacement.

Loiselle’s wife, Wendy, Woodbine Entertainment Group’s senior manager of corporate social responsibility, also is retiring, and the couple is looking forward to taking a summer holiday.

“I’m feeling great,” Dan Loiselle said. “Wendy is leaving the same time as me, which is fantastic. Neither one of us had had a summer holiday for 30 years. We’ve got plans to travel and for her and me to not have any alarm clocks. We’re both pretty excited about it all.”

Loiselle, 63, has been around horse racing his whole life. While growing up in Scarborough, Ontario, Loiselle’s grandfather and both of his parents worked at Greenwood Racetrack, which led to plenty of afternoons at the races.

“I was like a rink rat,” Loiselle said. “I can never remember not being around the racetrack.”

From a young age, Loiselle knew he wanted to be a track announcer. As a 10-year-old, Loiselle recalls hauling a large tape recorder above the announcer’s booth at Greenwood to call races himself.

“I just always had an affinity for the microphone,” Loiselle said.

At age 15, Loiselle left school and began working at the track full time. He started in the Standardbred division as a chart-caller while also working in the racing office taking entries, and by 17, he became the backup Standardbred announcer to Jack Stephans. Loiselle got to call his fair share of big Standardbred races when Stephans would do color commentary for television broadcasts.

“I got to call North America Cups and Breeders Crowns and Maple Leaf Trots and Canadian Pacing Derbies,” Loiselle said. “I feel terribly fortunate as I reflect now to be able to call not only the greatest Thoroughbred races in this country but the greatest Standardbred races as well.”

Loiselle became Woodbine’s Thoroughbred track announcer in July 1986, replacing Daryl Wells Sr., who had been the track’s only Thoroughbred announcer. Loiselle has high praise for his predecessor, who began calling races at Greenwood in the 1950s.

“To me, Daryl Wells was Wayne Gretzky, and here comes this harness kid to replace Wayne Gretzky,” Loiselle said. “I’m glad the Internet wasn’t around then because any semblance of self-esteem I had would have eroded very quickly on the Internet because I replaced a legend.”

Loiselle had only called a handful of Thoroughbred races to that point, but over the years, he developed his own style, including his catchphrase, “picture time,” when a photo finish occurs.

“I think when you start calling races, you listen to a lot of other announcers and grab bits and pieces off of them all, but eventually your style evolves, and mine did, too,” he said. “I like to be a little descriptive and editorialize a little. I like to inject a little humor once in a while. I think with the humor, you walk a fine line. People are down there betting money, and they don’t want some comedian up there when they’re tearing up $100 win tickets.”

Loiselle has had many memorable calls over the years and was in the booth to witness five Canadian Triple Crown winners. Some of Loiselle’s favorite memories include calling the Breeders’ Cup undercard in 1996 and 28 editions of the Queen’s Plate.

“There’s no day like [Queen’s Plate Day],” Loiselle said. “It’s like Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final. You get out of your car first thing in the morning, and there’s electricity in the air.”

Despite leaving the booth Sunday, Loiselle said he won’t be leaving the track for good.

“I’m not going away, I’m just not going to be here 133 days a year,” he said. “This has been a big part of my life. It will be nice to go into the walking ring, go and sit in the grandstand and have a beer with some friends, which I never get to do without the pressure of calling Thoroughbred races.”