Trevor Denman

Infobox sports announcer
name = Trevor Denman

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sport(s) = Thoroughbred horse racing

Trevor Denman (24 September 1952 in Germiston, Gauteng, South Africa) is an American sportscaster and public-address announcer specializing in Thoroughbred horse racing. A part-time jockey and exercise rider, he started as a race caller in his native South Africa in 1971 at age 18.

He is the current race caller at Santa Anita Park, Del Mar Racetrack and the Los Angeles County Fair (Fairplex) in southern California, and was the former announcer at Pimlico Race Course, Laurel Park Racecourse and Hollywood Park Racetrack.

Denman, who began calling races in North America in 1983 after announcing in his native country, is best known for the phrase "Aaand awaay they go...", spoken as the horses emerge from the starting gate.

Some other phrases that Denman has coined are very popular with racing fans, such as "scraping the paint", used to describe a horse who is saving ground (running very close to the inner rail). Another is "they would need to sprout "wings" to catch ______ ..." when a horse is leading by an insurmountable margin in the stretch. A similar phrase used in the same context is "he's [or she's] out here moving like a winner..." "______ looks like he jumped in at the quarter pole..." is used when a horse comes from far back and is running so fast as to give the impression that he has only just started to run.

He owns a three-year old filly in South Africa, named Top Twenty, trained by Paul Lafferty.

In the 1989 comedy movie "Let It Ride" starring Richard Dreyfuss, Denman is the track announcer that is heard in many of the racetrack scenes that took place at Hialeah Park in Hialeah, Florida.

Denman is the current voice of the Breeders' Cup, aired now on ESPN instead of its original 'home' NBC Sports for the first 22 years. He replaced Tom Durkin who had been the race caller since the inception.

Denman was the unnamed race announcer in the animated television show The Simpson's episode #239, aired originally in February 2000, entitled "Saddlesore Galactica".

References

* [http://www.bloodhorse.com/talkinhorses/TD103006.asp BloodHorse Magazine "Talkin' Horse with Trevor Denman" November 30, 2006]
* [http://www.ntra.com/content.aspx?type=feature&id=14687 August 19, 2005 "Horseplayer" magazine interview with Trevor Denman and Tom Durkin at the NTRA]