When Is The Hambletonian 2019

EAST RUTHERFORD — “So, you ready?”

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This is the question posed to me by Ken Warkentin, the silky-voiced announcer at Meadowlands Racetrack and Freehold Raceway who has called, by his account, 200,000 horse races of both the harness and thoroughbred variety all over the world, including in his native Canada.

By my account, I have called all of zero of them, and I’ve spent about 45 minutes with Warkentin, attempting to learn what it takes to call a race like the Hambletonian, the most prestigious harness race of all, which happens to be coming up on Saturday (his call will be on CBS Sports Network at 4 p.m. ET).

So, no, I’m not ready.

Luckily, I’m standing in front of a monitor in a Meadowlands hallway instead of in Warkentin’s booth a few stories above the track. Nobody, really, is listening.

Yet I’m still nervous all the same. I’ve always been fascinated with race callers because it looks impossible. How do you announce a race when there are so many names to remember — from horse to jockey to trainer to owner — while also keeping an eye on a full field and keeping it creative and exciting? And then how do you do that a dozen or more times in one day, or sometimes 50 races in 36 hours, as Warkentin estimated?

It never looks or sounds easy, and as I learned, it’s actually harder than you expect.

Pre-race

Warkentin grew up in Toronto with dreams of doing hockey play-by-play for his beloved Canadiens despite living in Maple Leafs country. So he figured if he started calling horse races, he might have an in to do hockey. While working toward a degree in broadcasting from Seneca College in Ontario, he began announcing races wherever he could, eventually landing at Flamboro Downs. When his neighbor got a satellite dish to watch races at the Meadowlands, he asked her to tape them on VHS so he could study the legendary voice of Tom Durkin.

He found he had a knack and a passion for the sport, and he put in the work — thousands upon thousands of races — to eventually land at the Meadowlands.

Warkentin handed me a packet he uses for a course when non-pros like myself want to try their hand (voice?) at his job. There’s the obvious: You want to be accurate and you want to speak with clarity. But he also emphasizes style.

“Are you smarmy, slick, cool, nervous?” he asks. “Be yourself. Define your style.”

Then, it’s all about coloring in around the information you’re providing. Yes, a horse is in the lead, but is it going too fast when it’s known for coming from behind? Is it a 99-to-1 longshot that’s shocking the world? How many different words can you use to describe the incredible action in front of you (“Dazzling! Astounding! Amazing!”)?

I decided I would to be on brand and try to crack a few dad jokes with the horse names, which seems easy enough.

(Narrator voice: It was not).

2020 Hambletonian

Warkentin also showed me his race program that he marks up and puts on a music stand in front of his window. He gets the proofs of the program days before races and does his research, scrawling driver silks and notes, such as winning streaks horses might be on, records they might set if they win, and so on.

It obviously helps that he knows the sport and can recite facts off the top of his head when he needs to. That’s where I ran into a considerable amount of trouble. Yes, I’ve watched Triple Crown thoroughbred races since I was a kid and got chills every time I heard Dave Johnson scream, “And DOWN the stretch they come!” (Johnson, as it happens, worked at the Meadowlands with Durkin.)

But as you’ll see, the lack of horse racing knowledge hindered me, along with — I don’t know — zero days of race-calling experience.

It’s post time

When Is The Hambletonian 2019 Breeders Cup

The monitor Warkentin put me in front of a monitor connected to a database with replays of recent races from tracks around the country. Sadly, he couldn’t give me the full experience he gets every week of calling a live race using binoculars, since races only happen twice a week — Fridays and Saturdays — at the Meadowlands. He would stand with me and point out what to call if I was tripped up, which I was extremely thankful for.

There was one advantage I thought I had: Harness racing is slower than thoroughbreds, and with the standardbreds pulling sulkeys (carts with drivers on them), maybe it wouldn’t be as hard as the 16 or 17 horses running in a pack at the Kentucky Derby. Races like the Hambletonian also start behind a moving gate on a truck, with the horses starting at a jog.

Warkentin pulled up race No. 2 from last Saturday’s action at the Meadowlands, hit “watch replay” and up popped a field of eight, ready to trot and pace.

And they’re off!

List Of Hambletonian Winners

The process: Name all the horses in the field as they settle in. Keep an eye on who’s in the lead, but then mention who’s making moves. Then, announce the splits if you can at various points, like the quarter pole, half-mile and three-quarters pole to see what the pace is. Then it’s all about the finish, where Warkentin advised me to mention the top-four finishers for those bettors who put money on a superfecta.

As you could have guessed, it was a disaster. I couldn’t see the numbers on the horses well at all and I had to look at Warkentin’s marked lineup to see which drivers were contending. I missed a racer in back making a move, and Warkentin interrupted my call filled with dead air and lots of “ummmm” by pointing out one standardbred was boxed in. I mis-named horses. I forgot that a 60-to-1 longshot was in contention, something I should have noted. At least I successfully described a “three-wide” situation — that’s three horses side-by-side — as it developed.

The second race he gave me had a shorter field of seven and included a horse named McThriller (who was “McThriller in the night,” of course), Highalator, who was in “high gear,” annd Dealt A Winner, who I mentioned would not be a winner since he was at the back of the pack.

But because I concentrated on the humor, I didn’t talk about the timing during the race or where the horses were on the track.

“The thing you seem to be struggling with is the vernacular,” Warkentin told me. “It’s the back stretch, the far turn, three-eighths to go. That’s something you have to get down over the years and then you don’t think about that.”

History Of The Hambletonian

He set up a replay of a third race from last week — a race of 3-year-old Fillies (so don’t give the horses male pronouns!) with nine horses. The result? You can watch for yourself below. Although I can’t show you the actual race, all you need to know is Millies Possession and Evident Beauty crossed the line together in a photo finish.

Yes, it’s still really bad. I still struggled to see which horse was which for most of the race. Despite the fact that the fillies weren’t, in fact, going at a “blistering pace” (oops!), I finally felt a little more comfortable as they came down the stretch.

The finish

There’s an X-factor that Warkentin pointed out after our lesson: Gravitas, especially in the face of a sport that isn’t as big as it once was. He remembered the days when there would be five or six days of races per week instead of the two at the Meadowlands now. His thrilling calls, he hopes, are a part of keeping the excitement going.

Although that doesn’t mean you turn the call of each and every race into the greatest moment in sports history, it’s something to keep in the back of your mind when you step to the mic.

“You are the spokesperson for the sport,” he said. “This is it. The sport of harness racing, the Meadowlands is it. That’s pretty big. That’s important.”