Trevor Denman, a leading United States racing commentator, visited South Africa recently. Born in Johannesburg and bred in Kwazulu-Natal, this legend of the sport started calling races at the Greyville, Clairwood and Scottsville in the late 60`s. He was offered a plum position at a leading racing track in the United States in 1983 and has been there ever since. Denman, a vegan, is married to Robin for 18 years. SAHorseracing.COM`s Ash Maharaj spent some time with Denman recapping his life and times.

AM: Trevor thanks for taking the time to speak to us. How did you get into the game?

TD: It was actually Clive Barker who introduced me to the game, telling me that I should be a jockey. I started going to Clairwood on the backstretch, the old two furlong pole as a kid and from there, of course, I wanted to be a jockey. As you know, you had to go to the jockey`s academy and when I was 14, I was tiny but they didn`t take me and it turned out correct. I am now 5ft 7in, which is pretty big for jockey. So since they couldn`t take me, the next best thing was for me to become an announcer. I was lucky enough to have a friend who had a flat overlooking Greyville and I use to go up there and call the races into a tape recorder. So then I put together a tape and took it to Greyville. At first they said no, but I was very, very fortunate to speak to a guy who was very far sighted, his name was Gerald Lee. He used to run Greyville at the time and Gerald Lee said, "look I`ll keep you on, but right now we have two competent announcers and we got no place for you". So the one Peter (Duffield) left one day and they were struck a bit. So they called me and asked if I was interested and obviously I was. So they said that I should come to Clairwood on Saturday and call some races into a tape recorder and we will take it from there. So on my first day, Mr. Lee came to me and said that I was up for the seventh race, live on the P.A. It was great because I had no time to get nervous or anything. If he said to me that I had to call a race the next Saturday, I wouldn`t have slept that whole week.

AM: Do you remember the race?

TD: Yes, I still remember the race clearly, two horses called Charm School and New Gold, Bertie Hayden and Johnny McCreedy, funny, I can remember the very first race but if you ask me what won the second race and I`ll have no clue.

AM: Did they take you on after that?

TD: I was given a trial for a couple of weeks and they gave me the job, as an assistant to Ernie Duffield. I was 18 then and when I was 23 he left and I become the number one announcer for Natal Racing clubs. 

AM: So how did you get to commentate in America?

TD: I got a very lucky break. I saw that there was an international race in San Francisco with jockeys from all around the world. So I said to them, look, if you getting the jockeys, why not get an announcer. So this was a bit a of a curve ball to them, they didn`t hear this kind of thing before. They said, "we not going to pay you and we not going to fly you over, if you get here, we`ll let you call a race"

AM: How did you initially get into contact with the Americans?

TD: I just called them on the telephone. I knew about it because I used to get a weekly magazine from America and that`s where I found them. Bay Meadows was the racetrack of this race. I called two races and when I was on my way back to South Africa, where I met the right people and I got to call a race. So the next day, I went racing as a fan and a guy came up to me and said that if I wanted to call another race I could. So two weeks later when I got back to South Africa, I got a letter from Santa Anita saying that if ever I wanted a job in the United States, it was mine. I was 31 then.

AM: Tell us about the early days in the U.S?

TD: I started out as the track announcer for two meetings and an assistant for another meet. Then, the track announcer left and I got the full job, which was Del Mar, Santa Anita, and Oak Tree. These were the three tracks at the time and subsequently I got Hollywood Park as well. I then dominated all Los Angeles race calling for the next 5 years but it is an extremely hard schedule. It was 9 races a day, 10 on the weekend, and it`s 5 days a week and once a month, 6 days a week. At Del Mar, where they race for 7 weeks, its six days a week, was really telling.

AM: How did you cope with the studying of colours and horses?

TD: You can`t study them at night, they come on track and you do them, it`s hard hitting. So, when I did all four tracks I got two weeks a year off, that`s heading for burnout. So I dropped Hollywood Park in 1996 and I bought a farm in Minnesota. My wife Robin is Minnesotan and I bought a 115-acre farm, a dairy farm, but I don`t run it, I just rent some cows on it. So I live 6 months of the year on that farm and 6 months in Los Angeles.

A.M: So how is your overall schedule?

T.D:  I work from Dec 26 to April 26 at Santa Anita, and then I don`t work until July 26th. Then, it`s Del Mar until Sept 6th for 7 weeks. Then it`s back to Santa Anita for 6 weeks. Then I am off again from the first week in November to Dec 26.

A.M: Do you have other commentators working with you?

T.D: In Los Angeles it`s only me. We have a quarter horse track and if anything happened to me, we`ll call him otherwise we call the two radio announcers who work on track. I`ve never had a back up.

A.M: The main track in your portfolio?

T.D: Santa Anita and then Del Mar.

A.M: So which are the biggest tracks in America?

T.D: Santa Anita, Belmont Park, Del Mar, Aqueduct, Gulfstream Park, Arlington (Chicago), Hollywood Park, Saratoga then Keenland in that order.

A.M: Are you planning to come back to South Africa?

T.D: Not permanently, but I have some good friends here led by the Lafferty gang. When you party with Lafferty you have some good memories. to go back and talk about.

A.M: So what`s your impression of South Africa in general?

T.D: I enjoy South Africa, the kids (25`s and under), they really are nice kids, they clean cut and intelligent. It`s really positive.

A.M: What do you think of the structure of racing in South Africa?

T.D: You know, it`s suffered all over the world. Other than Australia, England, Ireland and France is has gone downhill from what we knew it as. I really believe racing is an anachronism, its not going to die in our life time but definitely 100 years from now, people might say, "What was horseracing?" like they say, "What was a typewriter?" The reason is that they`re just too many other sports and people are not associated with the horse anymore. When horseracing peaked in the late 1800 and early 1900, people knew horses; they relied on them.

A.M: Horses then are like cars now?

T.D: Exactly, its a good example, we are not a horse related population, look at the popularity of Formula 1 motor racing, the younger generation can easily associate with cars.

A.M: Do you not feel that racing will go on to TV completely with the racetrack just there for the actual races?

T.D: It`s almost there already. Everything is TV; even in our profession we got to concentrate much harder on colours as we got to mention colours on TV. They (viewers) look for the colours.

A.M: Is TV good for racing?

T.D: From a betting and viewing point of view its so much easier, who wouldn`t rather sit at home and watch. But, we are losing the horse sense and the atmosphere at the track.

A.M: When last did you call the July?

T.D: 1983, when Tecla Bluff won the race and that was the last July I saw.

A.M: Do you think SA horses have taken a big step forward or were we always this good all along?

T.D: I believe they have taken a big step forward. I can talk with authority from 1963, the year of Sea Cottage; he was a world-class horse. Colorado King went to Los Angeles and broke a world record, Bold Tropic won a Grade 1 at Santa Anita, and those were world-class horses.

A.M: What do you think of the quality of our bloodlines and horses recently?

T.D: I think the quality is definitely better than it was 10-20 years ago. There is lots of American influence in the pedigrees now. I think Horse Chestnut was world class, he was really, really good. Ipi Tombe was world class and Spook Express did well in that Breeder`s Cup when she was second. Barry Irwin and Team Valor have done a lot for South African racing. They have helped S.A racing and got Americans interested in S.A racing.

A.M: Do the American`s know about our racing?

T.D: Unfortunately, the fans don`t but the breeders do. This means that if the breeders know about the racing then the owners know.

A.M: Coming back to Horse Chestnut, how good was he?

T.D: The one run he had in America was smashing and I know the jockey Mike Smith well and he was very impressed. He is a veteran rider and he rode Holy Bull, one of the best horses ever, and he really rated Horse Chestnut. It was tragedy that he broke down. He rated Horse Chestnut as one of the best he had ridden. If he went to the Breeder`s Cup, he would have been one of the top 4 choices.

A.M: He was in Dubai Millennium`s year, they would have matched up in the World Cup, you think he would have been competitive?

T.D: He would have definitely been competitive. He was definitely in Dubai Millenniums bracket. He would have made him run.

A.M: Have you seen any good horses since you`ve been down?

T.D: I haven`t seen any horses of world-class calibre right now. There have been a lot of horses taken out of SA recently.

A.M: The best horse you`ve called home? 

T.D: Perhaps, John Henry back in 1983, after that there are so many good horses; Sunday Silence, Alysheba, Cigar, Easygoer, Precisionist etc etc. Sunday Silence was absolutely top class but he retired young. I`d have to go with Sunday Silence.

A.M: Whom would you rate as the top commentators worldwide?

T.D: In America, Tom Durkin and Michael Wrona are tops but there are like 40-50 commentators in American in total. Jim McGrath is the best in England. In SA, Clyde Basel is very good. Sheldon and Craig Peters sound very much alike and they are good. S.A commentators could hold their own anywhere. Two things, they might need in S.A is variety and competition amongst commentators.

A.M: Where do you see South African racing in 10 years?

T.D: I see them being in the same place as they are in now. We are not going to see big crowds coming back to the track; it`s the same situation as in America. The bloodstock has improved; the jockeys and trainers are the same as when I knew it. The horse quality has improved a lot. I don`t see anything folding or rocketing forward. It`s a mile an a half race and they have just gone past the three quarter pole and they coming to the quarter pole and nothings going to change in between, they are just going to go the same.

A.M: Trevor, it`s been lovely talking to you and we hope to see you back in S.A soon.