Legendary announcer Tom Durkin will return to the booth for the first time since 2014 to call this year's Belmont Stakes for the Fox Sports television broadcast, The Athletic reports.
Fox Sports secured the broadcast rights for the third leg of the Triple Crown for the next eight years, taking over from NBC. Durkin said he was approached by Fox Sports executives Mike Mulvihill and Pete Macheska at last year's Belmont Stakes about calling the race when the network picked up the broadcast, and after a week of deliberation, he took the deal.
“I really hadn't given it that much thought until they raised the possibility,” Durkin told The Athletic. “I was pretty good retired, but I didn't have many challenges in my life. Calling races was the driving force of my adult life. That was my identity. It's what I did until I didn't. So I needed a challenge.”
Durkin told The Athletic that he is only contracted for the Belmont, and he did not have visions of returning to announcing full-time, though the Belmont could spark other temporary appearances down the road. Performance anxiety was a significant factor toward Durkin's retirement, and he said he has already begun self-hypnosis therapy to help manage the stress.
Durkin, 72, was the announcer for NBC's broadcast of the Triple Crown from 2001 to 2010, and he was in the booth for every Breeders' Cup card from its inaugural event in 1984 to 2005. He spent the final 24 years of his 43-year career calling the races as the lead announcer on the NYRA circuit.
Read more at The Athletic.
The post ‘I Needed A Challenge’: Tom Durkin Returning To Announcer’s Booth For Fox Sports’ Belmont Stakes Broadcast appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
