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Collmus To Pinch Hit For Injured Denman During Del Mar Meet

Veteran announcer Larry Collmus, who stepped up to pinch hit for Del Mar's longtime caller Trevor Denman during the height of the COVID 19 crisis in 2020, has been called to the plate once more. He'll take over this time for the recently injured Denman for the majority of the seaside track's upcoming fall race meet starting Wednesday, November 3.

Denman, 68, suffered a painful herniated disc in his back earlier this week at his home in Minnesota when he slipped and tumbled down the stairs of his deck which were wet from early morning dew. He was readying to drive to Del Mar to follow up his return to calling at the seaside track this past summer, but his injury makes it all but impossible for him to travel.

Collmus, 55, was going to be at Del Mar anyway next week for his regular role as NBC's caller for the Breeders' Cup, which will be presented for the second time at Del Mar on Friday, November 5 and Saturday, November 6. He's now agreed to take on the Del Mar role from opening day right though the season's finish on Sunday, November 28 with the exception of three days (November 12-14) when he'll be on a previously planned holiday.

Collmus, who has called races for 37 years and for the past decade has been the voice of not only the Breeders' Cup but also the Triple Crown races on NBC, drew rave reviews for his Del Mar debut last year at both its summer and fall meets. He'll be a busy man on the two Breeders' Cup Days when he'll call five undercard races and five Breeders' Cup races Friday, then come back Saturday to be the voice for three more undercard events and nine BC races, including the $6-million Breeders' Cup Classic.

Denman had celebrated his 50th year of race calling this past summer and he told Del Mar's CEO Joe Harper in his explanatory message that he was “devastated” by this latest turn of events.

“I have never missed a day's racing in 50 years and now I have had to miss racing two years in a row because of the virus and this freak accident,” he said. “I am devastated, but this is completely out of my control.”

Del Mar will call on its back-up announcer John Lies to handle the three days that Collmus will be away. Lies has called at various racetracks around the country and has filled in smartly at Del Mar on several occasions previously.

First post daily at Del Mar will be 12:30 p.m. for the majority of the meeting. For the Breeders' Cup days it will be 11:55 a.m. on Friday and 10:15 a.m. on Saturday. The one other exception is Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 25, when it will be 11 a.m.

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Collmus Steps in for Denman at Del Mar

Larry Collmus, who stepped up to pinch hit for Del Mar's longtime caller Trevor Denman during the height of the COVID 19 crisis in 2020, will take over for the recently injured Denman for the majority of the track's upcoming fall race meet starting Nov. 3. Denman, 68, suffered a herniated disc in his back earlier this week after a fall at his home in Minnesota. Collmus, who will cover the Breeders' Cup for NBC at Del Mar, will take over calling duties at Del Mar though closing day Nov. 28, with the exception of three days (Nov. 12-14) when he'll be on a previously planned holiday.

“I have never missed a day's racing in 50 years and now I have had to miss racing two years in a row because of the virus and this freak accident,” Denman said. “I am devastated, but this is completely out of my control.”

Del Mar will call on John Lies to handle the three days that Collmus will be away.

The post Collmus Steps in for Denman at Del Mar appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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‘Very Special Mare’ Got Stormy Records Final Breeze For Breeders’ Cup Mile

On a crisp, fall morning beneath the Twin Spires, $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile (Grade 1) contender Got Stormy along with $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) competitor Juju's Map logged their final works at Churchill Downs on Friday prior to the world championship event at Del Mar on Nov. 5-6.

Owned by My Racehorse Stable and Spendthrift Farm, Got Stormy had her final career breeze at 7:30 a.m. (all times Eastern) under jockey Declan Carroll. The duo cruised a half-mile in :48.60. Two hours earlier, Albaugh Family Stables' Juju's Map clipped five furlongs in :59.60 with jockey Florent Geroux in the saddle outside of stablemate Matera (five furlongs, :59.80).

Got Stormy, a multiple Grade 1-winning mare by Get Stormy, finished second in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita.

“We had some rain in the area but the track was really good so I decided to move her work up a day,” trainer Mark Casse's assistant David Carroll said. “Sometimes you see with older mares that they may take a step back from their younger campaigns but she has been doing great. I'm really excited the way she's coming into the Breeders' Cup. She's a very special mare to all of us.”

Got Stormy, along with about 12 other locally-based Breeders' Cup contenders, will ship to Del Mar on Monday.

Juju's Map completed her major preparation for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies for trainer Brad Cox. A recent winner of the $400,000 Alcibiades (G1) at Keeneland, Juju's Map is one of six local contenders for Cox.

“Today's work was with an older horse in Matera,” Cox said. “She's a stakes winner in her own right so she's a pretty tough workmate. 'Juju' sat just off her and maybe broke about a length behind. She was well in hand throughout the work and it was exactly what we were looking for at this stage. This filly seemed to improve a little bit since her win in the Alcibiades, which is what these horses need to do this time of year leading into the Breeders' Cup.”

Cox won the 2019 Juvenile Fillies with British Idiom but Geroux will be searching for his first victory in the race.

“She worked a really solid five furlongs and it was a really nice move being a week out from the race,” Geroux said. “She was able to stay relaxed throughout the work, which was important when you're working in company. She seems to be coming into the race in great shape.”

There are six Breeders' Cup contenders scheduled to work Saturday morning at Churchill Downs: Essential Quality (Classic), Knicks Go (Classic), Shedaresthedevil (Distaff), Rattle N Roll (Juvenile), Ready to Purrform (Juvenile Turf) and Turnerloose (Juvenile Fillies Turf).

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Lane’s End To Auction Custom Surfboards For PDJF

Lane's End, one of the world's premier Thoroughbred farms, is thinking beyond the bluegrass for this year's Breeders' Cup with a series of custom surfboards that's equal parts California and Kentucky.

Created in partnership with ad agency Cornett (Lexington, Ky.) and Chilli Surfboards (Torrance, Calif.), these 24 handcrafted surfboards are individually designed to highlight the entire Lane's End roster of world-class stallions.

The unique boards will be on public display at Breeders' Cup partner hotels in the Del Mar area—Hyatt Regency, Fairmont Grand, Lodge at Torrey Pines, and L'Auberge—as well as Del Mar Racetrack Nov. 3-6.

During this time, the boards will be sold to the highest bidders via live online auction and 100 percent of proceeds will be donated to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, an independent charitable organization that provides financial assistance to jockeys who have suffered catastrophic on-track injuries.

“This cause has been one of the major focuses of my parents' philanthropy,” said Bill Farish of Lane's End Farm. “It's been underfunded for a long time and it's very important to us that we support the often forgotten jockeys who risk their lives for our entertainment and our business.”

As part of the activation, TVG will air a segment filmed in Los Angeles featuring the custom Lane's End surfboards and some of racing's most respected jockeys. Mike Smith, Joe Bravo and Drayden Van Dyke will all receive a surfing lesson from Paul Naret of Chilli Surfboards. Del Mar Racetrack is known around the world as the track “Where the Turf Meets the Surf.” What better way to pay homage to that slogan and the legacy of Lane's End farm than with custom surfboards during the world championships of racing.

Those interested in bidding on the Lane's End custom surfboards benefitting the PDJF can do so at www.lanesend.com/auction

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