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Larry Collmus To Move Into Expanded Role With TVG; International Expert Adam McGrath Joins Roster

After joining the TVG broadcast team for select days this summer, Larry Collmus will move into an expanded role at America's horse racing network. Best known as the voice of the Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup on NBC, Collmus will be covering the races from Gulfstream Park this winter as well as joining in on additional broadcasts.

“I have really enjoyed working with the great folks at TVG and doing something new besides race calling has been a fun experience,” said Collmus. “I'm looking forward to expanding this relationship and also returning to Gulfstream where I called races for ten years. It'll be a fun – and warm – winter!”

In addition to his time at Gulfstream Park from 2006 through 2017, Collmus has been the track announcer at major tracks across the country including the NYRA circuit, Monmouth Park and Del Mar, and has worked as the race caller for NBC Sports' coverage of the Triple Crown since 2011 and the Breeders' Cup since 2012. He will be reprising his role as the announcer for the Breeders' Cup which will be held at Del Mar November 5-6.

International expert Adam McGrath, formerly a host at Racing.com with years of experience in Australia, has also joined the TVG talent roster and will be adding his expert insights into coverage of international racing. McGrath currently resides in Ohio but will be relocating to Los Angeles in the new year.

“We are thrilled to continue to bring world class talent to expand our roster,” said Kevin Grigsby, TVG Executive Producer. “Larry brought so much to our coverage this summer at Monmouth Park and I am looking forward to watching his insights from Gulfstream Park and Andrew's global expertise in our coverage of international racing.”

Headquartered in Los Angeles, TVG, a FanDuel Group company, is one of the largest legal online gaming services in the US, processing more than $2 billion in horse racing wagers annually from residents of 34 US states. TVG network airs races from more than 150 racetracks worldwide and is among the most widely distributed horseracing networks in the world, operating TVG and TVG2 in more than 50 million US homes and in HD on Spectrum and DirecTV. The company has demonstrated its commitment to the racing industry, its horse owners, tracks and fans through sponsorship of several prominent races including the TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile, the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile, the TVG.com Haskell Invitational and the TVG Pacific Classic. For more information about TVG, visit: tvg.com.

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Jumpers Return To Virginia: International Gold Cup Highlights Great Meadow Card

For the third weekend this month, the jumpers return to Virginia to compete for purses and prestige, this time in the second richest card on the National Steeplechase Association Fall calendar.

This Saturday's stop, at Great Meadow Race Course in The Plains, has drawn 66 entries for eight races. Fans attending the races will be able to bet on their favorites as the meet will offer on-site pari-mutuel wagering. Overall, $305,000 in purses are up for grabs; that's a significant boost vs. the $230,000 offered at last year's event, which was severely impacted by Covid-19. And if the voice of the announcer calling the races at Great Meadow sounds familiar, you've got a good ear. Larry Collmus, the voice of the Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup will be handling the duties once again, as he did at Far Hills last week.

Six of Saturday's races will be run over hurdles, all at 2 ⅛ miles, the headliner being the Grade 2 $75,000 David L. “Zeke” Ferguson Stakes. The $25,000 maiden hurdle, the first race of the day, drew so many entries that it was split into two divisions. Besides the stake and maiden contests, other hurdle events include an allowance event for non-winners of two; a maiden claimer; and an optional claiming handicap for horses rated at 120 or less. The eponymous International Gold Cup timber stakes, contested at 3 ½ miles for a purse of $75,000, has drawn a field of five, four of whom are stakes winners. Five horses were entered in the $30,000 Steeplethon Stakes over mixed obstacles, including Armata Stable's New Member and Silverton Hill's Bodes Well, who ran a thrilling one-two at a similar event at the Virginia Fall Races in Middleburg two weeks ago.

In the Gold Cup, Hall of Famer Jack Fisher saddles Storm Team for his mother-in-law, Sheila Williams, and Northwoods Stable, and Schoodic, who runs in the colors of Jack's mom, Dolly Fisher. Storm Team, an accomplished seven-year-old son of Candy Ride who has earned more than a quarter-million dollars in his career, comes into the race off of his first timber stakes score, in the National Sporting Library & Museum Cup two weeks ago at Middleburg, where he defeated Leipers Fork Steeplechasers' Tomgarrow by five lengths. Since switching to timber, Tomgarrow, who is trained by leading conditioner Leslie Young, has a maiden victory and four straight seconds. He was the runner up in May's Virginia Gold Cup, also at Great Meadow. The Gold Cup winner that day, Schoodic, is a multiple stakes winner of nearly a half-million dollars. He's seven for 12 with three seconds over timber, and captured the International Gold Cup in 2019. He was beaten a head on Oct. 9 by arch rival Mystic Strike in the Genesee Valley Hunt Cup. Rounding out the field are Kiplin Hall's Renegade River, winner of the Willowdale Steeplechase in April, and Frank Bonsal's Stand Down, winner of the 2018 Pennsylvania Hunt Cup. Both Renegade River and Stand Down ran against Storm Team at Middleburg, but proved no match.

In the Ferguson, six horses will face starter Graham Alcott, led by Hudson River Farm's stakes winner Iranistan, coming off a layoff of more than a year following two straight handicap triumphs at Saratoga in 2020. Iranistan prepped for the Ferguson with a win on the flat at Shawan Downs in September. Sharon Sheppard's Redicean, a novice stakes winner who has also hit the board multiple times in Grade 1 competition, recently finished far back in third to powerhouses The Mean Queen and Snap Decision in the Lonesome Glory at Belmont Park.

Owner Irv Naylor sends out Bedrock, who finished third, beaten less than a half length, in the David Semmes Memorial Stakes over the Great Meadow course in May. Sempre Medici, who used be in the Naylor Stable but now runs for Straylight Racing, steps up to stakes competition for the first time in two years. Gill Johnston's Brianbakescookies took the Queens Cup novice stakes in Mineral Springs, N.C., in April, but has struggled in two starts in open stakes competition since then.

Completing the field is Chosen Mate, who came to the U.S. to run in last Saturday's American Grand National at Far Hills for then-owner Meadow Run Farm and Irish trainer Gordon Elliott. A distant fourth at Far Hills to The Mean Queen and Snap Decision, Chosen Mate, a winner at Cheltenham in 2020, returns in the colors of Armata Stable and new trainer Ricky Hendriks.

For all the entries, click here.

Post time for the races is 12:30 p.m., and you can watch via live stream from the NSA website. The live stream is sponsored by Brown Advisory, the Temple Gwathmey Steeplechase Foundation, Charleston's Post & Courier, and the Virginia Equine Alliance.

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Far Hills’ Centennial Race Meeting To Be Featured On America’s Day At The Races

For its centennial running on Oct. 16, 2021, the Far Hills Race Meeting will be featured on Saturday's edition of America's Day at the Races, the acclaimed national television show produced by the New York Racing Association (NYRA). The not-for-profit corporation operates the three largest thoroughbred horse racing tracks in New York, and appears on the networks of FOX Sports.

FS2 will present live coverage starting at 12:30 p.m. ET and concluding at 3:30 p.m. ET—marking the first time the event will be featured on FOX Sports.

“We're so excited to share the thrills and majesty of steeplechase with a national audience,” said Guy Torsilieri, chairman of the Far Hills Race Meeting. “While cancelling last year's race was disappointing, being able to celebrate our centennial with a nationwide audience is even more amazing than we could have ever hoped.”

Larry Collmus, the famed announcer for the Triple Crown and Breeder's Cup, will be calling the races for the running of the Far Hills Race Meeting. Collmus called for NBC on June 6, 2015, when American Pharoah won the 147th running of the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

The 100th celebration of the Far Hills Race Meeting will be the richest of the year on the National Steeplechase Association tour, with $400,000 in total purses for its six races, the highlight of which is the $150,000 Grand National, or race 3.

For more information on the Far Hills Race Meeting, visit farhillsrace.org.

About Far Hills Race Meeting
Far Hills Race Meeting is New Jersey's premier social and sporting event. For a century, the annual gathering has attracted a large fan base with audiences locally, nationally and globally who return, year after year, to watch the world's finest steeplechases, reconnect with family and friends, network, support worthy causes and make memories to last a lifetime. Over the years, Far Hills Race Meeting has given more than $18 million to support local health-care organizations. For more information, visit www.farhillsrace.org.

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Beat Ray At Del Mar: Collmus Can Call Winners, But Can He Pick ‘Em?

Track announcer Larry Collmus makes a brief stopover in Del Mar, where he called both the summer and fall meets last year in the absence of Trevor Denman and will return Nov. 5-6 to call this year's Breeders' Cup world championships for NBC Sports.

Collmus didn't come from his New Jersey home to the seaside town just for its world famous fish tacos or Del Mar-garitas. He's doing some work for TVG and was wrangled into being guest handicapper in the latest edition of the Beat Ray Beach Boss Contest, a free-to-enter competition where players wager a mythical $100 each day during the summer meet. When the season ends on Labor Day, the player with the biggest bankroll wins two VIP tickets to the Breeders' Cup. Details and registration can be found here.

Collmus joined TV host and racing analyst Michelle Yu and Paulick in a live stream on Youtube on Friday to analyze Saturday's contest race, the 1 3/8-mile CTT and TOC Stakes on the turf. We won't say who Collmus picked to win this week's race, but suffice to say he's loyal to a Jersey compatriot in the jockeys room.

Watch their analysis and find out who they like in the CTT and TOC Stakes.

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