Tom Durkin | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘Champions Talk’: 2021 Fundraiser To Feature Five Champion Jockeys

The New York Race Track Chaplaincy announced today that the 2021 edition of its Champions Talk fundraiser will feature five retired champion jockeys who together won over 34,000 races (and landed four of them in the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame) when it premieres on the organization's YouTube Channel and Facebook page on Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021.

Scheduled to participate in the round table discussion are: Ángel Cordero Jr., Chris McCarron, Richard Migliore, Laffit Pincay Jr. and Jorge Velazquez.

The initial version of Champions Talk aired on Aug. 5, 2020. With Tom Durkin serving as moderator, the panel included Cordero, jockey Ramón Dominguez, trainer Dale Romans and Thoroughbred owner Terry Finley.

The premiere and subsequent replays were seen by over 10,000 racing fans and it is still available for viewing at https://www.rtcany.org.

“Champions Talk was so popular that we decided to make it a permanent part of our calendar,” said Ramón Dominguez, the President of the Board of the New York Race Track Chaplaincy. “We are thrilled to have this star-studded lineup of riders and we know that fans will thoroughly enjoy hearing their tales and recollections from some of the most memorable races in the history of the sport.”

As part of the event, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., a three-time Eclipse award winner, will be the Chaplaincy's honoree in recognition of his dedication and support of the backstretch community in New York.

Durkin, the former New York Racing Association announcer, will once again serve as the moderator for the panel and the discussion will be held in the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion in Saratoga Springs.

In accordance with health protocols, a limited number of seats for the taping will be sold to the public and made available to sponsors. A reception will be held for those attendees, also at the Fasig-Tipton facility.

As was the case last year, this event will be the sole Saratoga fundraiser for the organization and viewers will be encouraged to make a donation to the New York Race Track Chaplaincy.

“The needs of the backstretch workers over the past year have been even greater due to the pandemic and we hope racing fans will once again demonstrate their generosity by supporting this event,” Chavez said.

Those wishing to sponsor the event, purchase tickets, or make a contribution can visit the NY Chaplaincy website at https://www.rtcany.org. Additional information is available by contacting the chaplaincy's development coordinator Eleanor Poppe at info@rtcany.org.

The New York Race Track Chaplaincy ministers to the heart and soul of the backstretch community with children's enrichment, social service, recreational, and educational programs, as well as non-denominational religious services.

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Lost And Found Presented By LubriSynHA: Durkin ‘Blown Away’ By Fan Admiration In Retirement

Racehorses have long been focal points for Tom Durkin. Since retiring from his 43 years as a track announcer, Durkin keeps those passions in the forefront but in different locations.

Most of the time Durkin resides in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., but escapes for part of the winter to the somewhat milder climate of Pinehurst, N.C., a village in a parallel universe to his year-round residence. The similarities include exceptional golf courses, historic racehorse facilities and scenic surroundings. The Pinehurst venue, which specializes in Standardbreds, was part of the attraction for Durkin.

“I used to spend my winters in Tuscany from around 2000 to 2010,” Durkin said. “Then I started going to Naples, Fla., but it got too crowded. My sister is in Pinehurst and I have friends there.”

His buddies include a few of his Standardbreds and their people, who he visits during training hours. An avid harness racing fan, Durkin enjoyed great success as co-breeder and co-owner of Coraggioso, a 21-time winner who banked nearly $700,000 and has become a productive sire.

Durkin's holdings extend to Thoroughbreds. As an equity partner in West Point Thoroughbreds since retiring in 2015, Durkin had a “minuscule” interest in Always Dreaming that paid dividends by giving Durkin access to the Kentucky Derby winner's circle. His role in West Point's business development and partner relations is just one of the many activities that keep him closely connected to the Thoroughbred world. Another is his role as a tour guide at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame during the racing season.

“I love it,” he said. “I am a horse racing nut and a bit of a history nut. When I first retired, I thought I would go back to Florence, Italy and be a tour guide. When I lived there, I would see these guides going around and I would stand behind the group and soak up what they were saying. So, I know as much about Florence and Renaissance art as any tour guide. I am a performer at heart. That is basically my nature — to get in front of people and talk to them. It might be about a painting, the history of Seabiscuit or the cultural history of racing in America via the outlet I have at the museum.”

Another outlet for Durkin's affinity for entertaining is acting. His voice-overs include a canine in “All Dogs Go to Heaven” and race callers in other movies. While a theater major at St. Norbert College in Wisconsin, he appeared in school productions. He has not done a play since 2015, when he was both Mr. Macy and the drunken Santa Claus in “Miracle on 34^th Street” at the Spa Little Theater on the grounds of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

“I have been looking for parts,” he said. “I prefer comedy. If anybody has a part for me in the area, I'll do it. The part has to be for a guy who is 70 and has a certain look.”

That certain look is easily recognizable during the Saratoga racing season.

“I will be walking down the street and someone I have never met says hello or has something nice to say,” he said.

His fans are particularly engaging at the museum.

“When I retired, I did not expect what I got in terms of affection,” he said “It blew me away. I had no idea that was coming. Racing fans are passionate about the sport. And the depth of that passion and how many people love it is something that I did not quite realize. I've had people recite some of my race calls verbatim. A lot of them I have no recollection of whatsoever. It might be because they cashed a trifecta or exacta or longshot—I get a lot of those.”

Durkin is mindful of his unexpected celebrity status.

“I am a much better-behaved person in Saratoga than I am elsewhere,” he said. “If someone cuts me off in traffic in Manhattan, I'll give them the finger right there. In Saratoga, I just smile back. I don't want someone saying that I gave them the finger—this is a small town and word travels fast which makes me a socially better person.”

Durkin's popularity and professionalism might best be summarized by his many prestigious honors most notably the 2014 Eclipse Award of Merit for lifetime achievement.

“I was happy for what I was able to do and for as long as I did it at that level,” he said. “No one has been more fortunate than I have in many respects. In my next life, I want to come back as me.”

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Marshall Cassidy, 75, Former NYRA Track Announcer, Passes

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) mourns the loss of Marshall Cassidy, who served as its track announcer from 1979 to 1990. Cassidy, who died Sunday at the age of 75, was noted for his enduring accuracy and even-keeled delivery.

Cassidy, who later served as a patrol and placing judge in New York, was a member of NYRA's elite fraternity of track announcers. Serving as backup announcer during much of the 1970s to Dave Johnson and Chic Anderson, Cassidy took over as NYRA's lead announcer after Anderson's death in 1979.

In addition to his duties on the NYRA circuit, Cassidy called races throughout the 1980s on television for CBS, ABC, NBC and ESPN. He was succeeded at NYRA by Tom Durkin in 1990.

“Marshall Cassidy was incredibly skilled at his craft and a true ambassador for thoroughbred racing in New York,” said NYRA President and CEO Dave O'Rourke. “Marshall was a friend to so many, especially in Saratoga, where he could so often be found mixing it up in the press box or talking to fans in the backyard. We mourn his loss and offer our condolences to his friends, family and colleagues past and present.”

Durkin praised Cassidy's unique delivery and accuracy which he said rivaled that of Fred Capossela, NYRA's race caller from 1934 to 1971.

“Marshall had a voice that belonged in the Hall of Fame. He had a resonant baritone and his timbre was perfect,” said Durkin, who was NYRA race caller from 1990 to 2014. “In terms of New York announcers – and this is the highest praise – he was on an even par with Fred Capossela. The most important thing for a racetrack announcer to be is accurate. And for that, Marshall was peerless.”

John Imbriale, NYRA's current race caller, also remembered Cassidy for his accuracy and his distinctive style.

“Nobody was more accurate than Marshall,” said Imbriale. “His call of Easy Goer's Belmont Stakes win will be remembered forever.”

Cassidy also mentored Imbriale in the 1980s at Aqueduct, often critiquing and analyzing his practice calls and teaching him the ropes of a profession that few ever master.

“He was very supportive and really took the time to help me,” Imbriale said of Cassidy. His help was extremely important.”

Cassidy was a member of a distinguished multi-generational family of racing officials in New York. His maternal grandfather, Marshall Whiting Cassidy, was a race starter and later a steward, who eventually became racing director for NYRA's predecessor agencies, and later the executive director of The Jockey Club. Cassidy's maternal great-grandfather, Marshall (Mars) Cassidy, was also a fixture in New York racing as a race starter, the first to use a barrier to start a race, and immortalized in coverage by Damon Runyon.

George Cassidy, Cassidy's grand-uncle, was also a race starter, serving for upwards of 50 years, mostly at NYRA tracks, before he retired in 1980.

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Spanish Language Announcer Sues NYRA, Says He Was Paid Less than Whites Doing Same Job

Luis Grandison, a Black Latino who is a native of Panama and who served as the New York Racing Association’s Spanish language race caller from 2014 through March 2020, has sued NYRA claiming he was discriminated against because he was paid less than white Americans who call the races in English.

According to a suit filed Tuesday in Brooklyn Federal Court, Grandison was paid $60,000 a year. The suit claims that long-time NYRA announcer Tom Durkin earned $440,000 a year before retiring in 2014 and that his replacement, Larry Collmus, was paid in excess of $200,000 annually. Collmus left NYRA in January and was replaced by John Imbriale. The lawsuit claims that Imbriale also earns in excess of $200,000 annually.

“Although Grandison and his fellow full-time race callers performed the same primary duty (i.e., announcing), NYRA paid the white American race callers more than double Grandison’s salary despite Grandison having just as much experience as them, working more months per year than they did, and performing additional advertising duties not required of them,” the suit reads.

Grandison was furloughed in March when racing was shut down by the coronavirus. His job was then terminated in June. The suit alleges that NYRA’s treatment of Grandison amounted to “unlawful discrimination against him on the basis of his race, color, and national origin…”

“Defendant purposely discriminated against Plaintiff because of his Black and Latino/Hispanic racial background, thereby denying him equal terms and conditions of employment enjoyed by his white counterparts,” the suit also alleges.

NYRA Director of Communications Pat McKenna issued a statement defending the racing organization and its history of diversity.

“The New York Racing Association (NYRA) is proud to have the most diverse broadcast and TV team in the sport of horse racing today, and maintains a fair and equitable workplace,” the statement read. “NYRA–like so many businesses across the state and nation–has faced significant financial challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been forced to make adjustments to its workforce in order to maintain operations and safeguard its future.”

Grandison began his career in Panama and called races at Hipódromo Presidente Remón in Panama City before moving to the U.S. in 2009. When he was brought on board by NYRA to call the races, then CEO and President Chris Kay said the hiring of Grandison was an “important initiative that will help enhance and personalize the guest experience for our Spanish speaking fan base.”

According to the suit, Grandison’s salary when hired was $32,000 and that he subsequently received raises until reaching the $60,000 mark. His job, the suit claims, involved more than just announcing and that he was required to promote NYRA racing on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, a role that was not required of Durkin, Collmus or Imbriale.

Grandison is seeking unspecified damages for discrimination.

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