The Pincay Award, named for, and presented by, the Hall of Fame rider, goes to those who have served the sport of racing “with integrity, extraordinary dedication, determination and distinction.”

“Trevor is my favorite announcer,” said Pincay, Jr. “He called many of the races I rode and when I was winning a big stakes race, it was always good to hear his exciting call in the stretch.”

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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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“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.

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Track manager Gerald Lea was on hand as an 18-year-old, who had been pestering him for an announcing job, called the first six races from a relatively remote spot, nowhere near the public address microphone. Then Lea said, “Trevor, come with me, you're calling the next race.”

They proceeded to the announcer's booth, where Trevor Denman called the first race of a career that hits the 50-year mark on Saturday at Del Mar. Denman has made calls from booths at many tracks since August 14, 1971. But, of course, he vividly remembers the first.

“It was the best thing that could have ever happened to me,” Denman said Thursday from his rooftop office at Del Mar. “Mr. Lea was a very intelligent man and he had a lot of sagacity and courage to take a chance on somebody as young as me.”

Given advance notice of his hiring, Denman contends, would have only provided time for nerves and pressure to build up and insecurities to formulate in his mind that would have affected his performance. As it was, he made the call as smoothly and faultlessly as most of the tens of thousands of others since.

And for the record: the winner was New Gold, ridden by John McReady and trained by Des Rich; the runner-up Charm School, ridden by Burt Hayden and trained by Syd Laird. In Durban, and South Africa in general at the time, newspapers were the most widely and readily available media and horse racing was big news.

So the story of a new, young announcer's breakthrough wasn't on Page 1 of the sports section, it was on the front page of the paper.

“I woke up, not thinking I was famous, but thinking I was now 'known' and it felt great,” Denman recalled. “For me to get the job was like getting the Monday Night Football job a few years ago when it was big, or something like that.

“People would point me out and say, 'I saw your picture in the paper.”

That was the starting point for a career about to hit the half-century mark. What follows are some notable moments, in and out of the booth, by decades.

The Rest of the 1970s

“Two things made announcing in South Africa huge,” Denman recalled. “The tracks were huge, a mile and a half around, and there was no television until 1976. So people relied on the announcer to (communicate) what they couldn't see and it was very important.

“When television came around, we started mentioning things like the colors the jockeys were wearing. It was a switch from calling for people who couldn't see what's going on, 90 percent of them anyway, to calling for people who could see on the television. Equipment changed as well as the technology got much better.”

The 1980s

The summer of 1981 marked a full decade for Denman at the job he had gravitated to when exercise riding and aspirations of being a jockey faded. And he was getting restless.

“The three racetracks in South Africa were very good, but when I got to be 28 – and 40 seemed old — I couldn't see myself working the same three tracks for the next 10 years,” Denman said. In need of a challenge, and forseeing the social unrest and political upheaval that lie ahead before the inevitable end of apartheid, his thoughts turned elsewhere.

There were, he said, only six English-speaking countries to consider and in four there was “no chance,” without some strong personal connection with someone in a high position – which he lacked – for genuine opportunity. It broke down to Canada or the U.S. for Denman and, with pluck, luck and skill, the U.S. became home.

At his own expense, he flew to Golden Gate Fields in San Francisco to call a race at an international jockey's day. In Los Angeles, with time to spend before a flight back to South Africa, he went to Santa Anita and, with a recommendation from track publicist Bill Kolberg, got an audition with track executive Alan Balch.

That led to his hiring at Santa Anita in the fall of 1983 and Del Mar in 1984 where his “analysis on the run” style of calling – instead of just going through the names front-to-back – caught on with Southern California fans and eventually went nationwide. Staccato out; storytelling in.

Which led to his call for Pimlico's in-house network of the 1989 Preakness, the consensus “Race of the Decade.”

Pimlico owner Frank De Francis called and asked Denman to be the guest announcer for three weeks, the end of which was the Preakness with Sunday Silence and Easy Goer going head-to-head for the length of the stretch and Sunday Silence prevailing by a nose.

“Two great horses, two great trainers in Shug McGaughey and Charlie Whittingham and it was so close,” Denman said. “That was exciting for sure.”

The 1990s

Talk about busy.

Early in the decade, Hollywood Park owner R. D. Hubbard became the latest in a line of racetrack executives to conclude that Denman at the microphone was a business asset.

“He came and asked if I would come to work for him at Hollywood Park,” Denman recalled. “I was under contract with Santa Anita, but he went to management there and got it cleared with them.”

What ensued was a period from 1992-95 in which Denman was the voice of the Southern California circuit, essentially year-round. By his estimate, approximately 250 days a year.

“I don't know how I did it,” Denman said. “Except I was a lot younger then.”

Racing aficionados cite Denman's calls of Cigar's victory in the 1995 Hollywood Gold Cup and Free House in the 1999 Santa Anita Handicap as examples of how he could anticipate an outcome before it happened (in the former case) or maintain the suspense until the last fraction of a second (in the latter).

Near the end of 1996, he and his wife Robin bought a farm in Minnesota (she was originally from there) that would eventually become a place to retreat to once he started to cut back on his virtual non-stop schedule.

2000-2010

One word: Zenyatta.

Denman called six of the great mare's first 14 victories leading up to the 2009 Breeders' Cup Classic and he, like the rest of the racing world, was eager to see the John Sherriffs-trained superstar take on males.

“That just set up so beautifully,” Denman recalled. “The California mare against such a talented field. Some were saying she'd only beaten up on California (females) and now she's facing the best in the world.”

Appearing hopelessly beaten even partway into the stretch, as she often did in her races, Zenyatta came with a powerful rush and Denman's pitch-perfect words gave everyone watching a rush of a different kind.

“Zenyatta is flying on the grandstand side! This. Is. Un-be-lievable! What a performance! We will never see another like this!”

The “This. Is. Un-be-lievable!” phrase was said in perfect rhythm with Zenyatta's final, winning strides to the wire.

“Her cadence was just right for that,” Denman said. “I never think about things like that beforehand, it just came to me and the cadence was perfect. It was as if she were listening to me as she was striding through it.

“Amazing, absolutely amazing.”

2010-2021

The 2009 Breeders' Cup was the fourth of seven consecutive years in which Denman was the announcer for the ESPN/ABC broadcasts, sharing the duties with Larry Collmus in 2012 before the event was switched to NBC.

The 2010 Classic, in which Zenyatta put a 19-race win streak on the line but had her late run come up inches short against Blame at Churchill Downs, is memorable to Denman for what might have been.

“It was one of those races where at the end, you think, 'Let's do it again,'

he said. “Man, I thought she was going to do it. It would have meant so much for the sport for her to retire undefeated.”

In December of 2015, Denman announced his retirement from Santa Anita after 33 years of calling at “The Great Place.” (He parted with a Denmanesque statement: “It's time to stop counting dollars and start counting stars.”) He soon started a Del Mar-only schedule of announcing the summer and fall meets and repairing to his Minnesota farm in the months between.

That schedule was interrupted last year when he opted to remain in Minnesota during the COVID pandemic, to be replaced by Collmus at Del Mar. He returned for the current season – his 37th at the place where the turf meets the surf — and plans to be back again in the fall and beyond.

“I can tell you in my life, right now, I've never, ever, ever been happier,” the 68-year-old Denman said. “In calling races, I think it's the absolute quintessential calendar year. If you've got to work, Del Mar is the place to do it. The scenery and the atmosphere here; that's it.

“Three months in the summer, one month in the fall, retired nine months.”

And 50 years into a job he loves.

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As a result of the COVID pandemic, the Denmans opted to lay low on their 500-acre rural farm for what wound up being the whole year and even into 2021, causing the race caller to miss his first Del Mar season since he began employing his distinctive tones and style at the shore oval in 1984.

Del Mar was able to plug in a fine pinch-hitting caller for both of its 2020 meets in Larry Collmus, but now stands ready to return its longtime (this will be his 37th Del Mar summer) “voice” to the stand starting on July 16.

How and what has Trevor been doing during his extended hiatus? Read on and let him tell you.

Q – How are both you and Robin doing after approximately 20 months at home avoiding the pandemic?

A – We are doing really well. We are so remote that COVID did not affect us very much. We have a driveway which is a mile long, so we do not even see the mailman – he drops the mail at the end of the drive. We have a new farmhouse and these new houses are practically sound proof, so we don't even hear the UPS deliveries arrive (which is about twice a week). We open the front door and there they are. I get gas once every 5 or 6 weeks and even grocery shopping is a breeze nowadays – one orders online, arranges a time for pick up and someone bring a trolly out and loads your groceries into the trunk. No contact at all! Since we live in farmland and the towns are very small the chances of getting enough vegetarian supplies are not very high, so our grocery shopping is done 45 miles away in Rochester (population 106,000). Ironically, Rochester is the home of the Mayo Clinic, which means there are tons of healthy food choices. Overall, dealing with the pandemic has gone well in Minnesota. They're mostly law-abiding citizens with great morals and they have handled it very responsibly.

Q – You built a new house and moved into it in 2019. You said your old farm house (built in 1858) was simply going to be 'left to the critters' (mice, squirrels, etc.) How are the critters doing in their new home?

A – We were just a nuisance to them when we lived in the house; we were squatting in their territory. They think they own the house anyway, so they are doing just fine.

Q – How will you return to Del Mar – take a train, take a plane, take a car?

A – We are driving. I have a penchant for Indian War battle sites. We are going through South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming, which are prime battle site states. So we will take a week to get to Del Mar.

Q – Do you have your regular spot to stay here for the summer?

A – Yes, we stay in a very quiet area near Lake Hodges. It's tucked away behind trees on a large lot.

Q – Will you go back to Kellogg between Del Mar's summer and fall meets?

A – Yes. It's just too long to stay in California for that period of time (approximately two months).

Q – It's going to be more than a year and a half between race calls for you. Any concerns?

A – I feel a little weird right now. I will probably call some races off TVG in my entertainment room this week just to 'loosen up.'

Q – Del Mar used to race six days per week, but now the focus is on fuller weekend race cards and less weekday racing. How much easier is it for you now with the fewer race days?

A – Thank goodness I was in my 30's and 40's back then! (He's 68 now). We would live life to the fullest each night and still be at the track six days a week. I dare not go out at night now because I might miss work for two days afterwards! It is certainly much easier now, though I wouldn't mind a five-day week.

Q – There aren't a lot of Mexican restaurants in the Kellogg area; there are many in Southern California. How do you and your vegetarian ways get on with Mexican cuisine?

A – We have a great Mexican restaurant (authentic) in a place called Lake City, which is about 35 miles away, but that's no problem when you have all day to eat lunch. Besides, the drive is along the shores of beautiful Lake Pepin and there is hardly any traffic. They have delicious vegetarian food. In San Diego we have a Mexican restaurant where they have a special menu just for vegetarians – perfect!

Q – When you dropped back from a year-round schedule to calling only Del Mar in 2016, you used a lovely phrase to explain it: “It is time to stop counting dollars and start counting stars.” How have those stars been looking in Minnesota?

A – The stars at night are truly unbelievable! One looks up and sees a billion stars. Then one gets the binoculars out and looks up and sees a trillion stars. We see the International Space Station all the time. It feels like you can almost touch it. The night sky is just so tranquil. You want to be awed by the solar system? Come see it in rural Minnesota. Ursa Minor (Big Dipper) is right outside my bedroom window and the North Star is right there, too. Awe-inspiring sight!

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True racing fans – and especially those who make Del Mar part of their summer routine – know exactly what that means.

Trevor Denman, the iconic racing commentator who called every race at the seaside oval between 1984 and 2019, will return to the Del Mar roof for the 2021 season after sheltering in place throughout 2020 at his rural Minnesota farm as he and his wife Robin rode out the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are very keen to get back to Del Mar,” Denman recently wrote in an e-mail to a track official.

And Del Mar fans will be plenty keen to once again hear the 68-year-old South African expatriate when racing begins anew at the seaside oval on Friday, July 16.

When Denman first brought his unique style to Southern California in the 1980s, he quickly went about reshaping racetrack calls nationwide. With his understanding of the scene unfolding in front of him (he'd tried a stint as a rider early on), he was capable of “describing” the race lyrically instead of simply using the staccato style of position and margin that most U.S. callers employed. He painted a picture of the contest and was able to pick up early on late closers or tiring frontrunners to allow for more drama in his deliveries.

The award-winning caller initially spun his racing tales at Santa Anita and Del Mar, then also took on assignments at the now-closed Hollywood Park and Pomona, giving him a year-round circuit that was lucrative, but taxing. Finally – starting in 2016 — he cut back his assignments to Del Mar and Del Mar alone. The rest of the year he spent at his 500-acre farm amidst its clean air and starry nights. He explained it this way: “It (was) time to stop counting dollars and to start counting the stars.”

Denman will call the track's 31-day summer season, return to his Minnesota digs and then come back to Southern California again in time to add his dulcet tones to the track's 15-day fall stand starting on Wednesday, Nov. 3. This year Del Mar's second session, known as the Bing Crosby Season, will include the hosting of the Breeders' Cup World Championships on Nov. 5 and 6.

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The 15-day session, named the Bing Crosby Season in a salute to the track's founder, will have a Saturday/Sunday opening weekend, then three Friday-thru-Sunday weekends before finishing up with a four-day run keyed on Thanksgiving Thursday (November 26) through to Sunday, November 29.

“We talked to Trevor right after our summer meet and it was obvious he was torn,” said Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's CEO Joe Harper. “There still was concern about the pandemic and his family, yet he also wanted to keep a commitment he'd made to us. But in the end we told him to stay home and stay safe; he appreciated that.”

Del Mar's next move was to reconnect with Collmus, the veteran announcer who has called at major race meetings from coast to coast over the past 35 years and who has been NBC television's voice of the Triple Crown for the last decade. Collmus quickly gave a thumbs up to the idea of returning to the seaside oval for another go-round and was signed on for the fall meet.

“I truly enjoyed calling the races this summer at Del Mar and look forward to the opportunity to return for the Bing Crosby meet,” Collmus said. “It's such a special place and I'm honored to be asked to come back.”

The seventh Bing Crosby Season, highlighted by 16 stakes and a strong emphasis on high-class turf racing, will see racing begin each day at 12:30 p.m. During the stand, Del Mar will serve as the California host track for the Breeders' Cup Championships, which will take place on November 6 and 7 at Keeneland in Lexington, KY.

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Lies (pronounced “Lees”) has called races at locations around the U.S., including 10-year stints at both Lone Star Park in Texas and Kentucky Downs, as well as at his current jobs at Will Rogers Downs and Fair Meadows Tulsa in Oklahoma.

Collmus, a nationally-known announcer who has worked at racing venues around the country and has been the voice of the Triple Crown since 2011, stepped up and in at Del Mar when Denman, Del Mar's caller since 1984, told the track he was going to stay home in Minnesota this summer in light of the COVID-19 situation. In his role as a “pinch hitter,” Collmus' professionalism and enthusiasm have shone through at the seaside oval since he took up the mic on July 10.

Lies, 43, was born in Long Beach, CA, but grew up mostly in the San Diego area. His father was a trainer and young John's racing interests found him imitating the calls of his hero, Denman, accent and all. When he met the South African caller at the age of 9 at Del Mar, a friendship was formed and his role as hero/mentor all but ensured that young Lies had found his calling.

Besides his full-time announcing jobs, Lies estimates he has guest announced at a dozen tracks nationally, including twice at Del Mar. Additionally, the savvy racetrack veteran has filled many different roles at various venues around the country. At Del Mar he's been its simulcast signal announcer since 2007, has worked in its racing office since 2013 and this year took over the job of morning line maker. At both Will Rogers Downs and Fair Meadows Tulsa he is the announcer, the racing secretary and the morning line maker.

Denman has told Del Mar officials that he plans on returning to his regular role at the track with the start of its fall season on October 31.

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“When Trevor told us of his situation, we naturally had to respect what he was feeling,” said Josh Rubinstein, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s president and COO. “We immediately worked up a short list of possible replacements and Larry was the man we zeroed in on. Happily, he said he was available and would be delighted to call our meet. We’re very pleased to be able to have him be the guy in our booth when we’re off and running on July 10.”

Collmus, 53, has manned the mic at various racetracks including Golden Gate Fields, all three NYRA tracks, Gulfstream Park, Churchill Downs and Monmouth Park. Prior to this summer’s stint, Collmus also called the Breeders’ Cup races at Del Mar in 2017.

Denman, who has called every race at Del Mar since taking over for the late Harry Henson in 1984, will return to the seaside track for its fall season scheduled from Oct. 31 to Nov. 29.

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Because of health concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, Denman recently told Del Mar officials that he and his wife Robin did not wish to travel away from their Minnesota farm and asked to kindly bow out of his summer assignment. Del Mar, of course, said yes to the iconic announcer who has been its caller for the past 36 years.

Collmus, 53, called his first race at the age of 18 at Bowie Race Course in Maryland and has manned the mic at various racetracks from California (Golden Gate Fields) to New York (the three NYRA tracks) with additional tours at such noteworthy racing venues as Gulfstream Park, Churchill Downs and Monmouth Park.

Since 2011, the native of Baltimore has taken on the prestigious and pressure-filled role of race caller for the Triple Crown series and the championship Breeders' Cup races on NBC. In fact, he'll be front and center this Saturday when the Belmont Stakes in New York does a reversal of its usual role and becomes the first leg of this year's Triple Crown.

After a long dry spell (37 years), Collmus was the man who got to tell a national audience about the Triple Crown heroics of eventual Horse of the Year American Pharoah in 2015 and he did so with a flourish. And just three years later he got to shout out yet another “Triple” when the undefeated colt Justify flew through a smashing Triple Crown show en route to his Horse of the Year honors.

“It is an unexpected but welcome thrill to be joining the great team at Del Mar this summer,” Collmus said. “I'm very excited to be calling the races at such an amazing and iconic venue for the sport.”

It is noted that although Collmus will be making his Del Mar seasonal debut, he already has a couple of solid seaside feathers in his cap. He took part in an above average trial run for his new job when he called the Breeders' Cup races at Del Mar on November 3 and 4, 2017.

Denman, who has called every race at Del Mar since taking over for the late Harry Henson in 1984, told Del Mar officials he would be returning to the track for its fall season scheduled from October 31 to November 29.

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