Renowned race caller and TVG horse racing analyst Larry Collmus, whose distinguished career includes a 20-year stint as Monmouth Park's track announcer, has been named the winner of the 2023 Bill Handleman Award for outstanding coverage of last year's TVG.com Haskell Stakes, Monmouth Park announced Wednesday.
First presented in 2012, the Handleman Award honors distinguished media coverage of the $1 million Grade 1 Haskell, Monmouth Park's showcase race. It is presented annually prior to the Haskell.
Collmus, 56, has served as the announcer for NBC Sports' coverage of the Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup since 2011 and is currently the on-site host for TVG (Fan Duel) during live racing days at Monmouth Park.
“For all of the national acclaim Larry Collmus has received for his outstanding career he remains closely associated with Monmouth Park and the Haskell Stakes,” said Dennis Drazin, Chairman and CEO of Darby Development LLC, the operators of Monmouth Park. “We're pleased to honor him with the Handleman Award for his work last year and throughout the years on Haskell day.”
Collmus, who started his career as the track announcer at Bowie in Maryland in 1985 at the age of 18, has served as the race caller at Birmingham Turf Club, Golden Gate, Suffolk Downs, Monmouth Park, Churchill Downs, for NYRA tracks and at Del Mar. He was Monmouth Park's race caller from 1994-2014.
His call for NBC Sports of this year's Haskell will be his 23rd for Monmouth Park's most prestigious race – and first since Triple Crown winner American Pharoah won the race in 2015.
The award honors the late Bill Handleman, one of New Jersey's top sportswriters for nearly three decades for the Asbury Park Press. Handleman, a fixture at Monmouth Park and a passionate chronicler of the sport, died in June of 2010 at the age of 62.
The first recipient of the Handleman Award was Tom Luicci of The Star-Ledger, followed by Steve Edelson of The Asbury Park Press in 2013, Dave Johnson of Sirius XM in 2014, Ed McNamara of Newsday in 2015, Bob Ehalt of ESPN.com and Bloodhorse in 2016, Tom Cassidy of TVG.com in 2017, Jim Dunleavy of Daily Racing Form in 2018, Mike Farrell of The Associated Press in 2019, Steve Byk of At the Races With Steve Byk in 2020, Matt Shifman of Horse Racing Nation in 2021 and John Brennan of usbets.com in 2022.
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