Trevor Denman
| Trevor Denman | |
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| Background information | |
| Sports | Thoroughbred horse racing |
Trevor Denman (born 24 September 1952) is an American sportscaster and public-address announcer specializing in Thoroughbred horse racing. Denman was born in Germiston, Gauteng, South Africa. A part-time jockey and exercise rider, he started as a race caller in his native South Africa in 1971 at age 18. He is the current race caller at Santa Anita Park, Del Mar Racetrack and the Los Angeles County Fair (Fairplex) in southern California, and was the announcer at Pimlico Race Course, Laurel Park Racecourse and Hollywood Park Racetrack. Denman, who began calling races in North America in 1983 after announcing in his native country, is best known for the phrase "And aaaaaway they go...", spoken as the horses emerge from the starting gate. Some other phrases that Denman has coined are very popular with racing fans, such as "scraping the paint", used to describe a horse who is saving ground (running very close to the inner rail). Another is "they would need to sprout wings to catch ______ ..." when a horse is leading by an insurmountable margin in the stretch. A similar phrase used in the same context is "he's [or she's] out here moving like a winner..." "______ looks like he jumped in at the quarter pole..." is used when a horse comes from far back and is running so fast as to give the impression that he has only just started to run. Finally, another well known Denman phrase is, "_________ is coming like an express train!" This phrase is used when a horse is running right by leading horses in the stretch. He owns a three-year old filly in South Africa, named Top Twenty, trained by Paul Lafferty. In the 1989 comedy movie Let It Ride starring Richard Dreyfuss and Terri Garr, Denman is the track announcer that is heard in many of the racetrack scenes that took place at Hialeah Park in Hialeah, Florida. Trevor Denman was also the announcer in the movie Racing Stripes during the race.
Denman is the current voice of the Breeders' Cup, aired now on ESPN instead of its original 'home' NBC Sports, for the first 22 years. He replaced Tom Durkin who had been the race caller since the inception.
During the 2009 Breeders Cup Trevor Denman made perhaps his most famous call when undefeated Zenyatta came from behind to win the race. After running dead last throughout most of the race, Denman called "Zenyatta has a lot, a lot of ground to make up.... If she wins this she will be a super horse".
When the race made its final turn Denman delivered his famous call as Zenyatta took the lead. "Zenyattas come to the outside. Zenyatta coming, flying on the grandstand side... THIS, IS, UN-BELIEVABLE!"
Denman was the unnamed race announcer in the animated television show The Simpsons episode #239, aired originally in February 2000, entitled Saddlesore Galactica.
Denman also makes an appearance in a Verizon commercial.
