Durkin: Shake off the web

On a sunny late-May afternoon in downtown Saratoga Springs, NY, where the temperature is pleasant—not too hot, but warm enough to signal the coming summer heat—Tom Durkin, who has arrived. on his bright blue Vespa—his preferred mode of transportation—sitting outside a cafe chatting with a man at a nearby table.

The discussion ended when Durkin’s scheduled appointment arrived, but not before one of the most talented and famous track announcers — for some, the greatest ever — paid. answer a question. It’s something that’s been asked of him many times in recent weeks—how is he preparing for his upcoming return to the booth to call Belmont Stakes (G1) on June 10 as well as three phone calls? level 1 racing on the bottom card for FOX Sports, which will be introducing racing for the first time on its network this year.

Nine years have passed since Durkin put down his binoculars and abandoned a stellar 43-year broadcast career, 24 of which were dedicated to serving as the voice of the New York Racing Association. . The last race he entered was on August 31, 2014, at Racecourse Saratogawhere he enthusiastically said apartment commando was “sensational” when the chubby 2-year-old boy won by 13 1/4 in a steep sea at Spinaway Stakes (G1).

So how does Durkin shake off the web? It’s not just a matter of strategic work to re-acquaint himself with handpicked phrases he has curated throughout his illustrious career while narrating the races in powerful voice. and its special richness. Those are contained in a precious and massive notebook, which the announcer continued to add even in the final days of calling races at the NYRA. His upcoming booth return also relies heavily on mental preparation to compensate for the stress and anxiety that may have stemmed from his decision to stop calling Triple Crown events on his 2010.

“Just before I got here today, I was downstairs in my library doing hypnosis,” he said. “I have two of them, and one of them is about getting rid of negative thoughts, and one of them I hear has to do with dealing with anxiety.

“I’ve been hypnotizing since 1986 with a regular hypnotherapist. Then I learned to hypnotize myself by putting myself in a trance. Self-hypnosis is meditation with another name…it’s specific. When I (call) a Derby (Kentucky), I need a hypnotherapist, which is better than doing it myself.

“On race day, I’ll take (beta blockers),” Durkin added. “It prevents the release of too much adrenaline. … adrenaline really helps you see better and think faster. Adrenaline is a good thing, but too much is a bad thing. It makes your hands tremble and makes your breath worse. getting hard

Preparations for his return also included a careful review of his notebook, which he said took four hours to read page after page. And then there are his index cards, which are like the notebooks he’s been using over the past few weeks as he practices call races at Belmont Park into a tape recorder on your phone.

“What I try to do is have an image (in my mind) and then translate it into words. I have index cards and I’m going to draw a very rough image,” he explains as he illustrates on paper. . “(Example) when I see two horses coming together to the top of the ramp, that’s the picture, and on the reverse side (of the index card), I’ll put words… like ‘race is going on’ take place’.

“I have to bring these words back here, in my subconscious, so that when the conscious image comes up, I can pick out the correct words for a given image.”

If Mage, this year’s Kentucky Derby winner, wins the Preakness Stakes and advances to the Belmont Stakes, Durkin admits the level of pressure on him will increase with the Triple Crown on the rope, even though he’s used to the scenario. That, has called eight Belmonts with the same winner in the first two innings. Though, none of those horses have anything to do with winning in New York.

For Durkin, whose job is, after all, to be a storyteller, there’s a lot to enjoy about this year’s 155th Belmont run, even without the Triple rattle. Crown.

“In terms of the plot, it’s very simple, one horse either wins the Triple Crown or it doesn’t. (Without that) This Belmont has a lot of different storylines and it’s a great race,” he said. . “You have the first two favorites in the Derby (Angel of Empire and the Tapit Trice), and the horse that will be the most popular in the Derby (Forte), and then you have the horse that won the Preakness ( National Treasure ).”

So curious minds are keen to know: Is Saturday the beginning of a comeback?

“I’ll wait and see how it goes. I don’t think so; I think it might just happen once. But you never know; I might like it so much that I’ll start sending it out. resume…I don’t know,” Durkin said.

While Durkin has always taken his job seriously—even to the point where it became too stressful for him that he had to leave—he also has plenty of games to chuckle at. His sly humor is always insidious and when it seeps through, it is often punctuated by one of his hearty laughs. As he drained his last cup of coffee, Durkin took a minute to ponder the future, the future with artificial intelligence.

“I’m considering, rather than actually calling the race, to have it called by ChatBot in the style of Tom Durkin,” he said deadlocked. Then, waiting for a beat, he let out a loud laugh.