Larry Collmus to be next New York track announcer

By: SPORTS NETWORK

Saratoga Springs, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Racing Association (NYRA) announced Wednesday that Larry Collmus will succeed Tom Durkin as the track announcer at the group's racetracks.

"The New York Racing Association was privileged to have one of the greatest voices in professional sports calling our races for more than two decades. With our addition of Larry Collmus, we have another," said NYRA CEO and President Chris Kay. "Larry's highly acclaimed work for NBC Sports, including with the Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup has inspired excitement and generated lasting memories for horseplayers and racing fans everywhere. We are fortunate that Larry has chosen to bring his talents and passion back to New York, and I would like to extend a warm welcome on behalf of the men and women of this great organization."

Durkin will be retiring from announcing at the conclusion of the current Saratoga meeting on Sept. 1 and Collmus will assume the job starting in April 2015 for the final month of Aqueduct's winter/spring meet. John Imbriale, Director of TV Production for NYRA, will call the 2014 Belmont Park fall meet and will continue to serve as the main race caller at Aqueduct.

"I am so excited and honored to become the next voice of New York racing," said Collmus. "The racing in New York is second to none - Belmont Park has such a rich history of championship racing and Saratoga has the best racing in the world and an atmosphere unlike any another place. I have some enormous shoes to fill as Tom Durkin raised the bar of our profession very high over the course of his brilliant career with The New York Racing Association."

Collmus is best known as NBC Sports Triple Crown announcer, a position in which he also succeeded Durkin in 2011. He began as NBC's Breeders' Cup announcer in 2012. This year he was the announcer at Churchill Downs along with his regular duties at Gulfstream Park.

The Maryland native initially came into prominence as the announcer at Monmouth Park where he announced the 2007 Breeders' Cup World Championships.