Four Years down, what’s next?
Another season of racing at Louisiana Downs came to a close on Sunday. The weather was horrendous, which summed-up the weather for the past few weeks quite well.
It is hard to believe it was also the end of my fourth year of race calling here. On one hand, it seems like just yesterday I was hustling interviews for The Saratoga Special. On the other hand, it seems like I’ve been announcing at Louisiana Downs forever.
There were lots of highlights throughout the season including Regal Ransom’s victory in the Super Derby. I pushed very hard during the off-season to increase the purse of the Super Derby to help maintain its status (and eventually help it grow) as a premiere race. I believe the result certainly paid off.
I’m most excited about what Regal Ransom and Blame will do down the road. Blame was totally pace compromised in the Super Derby, yet still managed a late rally. Regal Ransom, though loose-on-the-lead, is very talented and will win his fair share of races as well.
Off-Season Follies
I’m often asked what I do once the Louisiana Downs meet is over. Fortunately, I’m a full-time employee and have already started working on next year’s racing season. I have a few new ideas/initiatives I would like to try (more on those later). Plus some larger, more time consuming projects as well.
This year a few additions we made to our product, though subtle, were significant. For one, I wanted to transform our starting gate sign so we could better market our big race days. Our old sign did not “pop” well at all. You can see the old vs. new below.
Thoughts on Race Calls
From a race calling perspective, I really feel like my calls came across well. I did battle a nagging throat congestion issue (too many details, I know) throughout much of the second-half of the meet, but managed to push through. I improved in a lot of areas – much of which the average listener would never notice – and found other areas of my calls I can try and take more advantage of.
For those who know me, I’m moderately obsessed with race calling so when it comes to details, I notice every little thing.
Meanwhile, I’m headed to the sunny state of Florida next week for a vacation, followed by a couple of days at Keeneland before returning to Bossier City for the Breeders’ Cup. Should be fun!