Howard Oil, Monticello Raceway’s longtime race caller
confronted that situation yesterday (Jan. 30) when the Mighty M was shrouded in
fog.
Still the veteran announcer followed as best he could the
moving horses up the backside which were not clearly visible and ‘jive-talked’
until the field rounded the paddock turn when he could actually see the
action as they raced for pay-dirt.
“I could hardly see a thing during some of the races but my
early calls, when the horses were visible in front of the grandstand,
held up as the fields came out of the fog at the top of the lane and raced for
the wire,” Oil said undauntedly at the end of a trying afternoon of race
announcing.
“Yeah, it wasn’t the easiest afternoon I’ve ever had.”
Twelve races went to post and it was during the early part
of the card when the warm temperatures helped the heavy snow to
evaporate thus causing the heavy fog.
Of course the job for John Flynn, the program director, who
is also the official chart caller, was no picnic either. However, when he
couldn’t make out the horses or their numbers he just wrote ‘fog’
for the horses position at the points when he was unsure of the racing order.
“I could see pretty good in the homestretch and we didn’t
have any trouble with the photo finishes,” Flynn related.
For Howard Oil his job was tougher because when he couldn’t
see the racing horses he didn’t want dead-air so he talked about some of the
race leaders past performances or anything else that came to his mind
until the field was visible again.
The featured race on that Wednesday card was a trot for
$15,000 claimers and/or non-winners of $600 per start which was copped by
Halfpipe in a time of 2:01.3 over the muddy racing surface. Jimmy Marohn,
currently the meets leading driver again this year, handled the driving chores
for trainer Danny Gill.
Flynn officially charted Halfpipe’s race line as
follows: (pp)4; ( ¼ )fog; ( 1/2)1; (3/4)fog; (str)fog; (finish) 1/3 --- 2:01.3.
Oil’s race call was a bit harder but by the time the field
disappeared in the fog and came back to view in the homestretch Oil
entertained the fans with his comments. And, of course he called
the exact order of finish on the wire.
