by James Witherite, Vernon Downs racing
media
In 1962, a young man named Jim Moran
ventured from his home in Springfield, Massachusetts to central New York at the
suggestion of his uncle Bud Hebert. Hebert, the Vernon Downs racecaller,
would see his nephew assume the Clerk of Course position for that first season
there. Moran then took on the role of assistant race secretary the subsequent
season, and in 1964 would become the full-time announcer.
Fifty years and 73,000 races later, Jim
Moran will call his last race this Friday (April 11), as Vernon Downs opens for
the 2014 season.
I
n a half-century atop the Vernon Downs
grandstand, Moran has seen some of the greatest horses, trainers, and drivers
in the history of American harness racing through his
binoculars. “We got to see Bret Hanover, who was probably my
all-time favorite horse,” Moran reminisced. “I didn’t get to call
Bret Hanover as a two-year-old, but the following year (1965) I did get to call
his race. We drew 14,000 people, which was the biggest racing crowd
ever at Vernon. He won the race, continued his winning ways, and
came back as a four-year-old. He also had a world record time trial
at Vernon.”
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| Vernon Downs Announcer Emeritus Jim Moran (Fotowon photo). |
Fourteen years later, another young
pacer graced the Vernon backstretch, and eventually proved himself as one of
the few worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as Bret
Hanover. His name was Niatross. Moran continued about
seeing Niatross develop as a two-year-old: “Then Niatross came
along, and Clint Galbraith developed him on the Vernon
backstretch. I crossed the paddock one night, saw Clint after
Niatross had won a couple baby races, and said ‘That’s kind of a nice colt
you’ve got there,’ and he said ‘Jim, he’s gonna be something
special.’ Sure enough, he became Horse of the Year two times.”
Moran has seen many developments in
harness racing through his time documenting the sport, namely in terms of
safety and speed. “By taking out the hub rail and putting the
plastic wheel discs on the racebikes, the sport became a lot safer, and in
turn, faster through improvement of the breed and equipment,” Moran explained. “In the first season at Vernon Downs there were only four 2:00
miles. Last year, 1,100 of the races were 2:00 miles, including two
of the fastest miles ever here.”
In addition to calling a “Who’s Who” of harness racing athletes,
both human and equine, Moran has been feted for his efforts as a harness racing
publicist and historian on numerous occasions. He received the North
America Harness Publicists Association’s Golden Pen Award in 1990, was elected
to the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame in 2003, and was inducted into the
Communicators’ Corner of the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 2009.
While Moran looks forward to more time with his wife of 49 years
Suzanne, their three children, and three grandchildren, he has every plan
on capping his career at Vernon on a very high note. “There are
things I’m going to miss about the sport, I’m sure, and as far as calling the
last race goes, I hope I can still do the job like I used to. I’ve
told people in recent years that I may not be as good as I once was, but I can
be good once as I ever was, and hopefully I’ll be as good once
on Opening Night.”
