Jason Beem

Jason Beem was just 23 years old when he had his first panic attack, but remembers it in excruciating detail to this day. "I was in law school at Gonzaga University. I was in constitutional law class and I didn't know what it was and walked out of class and freaked out in the hallway." That episode was the beginning of over a decade-and-a-half struggle with anxiety and depression that caused him to leave racing for a period, and be hospitalized several times. The popular racecaller and podcast host talks...

Popular podcast host and race track announcer Jason Beem joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss the highs and lows of his time in the racing world and share some of his favorite race-calling stories.

Grants Pass Downs was plunged into complete darkness eight seconds into the running of the final race of the meet Tuesday evening when the half-mile track's lights cut out unexpectedly, leaving the field of six sprinters barreling blindly into the first bend of a three-turn race. Two jockeys were unseated from their mounts before the field hit the finish wire the first time, and both were subsequently treated for foot injuries at a local hospital. No horses were injured during the blackout, Grants Pass Downs president Randy Evers told TDN...

Matt Dinerman will announce the races at Grants Pass Downs for the final five days of the track's 2021 spring/summer meet. Dinerman, the voice of Golden Gate Fields, is filling in for Jason Beem, who begins his term as track announcer at Tampa Bay Downs this week. "I'm really excited to pinch-hit for Jason Beem at Grants Pass Downs," Dinerman said. "It's fun to call races at a new venue and equally enjoyable to meet new people who share the same passion in horse racing." One of the races Dinerman...

Jason Beem, who has called races at numerous Thoroughbred tracks since 2006, has been hired as the announcer at Tampa Bay Downs. He will begin on June 30, the first day of the track's two-day Summer Festival of Racing. The 41-year-old University of Washington graduate currently announces at Grants Pass Downs in Oregon and will begin his third season at Colonial Downs July 19. At Tampa Bay Downs, he replaces Richard Grunder, who retired on May 2 after 37 years and more than 37,000 races at the Oldsmar oval. "I...