track announcer

Richard Grunder, the track announcer at Tampa Bay Downs for the past 37 years, is hanging up his binoculars after the May 2 card. Citing health concerns, the 68-year-old has chosen to retire after a lifetime spent in the sport. He is believed to have called in the vicinity of 37,000 races at Tampa Bay Downs and is currently the longest-tenured announcer at any racetrack in the country. "My goal a few years back was to try to go until I was 70, but I've got a medical situation I...

Luis Grandison, a Black Latino who is a native of Panama and who served as the New York Racing Association's Spanish language race caller from 2014 through March 2020, has sued NYRA claiming he was discriminated against because he was paid less than white Americans who call the races in English. According to a suit filed Tuesday in Brooklyn Federal Court, Grandison was paid $60,000 a year. The suit claims that long-time NYRA announcer Tom Durkin earned $440,000 a year before retiring in 2014 and that his replacement, Larry Collmus,...

ELMONT, NY - After winning a contest in the New York Daily News back in 1979, John Imbriale got his first taste of the announcer's booth and press office at the New York Racing Association, and has been part of the fabric at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga ever since. A jack of all trades, Imbriale served as a backup to the legendary racecaller Tom Durkin beginning in 1990 and has held several behind-the-scenes roles with NYRA TV throughout the years as well. Appointed to the position of head announcer in...