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SPORTS

Is this why Churchill's losing caller?

Gregory A. Hall
@gregoryahall

Churchill Downs is looking for a new track announcer to replace Larry Collmus, who next year will become the voice of the New York Racing Association. Collmus will replace the now-retired legendary announcer Tom Durkin.

NYRA track announcer Tom Durkin looks down at the Belmont Park homestretch while calling the first race of the day on May 26, 2008, days before Big Brown attempted to win the Triple Crown.

Anyone wondering why Collmus would jump ship for the Aqueduct Racetrack-Belmont Park-Saratoga Race Course circuit got their answer in a fine bit of reporting by the Albany Times-Union.

Thanks to the state takeover of NYRA, the operator of the three tracks, the company is now a public agency (which once led to the release of the names of the season box holders at Saratoga).

An open records request produced Durkin's contract.

"His contract paid him $440,000 in 2014 for 100 days of calling races at NYRA tracks. That includes $430,000 in base pay and an annual extra $10,000 stipend for working in Saratoga Springs, where he resides."

While Collmus' deal hasn't been inked yet, according to the Times-Union, and very well could be for less than Durkin, the pricetag of the Durkin contract shows the Big Apple carries big greenbacks.