Page 20 - July 2007 The Game

20 The Game, July 2007 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
Peter Kyte: The new 'voice' of Fort Erie racing
Fort Erie
Track Announcer Peter Kyte
Michael Burns Photo
By Harlan Abbey
"I can remember coming to the races at Fort Erie with my parents at age five or six," Peter Kyte recalled, "I always was imitating track announcers and I was taping my race calls and replaying them by the time I was 11 or 12."
Kyte, no longer the pre-teen with the "baby face, baby fat and high voice" who began calling races at the Dresden Standardbred track near Windsor, became the third race caller in the last three years at Fort Erie on May 28.
(Wells Jr. had the job for 29 years, Daryl Ezra returned to full time training at the Fort after being the track announcer in 2006, and Wells held the fort until Kyte could finish a two-week stint as traveling head groom for the Casie Coleman Stable in charge of a stakes horse at Meadowlands Race Course in New Jersey.)
"This is a homecoming for me, coming back to the Fort Erie races, where it all began," Kyte said recently. "I have the best of both worlds. I announce the races here and on my off-days I get to hang out with my wife Murielle and our daughter Emily, who was born in February. And if I feel the need to be 'hands-on' with horses I can go to Casie's farm."
Although his family moved quite a bit due to his father's work for the government, they always wound up near a racetrack where young Peter could continue his fascination with racing and being a race-caller: "Because I was so young, and young looking, they'd say 'Let the kid do it'
and I got to call the qualifying races one morning a week and also do the odd race during the regular program. I also charted races, did some in-house television, and made up tip sheets and race analysis on the computer. This was at Flamboro Downs, when we lived near Hamilton. I was only 13 and my dad would have to drive me to the track because -- of course -- I was too young to have a driver's license."
By the time he was old enough to drive, he was calling races at three Standardbred tracks: Sarnia, Woodstock Races and the Western Fair. He also became friends with Jody Jamieson, who became one of Canada's top drivers. Kyte loved going to the family's farm, mucking out stalls and gradually learning to jog horses in work-outs and picking up training tips.
He then qualified for one of 100 openings in the highly competitive three-year radio-TV program at Ryerson Polytechnic Institute in Toronto. "I really enjoyed it," he admitted, "but by the time I was in my third year I was making $500 to $600 a week with my work at the three tracks and the farm work and I thought I knew everything and didn't have to finish the program. I regret that decision."
But then, after all three tracks ended their seasons, Kyte was left with nothing to do and no income: "Jodie's father Carl was taking some horses to Florida to train so I went with him. But I found that working from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. wasn't as much fun as just 'hanging around' so I came home in January.
"Just then the Canadian Racing Network was starting in Canada
and I was fortunate to get a host
position at Woodbine, which was
seven days on, three days off, then
seven days on and four days off. It
was my first real exposure to the Thoroughbreds, although I'd
always been a fan. Now I was
getting paid to talk about my
hobby. I gained a lot of simulcast-
ing experience with big races and I really enjoyed the job."
But after a few years the situation changed. There were family problems and the long drive from his home in Burlington to and from Woodbine in rush hour traffic.
"My only quiet time was hanging around the barns," he recalled. "But some people thought that could be interpreted as a possible conflict of interest. With all those negatives adding up, I just quit my TRN job and went to work full-time for a large Standardbred stable. I have no regrets, although sometimes it was awkward to see my friends on TV in suits and ties while I was wearing dirty jeans and gum boots."
In the spring of 2006 Peter and his wife Murielle, also a competent horse person, took a stable of ten horses to Sudbury Downs. "It was a lot different than working for someone but when Murielle became pregnant and the meet ended in November I realized I couldn't 'play horsey' anymore. I'd have had to hire someone to replace her, for one thing. So I sold the horses she and I owned, blew dust off some resumes,
updated them, sent them out, came home to Burlington and moved in with Jody .
"But when no one answered the resumes, I took a job with the Casie Coleman Stables in December. In mid-May I took a stakes horse to the Meadowlands and was somewhat bored and lonely when a friend from TRN, Bud Williams, called me. He told me about the opening at Fort Erie and had talked to Daryl (Wells) about me. I called Daryl and told him I was committed to stay in New Jersey for two weeks but begged him not to hire anyone in the interim."
"Bud and everyone else I talked to about Peter gave him glowing
recommendations," said Wells, and Kyte's persistent calls convinced him that Peter was the man for the announcer's job.
Kyte said there are two main differences in calling Thoroughbred races as compared to trotters and pacers:
"First, the race scenarios are very, very different, especially in sprint races, which are much faster paced than the mile Standardbred races. In few trotting or pacing races do you see five horses abreast, for example. In the sprints you have to get the information out in a minute and ten or 12 seconds. The route races are somewhat slower paced and you use a slower cadence.
"Secondly, you can't learn the horses' names simply by studying the numbers or using a distinguishing race bike colors, as you could with Standardbreds. I had to retrain myself. Now, I try to focus on the most distinguishing factor of the horse and jockey unit: A pink noseband, for example. But something new is always exciting.
"I've had to change some of my terminology. For example, I used to say a horse was 'going into the flow,' which with a trotter or pacer meant he was getting in to contention. I don't use that any more. I want to have fun with my race calls, but not try to be too cute.
"On our dark days, I enjoy being with my family and doing the ordinary things: Trips to the mall, barbeques with friends. But I still like to be outdoors and I can always go to Casie's farm, hang out and jog a couple of horses. My mother, wife and daughter all were here on Father's Day and as a horse-lover my wife can get to see the horses.
"I feel very, very fortunate. Race-calling came naturally, training horses was much harder. I think I can be in the top 10 percent of track announcers easier than I could be in the top 10 percent of trainers."
Monday, Noon, July 23rd, 2007
Glen Eagle Golf Course
Golf Dinner Auction Prizes Tickets only $150
All Proceeds Go To Race Track Chaplaincy of
Canada (Ontario)
Call 905.713.4783 for tickets and info
A portion of ticket price is tax deductable
Fort Erie Celebrates it Birthday!
Cutting the cake at Fort Erie’s Sesquicentennial Celebrations at Fort Erie Racetrack on June 10 are: (left to right) Dave Renshaw; Dareck Stevenson, GM of Fort Erie Slots at the Racetrack; Cathy Dennahower, representing Erie-Lincoln MP Tim Hudak; MP Rob Nicholson, Minister of Justice and Attorney General; and Doug Martin, Mayor of Fort Erie. Michael Burns Photo
CHAPLAINCY GOLF TOURNAMENT