Page 8 - January 2008 The Game

8 The Game, January 2008
GMiving Praise when Praise is Due
Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
or the past 30 years Michael Guilmette
Born in Fort Erie, Michael had been attending the local races since the age of 13 becoming interested in calling when the late Daryl Wells Sr. retired.
ost often in our busy comes to foot-work.
lives we forget to pass Tom cited another example
F
Fulfilling a 30 Year Dream
along recognition of a job well done opting rather to speak
of our hardships and troubled times when asked how things are going.
of a horse he claimed for $4000. Ransom Road had won 3 races before the claim however his foot began bleed- ing one morning after training. John grooved out the hoof, sewed it up and patched it and the horse continued on to win 9 of his 11 starts this season.
had wanted to become a race caller. Now at the age of 63 his voice can be heard over the speakers at Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw, Oklahoma.
“Every now and then I read about a track an- nouncer either retiring or moving on to another job,” Michael wrote in an email to The Game, “but it always seemed by the time I inquired the positions were lled.”
That is why it was refresh- ing to hear from Tom Rycroft who had a terri c story to tell about the work of Alberta farrier, John MacKenzie.
“The horses are sound as can be and their feet don’t bother them at all,” praises Tom, “He’ll be ready to run again this Spring.”
“I started practicing in the grandstands and a few people commented that my calls were pretty good and that I could be an announcer.” said Michael in a recent interview.
In 1996 Michael read that the track announcer at Thistledown was leaving for New York, so Sharon and himself drove to Cleveland only to nd that the position, once again, had already been lled.
Tom purchased the mare Miss Combo at Woodbine and shipped her to Calgary to race in the Spring however a bad quarter crack meant that she would have to be turned out for the summer instead.
Tom, a leading trainer in the bush B circuit with 33 wins, 46 seconds, and 32 thirds in more than 200 starts, knows a good thing when he sees it. He’s been training for more than 35 years and along with his wife Carol
A few years later he completed a broadcasting course at the National Institute of Broadcasting in Toronto and began working at CJFT in Fort Erie.
However because they had made a long journey to the track, Race Track Manager, Mike Mackie, offered Michael a chance to call a race and was sent home with a recorded tape of the 1 1/16th mile race which he called.
At the suggestion of his son Tim Rycroft, Farrier John MacKenzie was called in to look at the 7-year-old mare and he proceeded to sew and patch the crack.
Michael’s connection with the race track ran deep. Michael himself walked hots for top trainer Larry Moorhead and was also head groom for 1990’s leading trainer Karl Frayne. Bob Maxwell, the father of Michael’s wife Sharon, was a long-time jockey in Canada and the United States and his brother in-law, Joe Maxwell, was the photo nish photographer with the OJC in the 1960’s.
“I submitted the tape to Daryl Wells Jr. just a few years ago for his critique but shortly after
I had the beginnings of a tear in my retina so I never asked his opinion of my tape.” explained Michael as a prelude to his opportunity to call a race at Fort Erie.
Miss Combo went on to have 6 wins, a second and a third in 10 starts this season, which Tom admits would not have been the case if not for John MacKenzie’s handiwork.
of 45 years, have raised 3 children: Tim, the eldest is training in Edmonton and Calgary; Clinton, runs the oil business and tends to the cows on the family farm; and Riley, a successful jockey agent on the B circuit.
Today, Michael’s son Tony is a blacksmith currently working at Woodbine and Tony’s wife Linda is an owner/trainer in Ontario.
Shortly after Daryl Wells Jr. retired from the announcer position and Daryl Ezra was hired, Michael proposed the idea of becoming a back- up race caller. “In October 2006, I called a 6 1/2 furlong race at Fort Erie, and everyone, including the two Daryl’s said it was a good call and I was given a DVD of my call.” said Michael.
John MacKenzie starting shoeing on the A Circuit in Alberta and has now won
over the thoroughbred racing crowd with his knowledge and exceptional results when it
“John MacKenzie is good at what he does and he is
a professional.” says Tom, “I just wanted people to know that.”
Over the years Michael had applied for numerous positions as a race caller at various racetracks including Fort Erie. Unfortunately the positions always seemed to ll quite quickly. He always kept an ear out for an opening while
Taking a different approach, Michael then wrote to several racetracks explaining his desire for a job as track announcer, enclosing copies of his DVD for consideration.
working as a truck dispatcher for Fort Erie, Windsor and Toronto.
“In July of this year, Blue Ribbon Downs asked to see my DVD. They liked it and offered me a job.”
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Michael with excitement, “The horses are going to the starting gate, and that means one thing.....it is now post-time.
“My wife says she hears people in the grandstand chiming in and beating me to the punch line.”
Michael says that he did steal the phrase from his favourite race caller, the late Fred Capisella, who called in New York.
“Fred used to say “The crowd is beginning to gather along the rail, and that means one thing....it is now post-time!”
“Of course, now a days, rarely do you get a crowd along the rail so I did a variation on his call, as a kind of tribute
to him.”
With the Blue
Ribbon Downs season nished for 2007, Mi- chael is hoping to be invited back for 2008.
“I did get a late start at calling, but I hope to
be calling for a number of years more.”
The Game January 2008.indd
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