Kentucky Derby 2011 Races

Collmus has been like a college kid cramming for finals. He has studied tapes of previous Kentucky Derby calls made by Durkin. He reviewed all of this year’s Derby preps again. He has pored over the past performances of every horse in the field.


Turns out Uncle MO was dealing with a gastrointestinal infection that's required antibiotics and slowed his training ahead of the grueling derby at Churchill Downs. Because of the infection, and less than 100 percent health, there's about a 50-50 chance Mo may never get out of the gates in Saturday's 2011 Kentucky Derby. And if he does, nobody has a clue whether he'll be fit enough to mount a serious challenge.

The Kentucky Derby may no longer be the biggest event of the year for serious horse racing enthusiasts – it’s been surpassed in that regard by the Breeders’ Cup – it remains the most significant and popular horse race for casual fans and the mainstream public.

Known as ‘The Run for the Roses’, the Derby is held annually on the first weekend in May at Louisville’s venerable Churchill Downs beneath the iconic “Twin Spires”. It is also a big social event in the region and the live attendance at the Kentucky Derby surpasses that of any other major stakes race in the United States. The Derby is one of the oldest major races in the sport and is the first leg of horse racing’s ‘Triple Crown’.


The Monmouth Beach resident will have a considerably different view of America’s most famous horse race Saturday. Collmus, Monmouth Park’s track announcer since 1994, has been tapped to call all three Triple Crown races for NBC-TV (Ch. 4), replacing Tom Durkin, who opted not to continue as the network’s race-caller this year.

Ever since NBC reached out to him two weeks ago and once he verified it wasn’t one of his friends playing a prank.

The fastest time ever run at the Kentucky Derby’s current distance was turned in by Secretariat in 1973 when he completed the mile and a quarter in 1 minute 59 2/5 seconds.

Further demonstrating the greatness of ‘Big Red’ was his astounding fractional times – every quarter mile of the race was faster than the one before it, which is virtually unheard of. The only other sub two minute times in the Kentucky Derby were run by Secretariat’s arch rival Sham, who finished 2/5 of a second behind the winner. In 2001, Monarchos turned in the only other sub two minute Derby run winning the race in 1:59:97.