December 16, 2011
Tom Durkin and Larry Collmus Headline the year’s 40th and final Session of “Night School” Fan Education Forum
Track Announcers/Chart Callers to Serve as the Evening’s Topic
“Night School”—the racing industry’s first national, interactive online fan education forum—offers its 40th and final session of the year on Monday, December 19. Presenting title sponsors of the program are the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form (DRF), the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) and Keeneland.
Co-hosted by Horseplayernow.com owners Jeremy Plonk and Joe Kristufek, the weekly Night School lessons are offered free to any racing fan who wants to learn more about the game. The 90-minute sessions, which take place from 8:30-10:00 p.m. (ET), offer both novice and advance-level fan education.
This week's Night School session focus will focus on track announcers and chart callers. Racing fans and handicappers will get an inside look at how horses are followed by the industry's leading eyes in the sky. Legendary NYRA announcer Tom Durkin will be among the session’s “Guest Instructors”. Joining Durkin will be NBC Sports Triple Crown announcer Larry Collmus of Gulfstream Park and Monmouth Park; Remington Park track announcer Dale Day; and Chuck Scaravilli, director of track and field operations for Equibase, the industry's official data provider.
Horse Player NOW's Joe Kristufek, Caton Bredar and Jeremy Plonk will co-host Night School this week, and Plonk will lend his personal expertise as a former chart caller in the field for Equibase. The session also will include video insights from Hawthorne Race Course track announcer Peter Galassi and Chicago-based Equibase chart caller David Miller.
While the 2011 Night School lesson plan ends with this Monday's
topic, do note that a special, 90-minute Night School Santa
Anita Meet Preview has been added to the calendar for Thursday,
December 22 starting at 9:00 p.m. (ET). Popular jockey Joe
Talamo and handicappers Jeff Siegel and Kurt Hoover are among
the panelists who will analyze the West’s premier winter racing
meet, which has its traditional opening day on December 26.
Fans who registered for at least 20 of the 40 Night School
sessions in 2011 will receive a sponsor prize package and
diploma through E-mail just after the New Year. Registrations
also can be submitted by watching archived Night School sessions
simply by inputting information at the Registration prompts
within each of the archived topics. Deadline to register via
archive for the 2011 diploma and prize package will be 12:00
midnight (ET) on December 23.
For more information on the 2012 Night School season, be sure to
join the official mailing list at Horseplayernow.com.
Accompanying each session of Night School are relevant study
materials, available for download, that pertain to the weekly
topic. This week’s study materials on track announcers and chart
callers can be downloaded now at:
http://www.horseplayernow.com/STUDY121911.pdf
For an advance look at Monday night's video introduction from Joe Kristufek on track announcers and chart callers, visit the Night School Youtube page at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTMo4ouCJVM
Each of the lessons over the 40 weeks will be archived, creating an educational library via the popular Cover It Live live-blogging technology used by many of the world’s leading news agencies.
Participating NTRA-member Web sites include:
AQHARacing.com
Calracing.com
Canterburypark.com
Delmarscene.com
DMTC.com (Del Mar)
DRF.com (Daily Racing Form)
Emeralddowns.com
Hastingspark.com
Hollywoodpark.com
Losalamitos.com
Lonestarpark.com
Monmouthpark.com
Mtrracetrack.com (Mountaineer Park)
NTRA.com
NYRA.com
Presqueisledowns.com
Remingtonpark.com
Santaanita.com
Suffolkdowns.com
Sunland-Park.com
Turfway.com
Woodbineentertainment.com
Other Web sites participating in Night School include:
ag.arizona.edu/rtip (University of Arizona)
Arlingtonpark.com
Calderracecourse.com
Churchilldowns.com
Fairgroundsracecourse.com
Gulfstreampark.com
Hawthorneracecourse.com
HorseplayerNOW.com
HRTV.com
XpressBet.com
The NTRA is a broad-based coalition of horse racing interests consisting of leading Thoroughbred racetracks, owners, breeders, trainers, horseplayers and affiliated horse racing associations, charged with increasing the popularity of horse racing and improving economic conditions for industry participants. The NTRA has offices in Lexington, Ky., and New York City. NTRA press releases appear on the NTRA web site, NTRA.com.
Contact: Eric Wing (212) 521-5316