Courtesy of Becky Johnston
Vic Stauffer was a hit at Indiana Academy (high school) this spring.
I forwarded his great call of a race and a remarkable recovery by a
filly to a friend's daughter. She showed
it to many or her classmates who first asked "Why are you watching horse
racing?" Afterwards, they all had the
same response, "WOW".
Hollywood Park Race 7-April 23, 2009
There are only a handful of
announcers that I can put in with Vic.
In fact, I think I would only need two fingers to name my
favorites. Fortunately, I have been able
to tell Vic on numerous occasions how much I admire his work. All too often, we find reasons to be critical
of people and our nature lends itself to finding our voice at those times. While dissent should be vocalized, it is just
as important when you can tell someone they do a great job.
Vic is truly one of the good guys
and a great ambassador for this sport.
When it comes to being fan-friendly, I'm not sure anyone can top
him. I awoke July 4th to an
email including photos of Zenyatta with Vic on the end of the shank. He deemed it "an audience with the
Queen". I had guests last week and did
not get a chance to write him a proper reply, but showed the pictures to
everyone. When I heard he was ill on
Sunday, I could have kicked myself for not telling him how much I enjoyed the
photos.
This past Saturday, Hollywood Gold
Cup Day, we had a houseful here in Florida. I was fortunate
enough to be hosting the Indiana Academy student who loved Vic's call and passed it around amongst
her friends. Not only that, Allicansayis
Wow was scheduled to run. The television
announcers were sure she could not duplicate her synthetic form on the
turf. I did what any good gambling role
model for a teenager would do and I grumbled over to my laptop and brimming
with confidence, I loaded up on her. I know
Vic would have approved. When she won,
we nearly blew the roof off the house. A
winner for us and another great call by Vic was in the books.
Here is a salute to Vic Stauffer
and a get-well wish from his Florida Fan Club.
Perched in a precarious rooftop
box Vic calls a "SHAKER" June 16, 2005
"NO WAY DOES HE CATCH THE WINNER"
2005 Hollywood
Gold Cup - Lava Man
"YOU BETTER TAKE A LOOK AT"
11/22/07 Maiden Race - Zenyatta
"PERFECTION"
2008 Milady - Zenyatta
"WON'T GO AWAY"
2005 Florida Derby - Barbaro
"YES"
2000 Florida Derby - Hal's Hope
2008 Swaps Stakes - Tres Borrachos
"STRAIGHT AND STRONG"
2004 Swaps Stakes - Rock Hard Ten
2004 Donn Handicap - Medaglia D'Oro
2009 Hollywood
Gold Cup - Rail Trip
