Horseplaying and race watching and racing in general is for men, right? Just go to a teletheatre and look around. Men, men, and more men. Listen to the PA system at a racetrack. Men. Well, something is about to change this evening at Grand River Raceway.
Dawn Lupal, with a background in racing and in television, gets her shot behind the mic, and might very well be the first woman to call a harness race for a whole card.
Brav-freaking-o.
Are you like me and can not believe this has not happened before? Are we behind the times in racing, or what? Phyllis George was on NFL Today in 1977 or 1978. Reporters for a "man's game" like football are roving the sidelines on a weekly basis. Sure, they might not be colour commentators because they have not played in the NFL, and the motives of placing them on at times was for other obvious reasons, but they have been on TV for thirty or forty years.
In racing, a woman who has trained a horse, or ridden them, or handicaps them, or drives them (just like men) has never gotten a shot to describe a horse race? Poppycock.
I hope she kicks some major ass and does very well. Kudos to Spencer and the crew at Grand River for getting her in the booth.
6 comments:
I'm almost positive Freefold had a female announcer do a whole card in the 1999-2001 range.
During Jug Week you will see Ellie Sarama do interviews before and after the races at Delaware; she is certainly knowledgable. She also used to do the simulcast show at Freehold years ago and if memory serves me correctly, she did some of the televised crown events when it traveled to different tracks.
Congratulations to Dawn and I wish her well tonight. That being said, to attract new people, both women and men, probably having women doing the simulcast shows would be the best thing to grow the sport if we are using 'sex' to draw in new people.
Women drivers would also help. I've often said we need to get women driving more regularly like you have female jockeys at most tracks. The few that drive now tend to drive only their own stock that they own. There should be a program to encourage women to take up driving; not give them unfair advantages, but to encourage them to take up driving and work their way up. Each harness track should have at least one female driver that drives at least a few races each night.
That was Gen Sullivan [my full sister in blood] and she only called a race or two. She called at Goshen too.
I would love to hear the following females calla race: Joan Rivers, Kim Gordon, Hillary Clinton and Maya Angelou.
I commend Dawn for breaking a barrier of sorts; however, after listening to a couple of calls I must say she is quite monotone and boring.
She did a really good job. I'm sure she was nervous, and yes a bit monotone, but that is easy to overcome with practice.
Oh, and the only reason I watched was because I was busy losing a little at Mountaineer:)
Good job by Dawn. If she did it every night she would find a groove.
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