Lies to follow Lone Star Park with Remington Park caller position

John Lies’ childhood dream of becoming a horse racing announcer came to fruition during the Lone Star Park meet this spring, and he will follow that with being the caller at the Remington Park thoroughbred meet in Oklahoma City which begins August 5.

Lies, who complemented the regular caller at last year’s Santa Rosa fair meet and was a weekend substitute last year at Ellis Park, obtained his first job as a regular caller for the Lone Star Park meet which ran from April 14 to July 17.

“It went really well,” Lies said.

The 28-year-old Lies desired to be a horse racing announcer even as a child. His father, Richard Lies, is a recently-retired San Luis Rey Downs Thoroughbred Training Center horse trainer, and Lies considers Del Mar to be his home track. When he was eight he met Del Mar announcer Trevor Denman and showed off his announcing. Lies’ demonstration imitated Denman’s style and Denman, who is still the Del Mar caller, advised Lies to use his own voice and style. Lies paid attention to Denman’s suggestion, and each year Lies has visited Denman, who has been supportive of Lies’ career goals and has continued to provide Lies with advice.

Lies attended elementary school in Vista before his family moved to Fallbrook. He started junior high school at Potter Junior High School and then spent four years at Fallbrook High School before graduating in 1994. Lies participated on the “Morning News” closed-circuit television broadcasts at Fallbrook High School, although he did not provide sports news, and he also sang and played piano while at Fallbrook High School. Lies was a Communications Studies major and a Music minor at Westmont College. His sports debut behind a microphone occurred at Westmont, where he sang the National Anthem prior to the school’s basketball games.

Lies graduated from Westmont in 1998 and was the press box steward during the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club meet that summer. He followed that with a media and publicity position at Santa Anita Park, where he wrote the stable notes. He also became involved in training as an assistant trainer for John Sadler and Vladimir Cerin.

His experience as an assistant trainer convinced him that his strength would be with an announcing position rather than as a trainer, but he considers the work experience with another aspect of horse racing to have been valuable.

Lies also provided stretch calls and results for radio stations KNX and The Mighty 1090, and he appeared on morning talk shows in California and Las Vegas. His first announcing assignment stemmed from a radio show on Kentucky Derby Day in 2004 he co-hosted with Vic Stauffer.

Lies performed some practice calls for Stauffer, who was impressed by Lies’ skills. Stauffer is the regular announcer at Santa Rosa, and he was able to provide Lies with some actual announcing experience at the fair meet. Lies’ initial nervousness subsided as the Santa Rosa meet progressed, and he called 15 races during the meet which ran from July 28 to August 9 last year.

Lies called an additional 30 races at Ellis Park in Kentucky from August 21 to August 23. Luke Kruytbosch, the regular caller at Ellis Park, came to Del Mar for Pacific Classic Weekend last year and asked Stauffer to recommend a substitute announcer. Stauffer suggested Lies, and the arrangement worked well for everybody.

The 45 races Lies called in 2004 gave him material for a demo tape. He sent that tape to a handful of tracks. Darren Rogers, the director of communications at Lone Star Park, was the recipient of one of the tapes.

“I just wanted him to give me some feedback,” Lies explained.

Lone Star Park had announcer Michael Wrona, and Lies thought he had little chance of upending Wrona from his position. Lies only sent the tapes because he knew Rogers, who had previously worked at Santa Anita Park and Hollywood Park.

Lies received what he sought from Rogers. “He really liked my tape. He gave me very positive feedback,” Lies remarked.

Wrona called the Breeder’s Cup for Lone Star Park in 2004, but the announcer and the track were not able to reach terms on a contract for 2005. Wrona called the spring 2005 meet at Golden Gate Park in Northern California. Lone Star Park was in need of an announcer for 2005, and Rogers asked Lies to send tapes of additional races for evaluation.

Lies sent those additional tapes. “They were very, very pleased,” he said.

Lies was interviewed by Lone Star Park in February and hired in March.

“They felt that taking a chance on somebody kind of new and fresh would be a good idea,” he noted. “After about two or three days, they were convinced they had done the right thing.”

The races at Santa Rosa and Ellis Park had removed Lies’ nervousness about being able to fulfill the duties of a caller, but announcing at such a prominent track as Lone Star Park, especially during the first horse races there following the 2004 Breeder’s Cup, was a challenge.

“I was jumping into a track that has really gained a good reputation,” Lies noted. “It was particularly exciting, too, because I knew I had very big shoes to fill.”

A well-received performance turned out not to be an obstacle. “I was pleasantly surprised after about the first day or two. I could see that it was going to go just fine,” Lies said.

“They got a lot of positive feedback about the new announcer,” Lies noted. “And that continued through the meet.”

At the end of the 67-day meet, Lies was offered the chance to return to Lone Star Park for next year’s thoroughbred meet. “I’ll be back,” he said.

Lies doesn’t take all the credit for his positive reviews at Lone Star Park. “Management was very, very helpful in terms of accommodating me,” he noted. “They made the transition very smooth.”

Lies announced from a seventh-floor booth, giving him a good view of the track, and he also praised the track’s lighting. “It’s easy to see when they run at night,” he remarked.

The lifelong California resident had some adjustments to make with the track in Grand Prairie, TX, which is in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“The weather was kind of new,” he noted.

Not only did Lies experience Texas heat and humidity during the spring and summer, but he also experienced a weather delay during closing week when the track opted to wait out a thunderstorm rather than expose the horses to lightning. “Thunderstorms were popular in Texas,” Lies quipped.

“It was too hot there, but the people are great, so I guess it’s kind of a trade-off,” Lies said of Lone Star Park.

Lies noted that the fans who patronized the track are appreciative of the sport. “There’s a sense of excitement about it,” he remarked.

Lies expects to see that same excitement at Remington Park. Although

there is not an official “circuit,” Lone Star Park and Remington Park are both owned by Magna Entertainment Corporation, which is trying to promote the two tracks as sister tracks. Lies’ performance at Lone Star Park earned him the caller’s job at Remington Park. “That was pretty much in the plan all along,” he said.

Remington Park will create another new atmosphere for Lies, as the State of Oklahoma recently approved the use of slot machines at the state’s racetracks and slots will be new at Remington Park for this year’s meet.

The Remington Park position has not yet turned into a multi-year opportunity. “Whatever they want to do has yet to be worked out,” Lies noted.

The 66-day Remington Park meet will end November 27. “Remains to be seen what will happen at that point,” Lies remarked.

Horse racing has fewer winter meets than spring or summer meets, although Lies may serve as a backup caller between the end of the Remington Park meet and the beginning of the 2006 Lone Star Park meet. “Nothing specific in mind. We’ll just see what happens,” he said.