Every so often, one has to take a break from the drudgery of analysing the state of the horseracing industry globally and its impact on sport as a spectacle promoted for entertainment.
Today it is time to pay tribute to one of the most outstanding personalities and a major operative whose lasting contribution has been stellar and to date, has done more than anyone entrusted with marketing the sport could ever achieve.
With the gifted Peter Aiello’s, Gulfstream Park race caller extraordinaire, here last Monday, the timing of this article could not have been more appropriate. For those who may not be aware, Mr Aiello’s delivery style and knowledge of form puts him on par with the elites of this profession. Englishman the late Sir Peter Bromley, Trevor Denman, migrant South African plying his craft on the California circuit, and our own the late Chris Armond.
Brian Rickman, ‘Spuddy’ to his friends and other associates, is a 1974 graduate of Munro College and joined the promoting company as assistant track announcer to the legendary Chris Armond in 1979 and has joined the select band of all-time greats.
From the very early stages of his career, Brian, blessed with a powerful and astonishingly clear-speaking voice, gave notice he had the special gift and with it the potential to become a legend in his own right.
It soon became abundantly clear he possessed the invaluable necessary asset of instant recall, rapid thought and faultless expression. Commentary on each race, whether it is the Jamaica Derby or a field of $200,000 claimers, is executed with equal professionalism and unerring accuracy.
The description of owners’ colours and caps worn by the jockeys is integral to his style. Naming all 16 starters and their positions in under 30 seconds in races over 1000 metres is another remarkable feature of a Brian Rickman presentation.
The lead advantage of front a runner is followed by an accurate identification of the position and distance from the lead of each horse as the race progresses and needs no confirmation by the form book.
Listeners are told when a jockey “takes a peek in the rear-view mirror," when a jockey is “whaling away with a right hand or left-hand whip and whenever the rider “changes his hands.” A horse on the bridle is “under a snug wrap,” and an outpaced or detached back marker “has a mountain to climb.”
A challenged front runner is being “attacked all the while,” and a leader under pressure near the finish is out of gas and therefore “running on fumes”. There are of course many other metaphors to keep listeners enthralled.
After a distinguished near-decade stint as auctioneer with the Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders Association at their annual Yearling Sale, the racing fraternity in Trinidad & Tobago has for many years invited Brian to perform the similar function there. It is a testimony to the quality of his work that huge numbers of persons, mainly women, not interested in the sport take the time to enjoy his delivery.
Brian Rickman, track announcer, horse sales auctioneer and commentator extraordinaire, has been the voice of local horse racing for most of the last three decades, and unquestionably his work has risen to the level of the most effective marketer of the Sport of Kings in Jamaica and overseas where Caymanas racing is broadcast.
