Trevor Denman Brings In $2,200 for Charity

How popular is horse racing announcer Trevor Denman?

Judging from what happened Thursday night at a charity golf tournament in La Verne, the answer is very popular.

Denman was among four sports celebrities on a roundtable panel during post-tournament festivities at the third annual Sowing Seeds for Life Celebrity Tournament for Charity at Sierra La Verne Country Club.

Sowing Seeds for Life is a non-profit charity that provides food for some 8,000 needy people per month.

Denman made the short drive to Sierra La Verne from Fairplex Park, where he had called that day’s races. He arrived just before the start of a live auction.

Asked if he would agree to having a visit to his broadcast booth at added as an auction item, Denman readily agreed. All he requested was to that the minimum bid be $250.

 “If there are no takers at that price, I will donate the $250,” Denman said.

Denman had no worries. When the bidding reached $1,100, Joe Feinberg of the Feinberg Shuler financial management group, the event’s title sponsor, said he too would also pay $1,100 if Denman would agree to doing it twice.

Denman gladly did.

“You didn’t know you were that popular, did you?” a tournament official later told Denman, who appeared to be taken aback by the whole thing.

“Make sure they know that is for four people, not just two,” Denman said.

Racing returns to Santa Anita Sept. 30, opening day of the new Santa Anita Autumn meeting.

Also on the panel at Sierra La Verne Thursday night was former Laker assistant coach Frank Hamblen, who won seven NBA championships (two in Chicago, five in Los Angeles) while sitting next to Phil Jackson. The others were Los Angeles Times sports columnist and former sports editor Bill Dwyre and former Laker player George Lynch, a first-round pick in 1993 after leading the North Carolina Tar Heels to a national championship.  Sugar Shane Mosley was scheduled to appear on the panel but couldn’t make it. So Dwyre went from moderator to panelist.

All of the panelists were very good, but it was Denman who seemed to get the most attention.

Among other things, he talked about the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic and his unbelievable call when Zenyatta, the amazing filly, came from far behind to beat the boys. As Dwyre pointed out, the cadence of Denman’s of “un-be-live-a-ble” seemed to match Zenyatta’s last strides toward the finish line.

“There’s no question that is my all-time most memorable race,” Denman told the gathering at Sierra La Verne.

At the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., when Zenyatta got nosed out by a horse named Blame to lose for the first time in 20 races, the almost always objective Denman admits he was rooting for Zenyatta.

According to the L.A. Times, this was his call: “Blame on the inside, Zenyatta on the outside. Blame. Zenyatta. Zen-Yat-Ta. ZEN-YAT-TA. Zenyatta is flying. Blame and Zen-Yat-Ta and Blame has won it by a head. Zenyatta has run her heart out and had to settle for second.”

Denman began calling races in Southern California at Santa Anita in 1983, and said in all that time he has openly rooted only twice. He prides himself in being objective. “I don’t bet and I never care who wins,” he said. But he did that day in November 2010 at Churchill Downs.

The other time he rooted was jockey Bill Shoemaker’s last ride on Feb. 4, 1990, in the fifth race at Santa Anita. When it appeared Shoemaker might actually win, Denman said, “Come on, Shoe.”

For the record, Eddie Delahoussaye won that race on Exemplary Leader. But Denman’s call made it a memorable day for Shoemaker.

When the time comes for Denman to make his final call, Shoemaker, who died in 2003, might be saying from above, “Come on, Trevor.”