I’ll Miss Luke
Earlier this week, Luke Kruytbosch was found dead in an apartment in Evansville, IN where he was the race caller for Ellis Park. There have been, of course, many news articles about his passing. Comments from people like Trevor Denman and Mike Battaglia have paid tribute to Luke as both a race caller and a person. I did not know Luke as a person, but he was a favorite announcer of mine. I mean no disrespect to Tom Durkin, but I could never wait to visit the Churchill Downs website to hear Luke’s call of the Kentucky Derby. His deep voice, his cadence, and his effeciency of speech was a pleasure to listen to and provided needed insight to bettors.
I was always amazed at how he not only called the action but peppered his delivery with nuggets of info that made races that I may not have even handicapped very interesting. As a fictitious example, one might hear on a Thursday afternoon in a $25,ooo claimer something like this; “Larry Melancon in the Klein silks moves the filly So-and-So to the rail exiting the chute.” There is a lot in that sentence, and to say it during a race call is quite impressive.
Two of my favorite, oft-uttered nuggets of his were “set down for the drive” and “three parts of a length in front.” I don’t know why, they just sounded like Luke.
The last race I ever heard him call live was this year’s Stephen Foster; a Grade 1 race for a Grade A race caller.