For nearly everyone even remotely associated with the Southern California thoroughbred racing circuit, the opening of Del Mar's annual 43-day summer season has been awaited for months with the same breathless anticipation of a child longing for Christmas morning.

Take it from a 55-year-old kid whose birthday is Christmas Day and favorite racetrack has long been Del Mar: When these two days finally arrive, the excitement is virtually uncontrollable. 

Nestled a couple of furlongs from the beach and 20 miles north of San Diego, Del Mar opened in 1937 under the guidance of an ownership team that included renowned entertainer Bing Crosby and actor Pat O'Brien. Even though the Del Mar meeting means business as usual for horsemen, who diligently prepare their animals to compete for the richest average daily purses in California, they eagerly embrace these seven weeks as a working vacation.

After the early morning chores are dispatched, there's time for a round of golf or a swim in the ocean, then an exciting afternoon at the races, followed by an evening of dining, dancing or innumerable other forms of entertainment at the abundant supply of five-star restaurants and night spots throughout the greater metropolitan San Diego area.

Horseplayers are anxiously attuned to two particular sounds at Del Mar. One is actual music, the other is music to their ears. 

The first sound is Crosby's rendition of the song he wrote for his track, "Where the Turf Meets the Surf  Down at Old Del Mar." Every day since the track's opening, patrons have heard a recording of Crosby crooning the tune over the public address system, alerting them that the first horse has just entered the track for the post parade of the afternoon's first race. 

The second sound is the inimitably descriptive racing commentary provided by track announcer Trevor Denman.  It would be difficult to overstate the impact Denman has had on thoroughbred racing in the past 17 years. 

Since emigrating from his native South Africa to join Santa Anita on a full-time basis for the 1983 Oak Tree meeting, the 47-year-old Denman has become widely acclaimed as one of the finest race callers not only of this era, but of all-time. The only possible competition he could have for the unofficial title of America's best racing commentator would come from Tom Durkin, who describes the action at New York Racing Association tracks. But Durkin would be a distant second if the vote were taken in California. 

Denman again will be manning the microphone when Del Mar re-opens on July 26. He is also track announcer at Santa Anita for both the winter/spring meeting and the Oak Tree autumn session. 

There wasn't a great deal of difference between race callers before he came along. Most fell into one of two categories---either coldly clinical or simply dull and boring. 

But Denman has turned the job into an art form, painting vivid word pictures with his descriptively narrative style. He has breathed life, color and excitement where formerly tedium prevailed as often as not. Hearing him describe the unfolding drama makes watching it seem nearly superfluous. 

What really sets him apart from nearly all other race callers is his uncanny knack of knowing when a horse is about to suddenly spurt forward or quickly retreat well before it happens. 

"I was a jockey in South Africa and rode competitively for several years, so I feel I have a keener sense of what's developing during a race than other commentators," Denman said. 

"The real key to knowing how a horse is going comes from watching the rider's hands, the hold he's got on the reins and what he does with the whip." 

Denman elaborated: 

"There are four stages to watch for. The first is when the horse jumps out of the gate and the rider takes hold (of the reins). At any point in the race, if he's keeping a tight hold, he hasn't asked the horse to run yet and he's probably got plenty left. 

"Second, watch his hands. When he starts pushing them (up and down the horse's neck, also called 'scrubbing'), he's asking him to keep the pace going. 

"The third stage is when he shows him the whip, waving it alongside as a reminder to keep going on with it. 

"Finally, the fourth stage is when he reaches back and hits him with it. He's all-out at this point. When the whip comes out early in the race, you can just about forget that horse's chances of winning," Denman said knowingly. 

Like Pavlov's dogs responding to audible stimulii, California bettors involuntarily grimace when they hear Denman's death knell, "The whip's out on so-and-so." 

Conversely, he triggers a conditioned reflex of unbridled hope and enthusiasm among bettors whose horse he proclaims "is threatening to run a big one." 

Denman's keen insights and observations have earned him a regular role as a between-race commentator and interviewer on NBC's Breeders' Cup telecasts, although Durkin has called the live action of every Breeders' Cup race since its inaugural year in 1984. 

Many racing fans consider it an injustice that Denman has not been given the opportunity to showcase his considerable talents as a race caller/commentator on a broader scale, and some have lobbied for a compromise that would at least feature him as race caller for the Breeders' Cups hosted by Southern California tracks. 

Local fans lustily voiced their displeasure at his being replaced by Durkin for the race calls of the 1986 Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita. When Durkin was introduced to the crowd prior to the day's first Breeders' Cup event, the gathering of 85,000 booed long and loud. It was nothing against Durkin, but an act of anger and frustration at the snubbing of their favorite son. The vocal demonstration by his loyal legion of fans was one of Denman's greatest accolades. 

But when you ask him if he feels slighted by NBC, which assigns Breeders' Cup on-air personnel, Denman will answer quickly and sincerely, "No, it honestly doesn't bother me. 

That's the response you would expect from a man who is secure in himself, quietly confident in his abilities, thoroughly professional in every sense and well aware that he is revered by many---if not most---as the best in his business. 

Listening to Trevor Denman unfold the thickening plots and rapidly changing developments in a fast-paced horse race is worth the price of admission wherever he plies his trade.