Travis Stone
Stone, 30, will describe the racing action for Churchill Downs' on- and off-track audiences when racing returns to the legendary Louisville track for the 2015 Spring Meet on Saturday, April 25. He becomes only the eighth announcer in Churchill Downs' storied history, and will succeed Larry Collmus, who departed after one year for an opportunity to call races at NYRA which offers a significantly larger number of racing dates. Collmus will continue to call the Kentucky Derby for NBC.
Stone grew up in Schroon Lake, N.Y. spending summers at Saratoga Race Course and greatly admiring the work of legendary announcers Tom Durkin and Dave Johnson. After graduating from SUNY Oneonta with degree in Communication Arts, he landed his first job as a track announcer at Harrah's Louisiana Downs in 2006 at age 22 and held that post through 2013. When Collmus left Monmouth Park after 20 years to call at Churchill Downs in 2014, Stone was named as his replacement at the New Jersey track. Now he'll succeed Collmus for the second time in as many years. Stone will join an elite fraternity of Churchill Downs track announcers that include Gene Schmidt (1940-60), Chic Anderson (1961-77), Mike Battaglia (1978-96), Kurt Becker (1997-98), Luke Kruytbosch (1999-2008), Mark Johnson (2009-13) and Collmus (2014).
