By Morgan Lafferty
On a chilly, drizzly day in November of 1988, 19-year-old Kurt Becker sat in his parent’s barn-style living room watching the Breeders’ Cup races. Coming from a family in the Standardbred business, his parents were puzzled by Becker’s interest in thoroughbred racing but never discouraged it. Becker watched, eyes glued to the television as Alysheba took over the field with Tom Durkin’s voice announcing, “Alysheba wins the world’s richest horse race and he’s now the richest horse!”
Deeply envying as well as appreciating Durkin for his talent and ability to handle that kind of pressure and to deliver a race call so smoothly, Becker never imagined he would later be calling the Breeders’ Cup races at Keeneland.