When New York Racing Association track announcer Tom Durkin returns to his traditional post atop Saratoga Race Course beginning on Wednesday, July 29, his daily call of the third race will be a fan’s B.E.S.T bet.

That’s because spectators will have an opportunity to watch the legendary announcer deliver his live call of the third race virtually every day of the six-week Saratoga meet (Travers Day excluded) to benefit the Backstretch Employee Service Team (B.E.S.T.).

For $100 each, up to six fans each day can witness the best in the game in support of B.E.S.T. The group will watch Durkin call the race from inside the booth and will then be escorted to the roof above the historic grandstand for a rare photo opportunity overlooking the venerable track and expansive grounds.

In recent years, Durkin’s Saratoga visitors have contributed nearly $15,000 annually to the health programs administered by the charitable racetrack organization.

Durkin has always been at his best entertaining audiences.

He grew up calling races for fun for his family and friends, but his big break came when a friend, on his way to school, was hitchhiking from Chicago, Ill. to Green Bay, Wisc. A man named Marty Helmbrecht, who coordinated the county fairs in Wisconsin, picked him up and during their journey and ensuing conversation, Durkin’s friend told Helmbrecht that he knew a guy who was the assistant announcer at Arlington and who was tired of playing second fiddle. There was no such thing as an assistant announcer at Arlington, but Helmbrecht was impressed anyway.

Durkin was hired to call the races at Fond du Lac County Fair in Wisconsin, and he called those races from the back of a pickup truck.

Durkin got a job at Florida Downs (now Tampa Bay Downs) and worked there for five years. Then, he went on to Hialeah and The Meadowlands. He also began working as a broadcaster for ESPN and NBC, which enabled him to call races throughout the world. In 1984, he called his first Breeders’ Cup.

NYRA hired Durkin in 1990 as its announcer at Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga, and during the ‘90s, he also called the races at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla. In 2000, Durkin became the Triple Crown announcer for NBC. Because NBC no longer carries the Belmont Stakes, Durkin still calls the Kentucky Derby and Preakness for the network and also is the track announcer for the third and final leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes.

In addition to many awards and honors, including the New York Turf Writers Association’s Red Smith Good Guy Award, Durkin also sits on the board of directors of B.E.S.T.

B.E.S.T. provides multiple, on-site health and human services to support workers in the barn areas of Saratoga Race Course, Belmont Park and Aqueduct Racetrack. B.E.S.T. draws upon strong connections to additional resources in the extended community to help backstretch workers lead healthy and full lives.

B.E.S.T.’s motto is “Taking care of the people who take care of the horses.”

For ticket reservations for Tom Durkin’s third race call at Saratoga, please call 516-488-3434 through July 26 or 518-587-3720 beginning July 29.