Churchill to Name New Announcer

The new voice of the home of the Kentucky Derby will be announced Jan. 15. Churchill Downs will hold a press conference at the Louisville, Ky., racetrack to let the industry know who will replace Luke Kruytbosch, who died of an apparent heart attack July 14 at age 47.

During its 2008 fall race meeting, Churchill basically held a competition among five announcers, each calling the races for a week. The track will apparently choose from among those five: Larry Collmus, Bobby Neuman, Mark Johnson, Travis Stone, and Michael Wrona.

"We will publicly make known our selection of the next ‘Voice of the Kentucky Derby’ and Churchill Downs during our press conference on Thursday morning," said Darren Rogers, senior director of communications. "No other information is available at this time."