Ayers Ratliff has the best view in the house for watching thoroughbreds circle the Thistledown track in the afternoons. In the evening, it's just as good while watching the trotters and pacers go round and round at Northfield Park.
View full sizeAyers Ratliff has a great view of the races at Thistledown in the afternoon â and at Northfield Park in the evenings.He calls the thoroughbreds circling the Thistledown track in the afternoons. In the evening, he calls the trotters and pacers going round and round at Northfield Park.
Ratliff is the announcer at both tracks, the only person in history to fill both posts at the same time. The announcing positions are more than just jobs for Ratliff, and far from his only ones. You have to wonder how many hats the guy can wear.
"I found what I wanted to do with my life," said Ayers. "And I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time. There aren't too many announcing jobs around. In fact, there are only seven horse tracks in Ohio that need announcers. I've got the announcer's jobs at two of them, and I think they're the best two tracks."
Ratliff, 33, also is the announcer at six county fairs around Ohio; and will pick up a seventh, the Ross County Fair near Chillicothe, in September.
In 2009, he called more than 3,800 races. This year, Ratliff expects to close in on the 4,000 mark. No one in horse racing can match him.
That must not keep him busy enough. He's serving a third term as a councilman in Marion, Ohio; works part-time at the law offices of his uncle, J.C. Ratliff; and was recently appointed the assistant racing secretary at Northfield Park.
Ratliff's hobbies are "family and politics," he said. Wife Heidi is expecting a baby girl in September, and she is due on the same day as The Jugette is raced at the Delaware Fairgrounds. They're naming her Annie Jo, a little girl to go with Ratliff's stepsons Dusty, 12, and Del, 11.
Ratliff grew up around standardbreds. His father, Ayers Ratliff Sr., races a couple of horses at Northfield Park.
His first big-time job was at Scioto Downs in Columbus in 2005. He left to become the announcer at Northfield Park in 2007, and was approached by Thistledown in summer 2008. He had never announced a thoroughbred race and had his doubts.
"It was more difficult for me," Ratliff said. "It's not easy to mention every horse in the race more than once in your call when there are 12 thoroughbreds in a short 5-furlong race. With trotters and pacers, it's a standard mile race, and I try to include every horse in the call at least four times during a race."
He doesn't memorize the names of horses in a race and link them to the driver's colors or jockey's silks. "I look to the program to identify the horses when I call a race," he said. "It works best for me."
Looking out over Thistledown's mile oval, he needs binoculars to identify the runners. At Northfield Park, on a smaller half-mile track, sharp eyesight does the job. Horse names seldom trouble him -- but not always. He dislikes horse names that are jammed together into a single moniker.
"I was calling a county fair race and called a horse, 'Lookslikemildred,' " he said, with a laugh. "I broke it down to 'Looks Like Mild Red.' On the way home, I asked my wife, Heidi, which horse she liked best. Heidi said she really liked 'Looks Like Mildred.' "
Ratliff still calls county fair races because, he says, they're low-key, fun days at the fair for both him and his family.
"I can take Heidi and the boys along, work the races for about three hours, and the whole family can have fun when I'm done," he said. "It's a very different atmosphere than you'll find at the big race tracks. The crowd is there for many different reasons. I can cut loose and kick back a little."
His father, Ayers Ratliff Sr., had little doubt his son was destined to be a track announcer.
"When Ayers was 5 or 6 years old, we'd be driving down the road, and Ayers would make up the names of horses and write them down on a tablet," said Ratliff Sr., whose horse, Currently Flying, has a couple of wins this year at Northfield. "He'd make up a race, and he'd be the announcer. It's what he has wanted to do since he was a little boy."
While a student at Ohio State University, Ratliff told his father that race announcing was in his blood.
"He told me it would make his life complete if he could announce horse races," said his father. "Ayers has so much respect for the horses, and what they can do. He's studied the history of thoroughbreds and standardbreds. He doesn't call races as an occupation, but because he has a love for the sport that is simply unbelievable.
"As a youngster, he jogged horses, cleaned stalls and helped with our horse-breeding operation. He's always been so positive about horse racing. He has respect for what the horsemen do and what the tracks do to make racing successful."
Ratliff keeps his voice in tune. He doesn't smoke or drink and, though he loves horse racing, seldom bets. And never at Northfield Park, where he's now part of the racing secretary's office under Executive Vice President of Racing and Simulcasting and Director of Racing Dave Bianconi.
The long drives from Cleveland's race tracks to Ratliff's Marion home can be tiresome. With 122 days of racing at Thistledown and 213 nights of racing at Northfield, there are lots of 216-mile round trips.
Ratliff still takes heed of former Northfield park announcer Greg Young's sage advice.
"Greg told me: 'Remember, kid. When you're announcing, you're the elevator music, and the horses are the show.' "
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: degan@plaind.com, 216-999-5158