The Front Row with JIM LITKE April 29, 2011

As this year's Kentucky Derby drew closer, Tom Durkin took out a pencil, drew a line down the center on a sheet of paper and made two lists.

On one side of the ledger was the job he already had. On the other were sleepless nights and restless afternoons on a hypnotist's couch, medications, diets and bouts of the shakes that hit so forcefully he struggled just to hold onto a pair of binoculars. Something had to give.

That's the short answer to why a man who became the signature voice for a generation of Triple Crown fans finally yielded the best seat in the house at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

"It wasn't exactly St. Paul getting knocked off the horse," the 60-year-old Durkin said with a chuckle during a telephone interview Thursday. "No revelation. No blinding light. Nothing even close to that. ... Just a sense of dread I couldn't get out from under. It was wearing me out.

"I'm a race caller. It's what I do and will continue to do, just not at the Derby anymore, or at quite the same level. It's my identity and believe me," he added, "you think long and hard before cutting such a large part of that off."

He called 30 Triple Crown races, including the Kentucky Derby on 13 occasions, and nearly two dozen Breeders' Cups. Thoroughbred fans all have their own favorites; what Durkin will relish most were the seven attempts at Belmont Park to complete the Triple, a feat unmatched since 1978 and one of the toughest in any racket.

Durkin's greatest regret remains failing to spot 2009 Derby winner Mine That Bird sneaking up the rail until the final few strides. Of all his calls, it's the one Durkin wishes he could take back.

What he won't miss, though, are the months spent studying flash cards in hotel rooms with cartons of takeout food strewn everywhere, nor the mounting anxiety of driving to the track under gathering storm clouds, dreading that the ensuing wet and slop would obscure the markings, colors and stripes on the horses and jockeys' silks he so desperately needed to deliver two perfect minutes.

"I'll miss the paycheck, no doubt about that. And the excitement," Durkin said.

Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at [email protected].