On a sun-drenched late May afternoon in downtown Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where the temperature is at a sweet spot – not too hot, but warm enough to hint of the summer heat to come – Tom Durkin, who arrived on his bright blue Vespa (his preferred mode of transportation) sits outside of a coffee shop conversing with a man at a nearby table.

The discussion wraps up as Durkin’s scheduled appointment arrives, but not before one of the most talented and popular track announcers – to some, the greatest ever – answers a question. It is one which has been posed to him numerous times in recent weeks: how is he preparing for his imminent return to the booth to call the June 10 Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets as well as three Grade 1 races on the undercard for FOX Sports, which will present the race for the first time on its network this year.

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Nine years have passed since Durkin put his binoculars down and stepped away from a stellar 43-year career as an announcer, 24 of which were spent in service as the voice of the New York Racing Association. The last race he called was Aug. 31, 2014, at Saratoga Race Course, where he enthusiastically said Condo Commando was “splash-tastic” as the 2-year-old filly powered to a 13 1/4-length victory in a sea of slop in the Spinaway Stakes.

And it’s been even longer since he called a Triple Crown race. Durkin, now 72, stepped away from his duties of calling the three races that comprise the Triple Crown – the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes—for NBC Sports in 2010 after a nine-year stint with the network.

So how is Durkin shaking off the cobwebs? It’s not just a strategic enterprise of re-familiarizing himself with the carefully chosen phrases he curated during his illustrious career while narrating races in his distinctively rich and robust voice. Those are in a treasured and voluminous notebook, one that the announcer kept adding to even in the final days of calling races at NYRA. His upcoming re-entry into the booth also heavily relies upon mental preparedness to compensate for stress and anxiety, conditions that can be traced to his 2010 decision to cease calling Triple Crown events.

“Right before I came here today, I was downstairs in my library, doing hypnosis,” he said. “I have two of them, and this particular one was about getting rid of negative thoughts, and the other one I listen to has to do with dealing with anxiety.

Durkin speaks to Andy Serling in 2022. (Eclipse Sportswire)

“I’ve been doing hypnosis since 1986 with a regular hypnotist. Then, I learned how to do self-hypnosis by putting myself into a hypnotic trance. Self-hypnosis is meditation by another name…it’s a little more specific. When I was (calling) the (Kentucky) Derby, I needed hypnosis from a professional, which is better than doing it by yourself.

“On race day, I will take (a beta blocker),” Durkin added. “It prevents the excessive release of adrenaline. … adrenaline actually makes you see better and makes you think quicker. Adrenaline is a good thing, but too much of it is a bad thing. It makes your hands shake, and it makes your breathing become uncontrolled. Shaky hands are a very bad thing for a person looking through high-powered binoculars because it’s so exaggerated. Luckily, I have binoculars that are electronically stabilized.”

His comeback prep has also included a careful review of his notebook, which he says takes four hours to read, cover to cover. And then there are his index cards which, like the notebook, he has been utilizing for the last few weeks while he practice-calls races at Belmont Park into a recorder on his phone.

“What I try to do is have an image (in mind) and then translate that to words. I have index cards, and I will draw a very crude image,” he explained as he demonstrated on paper. “(For example) when I see two horses coming to the top of the stretch together, that’s the image, and on the flip side (of the index card), I will put words…like ‘race is on.’

“I have to get these words back here, in my subconscious, so when the conscious image comes up, I can pick out the correct words for a certain image.”

Had this year’s Kentucky Derby winner Mage won the Preakness Stakes and proceeded to the Belmont Stakes, Durkin admitted the level of pressure on him would have been ramped up with a Triple Crown on the line, even though he has familiarity with that scenario. Durkin called eight Belmonts that featured the same winner of the first two legs, although none of those horses finished the sweep with a win in New York.

For Durkin, whose job, after all, is to be a storyteller, there’s much to be excited about in this year’s 155th running of the Belmont, even in the absence of Triple Crown hoopla.

“As far as storylines go, it’s so simple, a horse is either going to win the Triple Crown or he’s not. (Without that) this Belmont has a lot of different storylines, and it’s a great race,” he said. “You’ve got the first two favorites in the Derby (Angel of Empire and Tapit Trice), and the horse that would have been the favorite in the Derby (Forte), and then you have the horse who won the Preakness (National Treasure).”

So, inquiring minds are keen to know: Is Saturday the beginning of a comeback?

“I’m just going to wait and see how it all plays out. I don’t think so; I think it probably will be a one-off. But you never know; I might like it so much that I will start sending out résumés…I don’t know,” Durkin said.

While Durkin has always taken his work seriously – even to the point that the work became so angst-ridden for him he had to step away – he is also plenty game to have a good chuckle. His sly humor is always percolating under the surface, and when it seeps through, it’s commonly punctuated by one of his hearty laughs. As he finishes the last of his coffee, Durkin takes a minute to consider the future, one that features artificial intelligence.

“I am considering, instead of actually calling the race, having it called by ChatBot in the style of Tom Durkin,” he deadpanned. Then, waiting a beat, he lets out a huge guffaw.