Jason Beem

Over the past week, the TDN has been asking racing personalities with no family involvement in racing what the moment was that got them hooked. Jason Beem, track announcer and podcast host I grew up about five miles from Longacres Race Course in the Seattle suburb of Renton, Washington. My dad was a gambler and loved the playing the horses and started taking me from a very early age. I thought jockeys were the coolest thing ever and my dad has photos of me at age three sitting on the...

Announcing duties at the inaugural season of Golden State Racing (GSR) in Pleasanton, California will be split between veterans Jason Beem and Bill Downes, with Beem calling the first four weeks and Downes calling the balance of the meet. The Golden State Racing season runs Oct. 19 through Dec. 15. "Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I've watched and enjoyed racing from California since I was a kid," said Beem, who has been calling since 2006 and is the current announcer for both Tampa Bay Downs and Colonial Downs. "I...

Jason Beem was just 23 years old when he had his first panic attack, but remembers it in excruciating detail to this day. "I was in law school at Gonzaga University. I was in constitutional law class and I didn't know what it was and walked out of class and freaked out in the hallway." That episode was the beginning of over a decade-and-a-half struggle with anxiety and depression that caused him to leave racing for a period, and be hospitalized several times. The popular racecaller and podcast host talks...

Popular podcast host and race track announcer Jason Beem joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss the highs and lows of his time in the racing world and share some of his favorite race-calling stories.

Grants Pass Downs was plunged into complete darkness eight seconds into the running of the final race of the meet Tuesday evening when the half-mile track's lights cut out unexpectedly, leaving the field of six sprinters barreling blindly into the first bend of a three-turn race. Two jockeys were unseated from their mounts before the field hit the finish wire the first time, and both were subsequently treated for foot injuries at a local hospital. No horses were injured during the blackout, Grants Pass Downs president Randy Evers told TDN...

Matt Dinerman will announce the races at Grants Pass Downs for the final five days of the track's 2021 spring/summer meet. Dinerman, the voice of Golden Gate Fields, is filling in for Jason Beem, who begins his term as track announcer at Tampa Bay Downs this week. "I'm really excited to pinch-hit for Jason Beem at Grants Pass Downs," Dinerman said. "It's fun to call races at a new venue and equally enjoyable to meet new people who share the same passion in horse racing." One of the races Dinerman...

Jason Beem, who has called races at numerous Thoroughbred tracks since 2006, has been hired as the announcer at Tampa Bay Downs. He will begin on June 30, the first day of the track's two-day Summer Festival of Racing. The 41-year-old University of Washington graduate currently announces at Grants Pass Downs in Oregon and will begin his third season at Colonial Downs July 19. At Tampa Bay Downs, he replaces Richard Grunder, who retired on May 2 after 37 years and more than 37,000 races at the Oldsmar oval. "I...