Opening Day at Del Mar Races is always a top of the calendar event in San Diego. But it was missing something this year. It had all the usual glitter, glamour and galloping — but no Brad McLellan.
For 35 years he was the go-to for overseeing reporting of opening day for KGTV Channel10, which like most other media in San Diego offers full-bore coverage.
McLellan, now retired, admits he loved this annual rite. He got time away from the high stress job of running an assignment desk in a broadcast newsroom.
“It was a chance for me to get out of the station and not have to be listening to scanners,” he said, adding that he also didn’t have to decide which stories to send news crews to cover.
At the track, McLellan helped anchors, reporters and producers prep for coverage, developed stories unique to the track, and oversaw 35 years of the “hat contest”where prizes are given for different themes. “I interviewed all the winners” he recalled.
One hat contestant in particular stands out, he recalled. It was the creation of a miniature Del Mar Grandstand and race track mounted on a hat.
“The horses were on the track too. It was phenomenal. It was so well done. She had the tote board, she had everything. She told me it took her almost four months to build it,” he said.
McLellan said the woman couldn’t walk two feet without someone wanting to take a picture with her. But the downside was that “after an hour her neck was about to break,” though she did win a prize.
The media at Del Mar Opening Day often follow similar story lines. McLellan, who started following racing at age 12, knows the track, from backstretch stables to the Turf Club.
And he would always be looking for a new angle for a story.
He recalled that once he spoke as the voice of a horse who took viewers on a tour of the backstretch. The cameraman rode on the horse and shot over the horse’s ears while McLellan strolled alongside telling viewers what they were seeing.
The horse was especially vocal about the employee cafeteria. “The horse would say this is where all the humans have breakfast and lunch. The food doesn’t look very interesting to me — no hay on the menu,” McLellan explained. “It was fun and it showed a world viewers rarely see.”
Kimberly Hunt, a 10news anchor, said that “covering the day with Brad McLellan always made it special.” They were a team for years and she recalls him as a “racing enthusiast, expert on the industry” and “super fun guy to be with at the track.”
She said McLellan “always gave me the low-down on the horses and jockeys coming in for the meet.”
Former 10News Anchor Carol Lebeau never got to work with McLellan at Del Mar because she covered the season opening from the studio. But she remembers that “Brad looked forward to the racing season the way most of us looked forward to Christmas.”
While McLellan was not overseeing the TV coverage this opening day, he was pursuing another passion of his.
“I love to handicap because to me, handicapping is like working a crossword puzzle. Every race has its own characteristics. It has its own thing that makes it interesting,” he said.