Peter Doubleday, 'The Voice' Of The Hampton Classic, Reflects On Decades In The Horse Show Business

In equestrian circles, he’s known simply as “The Voice.”

Visitors to this year’s Hampton Classic Horse Show probably won’t see Peter Doubleday, but they’ll certainly hear him. And if they’ve been to the week-long show in any other years past, they will likely recognize his trademark smooth, lilting cadence as he announces the horse and rider combinations entering the Grand Prix ring — where they’re from, and other pertinent information, like the gender, age, and breed of the horse, and past achievements of the rider.

Doubleday is a Hampton Classic original, having been with the show since its earliest days in the late 1970s, when it was just a small show out in the country, and in that time, he’s only been absent a handful of years, when scheduling conflicts pulled him to another part of the country.

Doubleday has guided spectators along at the show for over 40 years, doing more than providing a simple play-by-play of the action. For him, being the public address announcer at a horse show, especially one like the Hampton Classic — which, more than most shows, draws a high number of spectators and many who may be unfamiliar with the sport — is as much about education as it is about disseminating information.

And he’s done it everywhere. Being the longtime PA announcer at the Hampton Classic is just one bullet point on Doubleday’s long and impressive resume. The 2018 inductee into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame has been the PA announcer at all the major horse shows in the country, from Devon, Pennsylvania, to the Washington International Horse Show in Washington, D.C., the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida, and the Lake Placid Horse Show. He’s also served as announcer at the highest level of the sport internationally, including multiple appearances at the FEI World Cup and the Pan American Games. Doubleday also worked the FEI World Equestrian Games, and he addressed more than 33,000 spectators at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He’s also done radio, TV and livestream commentary for several networks and stations broadcasting equestrian events, including ESPN.

It’s an impressive resume for someone who did not originally intend to make a career out of it.

Doubleday grew up in Syracuse, New York, and was first introduced to the world of horses and horse show announcing by friends of the family who owned horses. He learned to ride and competed as a junior, and was also “dragged around” to several horse shows with his father, a local radio and TV personality who had been asked to serve as the PA announcer at some local shows.

Eventually, Doubleday made his way south, attending the University of Miami, where he intended to become a coach and teacher, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in education. During his senior year of college, Doubleday’s father was diagnosed with cancer, and Doubleday was asked to fill in for him announcing at several horse shows. It wasn’t a job he necessarily loved right away, Doubleday said, but he still had the horse bug, and after graduating, he went to work for a show stable in Columbus, Ohio. His destiny continued to pursue him there. More and more, people would call him, asking him to announce at horse shows. The barn where he worked was gracious about letting him leave to do those jobs, Doubleday said, but eventually he was spending more and more time announcing, and ultimately it became a full-time job.

Doubleday’s first big break came in 1973.

“When I was working in Ohio, I took care of two fox hunting horses for a gentleman who was the president of Executive Jet, and he would come ride on the weekends, and he said, ‘How would you like to come announce the Washington International Horse Show?’” Doubleday recalled. “I said, ‘Wow, that’s a big show,’ and he said, ‘I think you’re up to it.’ So I worked my little tail off and tried to do a superb job, and I guess it worked. Right after that, I got calls all over the place.”

Doubleday has become the most recognizable voice on the hunter/jumper circuit, but unlike many involved in equestrian sport, who are siloed into their respective disciplines — dressage, show jumping, eventing, carriage driving, etc. — Doubleday has an all-encompassing love for the wide and diverse range of competitive horse sports that exist throughout the country. He’s been a longtime announcer for the American Saddlebred Show in Louisville, Kentucky, and has announced many carriage driving competitions around the country as well.

In addition to his PA duties at many top shows across the country, Doubleday has also worked for many years as a horse show manager, a job that, as the title implies, requires a wide range of skills and the ability to multi-task and pull together all the various elements it takes to run a horse show. He’s been the manager for big shows like the Pennsylvania National Horse Show, Devon Horse Show, the National Horse Show, and the Royal Horse Show in Toronto, Canada, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year, and is the only show he still currently manages.

Doubleday has made an effort to trim down his busy schedule in recent years, so he can enjoy more time with his wife, Chrissie, a retired high school chemistry teacher. The couple live on 10 acres in Southern Pines, North Carolina, along with two horses, a donkey named Burrito — who Doubleday said is a “babysitter” for his retired Thoroughbred racehorse — four cats, and a Jack Russell terrier named Sophie.

While Doubleday speaks lovingly of what he has in North Carolina, it’s hard to imagine him retiring fully any time soon, given the way he speaks about what he does for a living, how much it means to him, and the passion he still clearly has for it. He especially loves announcing the Hampton Classic Grand Prix, where there is always a captive audience.

“The thing about the Hampton Classic is they have people out there that enjoy watching, and you don’t have that at most shows,” he said. “They have such beautiful spectator turnout, especially on Sunday. Seeing those people in the stands really gets me going. I love to educate and entertain.”

Doubleday’s voice and his knowledge are a key part of the enjoyment of Grand Prix Sunday in particular, as he makes the sport and its intricacies accessible to a wide audience, many of whom may be entirely unfamiliar with its rules and inner workings.

Ushering people into that world is part of what Doubleday loves about his job, he said.

“It sounds corny, but back when I was first starting out, I drink tea in the morning, and I noticed a saying on the end of a tea bag that said ‘Nothing is obvious to the uninformed,’ and that has been my motto in my career.”

Doubleday has fulfilled his duty to, as he says, “educate, entertain and inform” for decades, and has some particularly fond memories of covering the Hampton Classic Grand Prix for many years. The multiple wins by Olympic silver medalist McLain Ward stand out, as well as the always thrilling efforts by the large contingent of Irish riders who compete in the show every year. Doubleday said he also loves when the Grand Prix features riders who have a local connection, and he points that out to the audience.

Doubleday remembers impressive efforts by the equestrian athletes as well — he remembers when a horse named Calypso won the Grand Prix in 1980, a notable feat because the horse was just 7 years old at the time. Most horses are not ready for Grand Prix level competition until they’re in their teens. Another young horse, Nimador, took home the top prize five years later, when he was just 6 years old.

After so many decades of being there and bearing witness to some of the sport’s greatest moments, it makes sense that Doubleday now serves as chairman of the Show Jumping Hall of Fame. He says that keeping the history of the sport alive is a “pet project” of his.

“I want to make sure the kids and all the young people get to remember how we got to where we are,” he said. “It’s incredibly important.”

As for the enjoyment he gets from announcing at horse shows around the country year after year, in a variety of disciplines, Doubleday said the allure has to do with something all the varying competitions share in common.

“I’m fascinated by a great horse that knows they’re a great horse,” he said. “And that comes into play with all the breeds and shows I’m a part of. With the American Saddlebreds, those horses love to perform and they know they’re hot stuff. It’s the same thing with a draft horse; when you have a big team of Clydesdales hitched together, they know they’re really cool. The good ones know, and that’s why I love to be part of it all.”