LEXINGTON, Ky. — When horses shuffle into the starting gate for the historic 150th running of the Kentucky Derby on May 4 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, one man’s voice will narrate the monumental event to millions of viewers at home.

Since 2011, Larry Collmus has been the race announcer for the Kentucky Derby for NBC Sports, which means his voice and words are distinctly connected to the most prestigious event in horse racing.

Collmus, a Baltimore native, got started in the sport early.

“It’s pretty much all I’ve ever done,” Collmus quipped in a recent interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader.

This lifelong affair began when Collmus’ father installed the sound system at Timonium Race Track at the Maryland State Fair, located just north of Baltimore. Collmus was immediately charmed by the cast of characters that horse racing offers.

“Even more than just what was going on on the track, it was up in the press box and down on the grandstand and all the people in horse racing that you get to meet,” Collmus recalled. “I just kind of felt like I fit right in, and because of that I decided that I wanted to do something in horse racing.”

Collmus cut his teeth as an announcer through plenty of practice reps: Armed with binoculars and a tape recorder, he was given a place to practice his calls in the press boxes at different Maryland horse tracks.

This led to Collmus calling one race a day over the public address system at Pimlico Race Course, the famed host venue of the Preakness Stakes, which is the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown.

Collmus soon branched out from Maryland-based tracks: In 1987, Collmus became the youngest race caller in the nation by serving in that role at Birmingham Turf Club in Alabama, a lavish track that quickly ran into economic hardships.

He went on to hold the race announcer positions at the likes of Golden Gate Fields (California), Suffolk Downs (Massachusetts), Monmouth Park (New Jersey), Aqueduct Racetrack (New York City) and Gulfstream Park (Florida).

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