Making history is nothing new to Dawn Lupul of the Woodbine Entertainment Group. Back in 2009, Lupul made history when she became the first female announcer to call a card of harness racing in Canada. It appears as though the 48-year-old made even more history this past Wednesday night.

As an article by the Toronto Sun explains, Lupul was called into action Wednesday (December 3) at Woodbine Racetrack. Dan Loiselle, the track’s veteran Thoroughbred announcer, was unable to call the races that night, and, on short notice, Lupul took the trip up the facility’s sixth floor and filled in.

It is presumed that Lupul’s call of the track’s Wednesday card is a first time in the history of the country that a female announced an entire program of live Thoroughbred racing.

“Sometimes you end up being a trailblazer when you don’t intend to be,” said Lupul, who is no stranger to cutting her own groundbreaking path in the announcers’ game.

In the fall of 2009 at Grand River Raceway in Elora, Ont., Lupul made Canadian history when she became the first female announcer to call a card of live Standardbred racing in the country. Two years later, Lupul called her first full card of racing on the WEG circuit when she announced Woodbine’s Boxing Day card.

“Race calling is challenging,” Lupul told The Sun. “It’s like play-by-play, you’re trying to describe the action. So I try not to get too fancy. I’m no Dan Loiselle. All I try to do is be efficient, to call as accurately as I can and try to be a little bit colourful here and there.”

(With files from the Toronto Sun)