Imbriale's tenure with NYRA dates to 1979 when he won a New York Daily News contest, giving him the opportunity to call a race and work with the NYRA press office. In 1990, the Queens, New York native became Tom Durkin's backup and along the way, took on other responsibilities at NYRA by working with Harvey Pack on the Inside Racing program, and in a variety of roles within NYRA TV.

“When I think about all the things that I was fortunate to do at NYRA, the best part was being able to work with a lot of talented, wonderful people, from Harvey Pack and Charlsie Cantey to Tom Durkin and all the behind-the-scenes people in NYRA TV, simulcasting and the press office,” said Imbriale.

In January of 2020, Imbriale took over as NYRA's full-time track announcer, joining former New York race callers that include Durkin, Marshall Cassidy, Dave Johnson, Chic Anderson and Fred “Cappy” Capossela.

He said, “When I walked into the booth at Saratoga for the first time after taking over as the full-time announcer in 2020, I literally got goose bumps thinking of those who had gone before me, greats like Fred Capossela, Marshall Cassidy, Chic Anderson, Dave Johnson and Tom. I got to do just about everything I wanted to do at NYRA. That's how fortunate I was. I really feel that way.”

In 2023, Imbriale transitioned from full time to seasonal duties as the primary announcer at Belmont Park and the Belmont at the Big A fall meet. Imbriale handed the Saratoga baton to Frank Mirahmadi, who called his first Saratoga meet in 2023 and will return in 2024.

Chris Griffin, who joined NYRA in 2023 and served as the track announcer for the winter and spring meets at Aqueduct, will expand his role and handle all race calling duties at Aqueduct.

“John's contributions went beyond an unwavering accuracy in calling the races,” said  NYRA President & CEO Dave O'Rourke. “He conveyed excitement whether it was a Grade 1 at Saratoga or a mid-week claimer, and in doing so, helped fans learn about and better appreciate thoroughbred racing. John is also one of the true gentlemen of racing and a role model and mentor to a generation of NYRA staff.”

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“The best thing we can all hope for in this sport is to leave the game a little bit better than it was when we found it,” she said. “I hope to set a good example and make the road easier for the generation coming behind us. If I can inspire one little girl who thinks this is possible for her and then comes and does it better than me then I'd be thrilled.”

Examples of females calling races are few and far between. Angela Hermann briefly held the job at Golden Gate Fields in 2016 after Michael Wrona left but was eventually replaced by Matt Dinerman. In the early sixties, Ann Elliott served as the announcer at Jefferson Downs in New Orleans for about four years. Nearly sixty years after Elliott's time at Jefferson, no other female had been hired as the full-time announcer at a U.S. track.

Paquette got into this by accident. In 2014, she was working in the marketing and publicity departments at Suffolk Down when regular announcer and TDN contributor T.D. Thornton couldn't get to the track because he was delayed by, of all things, a tornado. She was called upon to fill in. Thornton eventually made it to the track and Paquette went back to her other duties, which included serving as the track's simulcast host and paddock analyst.

She remained at Suffolk until 2019 when the track closed its doors for good. She felt lost.

“When Suffolk closed it was a huge existential crisis for me,” Paquette said. “Working in racing isn't just something I do, it is who I am. I didn't know what the future was going to look like.”

Paquette didn't mind traveling and would catch on as the simulcast analyst at Colonial Downs and Sam Houston.  At Sam Houston last summer, management allowed her to call some of the Quarter-Horse races. She estimates that she has called 50 races total.

“When I called the Quarter Horses at Sam Houston this past summer I had such a good time,” she said. “By the third day I started to feel less like I was filling in and more like it was something I really wanted to do. I was open to trying to find an announcing position somewhere. When it turned out that Chris was moving on my name came up and I said 'Why not? Let's talk.'”

She had the backing of Griffin, who has also been hired as the announcer at Monmouth Park.

“She knows what this means and it means a lot to many people,” Griffin said. “I'm looking forward to her getting into the booth and excited for her to make her debut Tuesday. We have a tremendous team at Parx and she will fit right in. It's great to see. It's time for some new voices in this sport. She is a professional through and through and can handle this. I'm very excited that she is getting this chance and like everyone else I am looking forward to it.”

Paquette said Griffin is among a group of male announcers who have taken her under their wing and encouraged her to seek an announcing job.

“Some of my closest friends in the industry are announcers,” she said. “Jason Beem is one of my best friends. Chris Griffin and I have become very close. They both were really encouraging. Of course, coming up through Suffolk Downs we have Larry Collmus and T.D. Thornton and they set the bar high. Frank Mirahmadi has been extremely encouraging and offered such helpful criticism since I got my feet wet with the Quarter Horses.”

Having had relatively little experience as an announcer, Paquette said she has been preparing by practicing calling races over television.

“It's not the same when it's not real because you don't get that stomach-throbbing sense of brief terror as the gates are about to open,” she said. “That's something you can't recreate.”

Will that “sense of brief terror” go away on Tuesday?

“I hope it doesn't because it's all about the excitement and the adrenaline involved with being part of the sport we love,” she said. “My standard anxiety level is probably a 7 ½ on a scale of 1 to 10. So I'm going to be excited and nervous. But that's a good thing.”

She looks back to that final day at Suffolk Downs and says she watched the last race ever run at the East Boston track from the roof and was crying. Never did she imagine what was to come.

“I've been very fortunate that horses and horse racing have brought me to places I never thought possible in life,” Paquette said. “For me this at this point in my career, I've had lot of fun in the paddock, talking about handicapping and racing. But this, the announcing job, is an opportunity do something where I get to be the only one. It's a real honor.”

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Griffin, the back-up announcer at Monmouth Park since 2020, will replace Frank Mirahmadi, who is taking over as the track announcer at Saratoga next summer after eight years at Monmouth Park. Mirahmadi is also the track announcer at Santa Anita.

The 41-year-old Griffin was also recently named the track announcer for the Aqueduct winter meet that runs from January through April.

“We're pleased to have Chris Griffin join us as our full-time announcer. There has been a tremendous legacy in the Monmouth Park announcer's booth for the past 50 years, from Bob Weems to Larry Collmus to Travis Stone to Frank Mirahmadi, and we feel Chris will carry on that tradition,” said Dennis Drazin, Chairman and CEO of Darby Development LLC, operators of Monmouth Park.

Griffin has been the track announcer at Parx since April of 2021, filling in at Monmouth Park in Mirahmadi's absence for the past three years as well. He also serves as the track announcer for the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet and will continue in that role going forward.

“It's an honor. I'm humbled,” said Griffin. “It's nice when you feel like you have worked really hard to achieve your goals of what you want to do career-wise and where you want to be.

“I have gotten to know some of the people at Monmouth Park over the past three years. To be able to fill in over that time, and to do so for Frank Mirahmadi, someone I respect immensely in this industry and as an announcer, has meant a lot to me. It's a great opportunity to be able to now get to do this full-time at Monmouth Park.”

Griffin, who hails from Santa Monica, Calif., got his announcing start with the National Hot Rod Association and Harlem Globetrotters, moving on to call races at the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale, Calif. He has been the announcer for a variety of California fair meets as well as Portland Meadows, Los Alamitos and Gulfstream Park West.

Griffin was named the track announcer at Sam Houston in 2018. He also filled in at the Belmont Park fall meet in 2021.

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That a wagering record was set was hardly a surprise considering that the card at Kentucky Downs was also the best ever offered at the sport's most unique racetrack. There were six graded stakes on the card and five of them were worth $1 million. The average field size was 11, the type of number horseplayers love.

Kentucky Downs is improving every year, but there is a way to make to make it even better. Largely because of the width of the turf course, fields are limited to 12 horses. In many races, there are 16 horses entered in a race, with four on the also-eligible list. For most tracks, limiting the number of starters to 12  wouldn't be an issue. But, according to Kentucky Downs Senior Vice President and General Manager Ted Nicholson, it's not uncommon for as many as 30 horses to enter a race, particularly in maiden races.

If Kentucky Downs does as well as it does limiting the fields to 12 horses, imagine how much more they could handle if allowing 16 horses to race. And why limit things to 16 horses? What's wrong with a 20-horse field, a 22-horse field?

Nicholson said track management is exploring its options relating to field size. It would take widening the course, particularly on the turns.

“Increasing the amount of horses that can run is something that we have talked about, but talks haven't gone that far,” he said. “We've been content with having 16 possibles and scratching down to 12. This is one of those things we probably should consider even more for next year.”

Nicholson added that the track decided to card more maiden races, which almost always have oversubscribed fields, this year. There were four on Saturday's card. It was done so that horsemen with maidens would have a better chance of getting into races rather than being shut out for the entire meet because it has been so difficult to get into those races.

“I'd much rather run a maiden race with 12 than throw up a claiming race that might scratch down to seven or eight,” Nicholson said.

Saratoga Is Growing But Is The Sport?

It was announced last week that the Saratoga meet set still another wagering record with $878,211,963 bet on the meet, a 7.7% increase over what was a record handle in 2021. If the trends continue, we may be only three or four years removed from the meet breaking the $1-billion mark, an astounding number.

But while this is good news for Saratoga and NYRA, the numbers suggest that the handle increases are not a matter of the pie growing but Saratoga taking a bigger slice of the pie. According to Equibase, through August, total handle is up just 0.24% on the year. In August, which includes the bulk of the Saratoga season, wagering was down 0.86%.

It's not just Saratoga. The numbers coming out of the top-tier tracks, particularly the boutique meets, continue to be good. That probably means that customers continue to turn away from the second and third-tier tracks and are focusing their wagering dollars on the very best simulcasting signals.

Problems for the Canadian Triple Crown

For the second year in a row, the winner of the Queen's Plate will not be running in the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. When entries were taken last week for Tuesday's Prince of Wales S. at Fort Erie, the field,  as expected, did not include Queen's Plate winner Moira (Ghostzapper). She is being pointed for a Grade I race and trainer Kevin Attard said he is looking at either the GI E.P. Taylor S. at Woodbine or the GI Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup S. at Keeneland. Attard wants to give her a chance in Grade I company to enhance her resume. You can hardly blame him.

The 2021 Plate winner Safe Conduct (Bodemeister) skipped the Prince of Wales because the connections thought me might have a hard time making the transition from Woodbine's Tapeta surface to the Fort Erie dirt track.

Also sitting out the $400,000 Prince of Wales will be Queen's Plate runner-up Hall of Dreams (Lemon Drop Kid) and Queen's Plate beaten favorite Rondure (Oxbow).  The 7-5 morning-line favorite in the race is Sir for Sure (Sligo Bay {Ire}), who was third, beaten nine lengths, in the Queen's Plate.

With the race being run three weeks after the Queen's Plate and offering a purse that is modest by today's standards, the Prince of Wales has become a weak link in the Canadian Triple Crown, which also includes the Breeders' S. at Woodbine. As is this case with the U.S. Triple Crown, there is talk that the series needs to be tinkered with. One thought is to bring back a bonus structure for any horse sweeping the three races, something the Ontario tracks have done off and on over the years. Throwing some money at the problem is one possible solution.

As for the Queen's Plate, it appears that is about to undergo a name change with the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Since its inception way back in 1860, the race has been named for the reigning British monarch and has been called the Queen's Plate since 1952. As long as Woodbine sticks to tradition, the race will be renamed the King's Plate in honor of King Charles III.

New Voices in NYRA Announcer's Booth

It was announced last week that Frank Mirahmadi will take over as the announcer at Saratoga next year. It was one of a number of changes when it comes to the NYRA race-callers. John Imbriale has decided to cut back on his duties and will call the races at Belmont only. Chris Griffin, currently the announcer at Parx, will take over the duties at Aqueduct.

Mirahmadi will split his time between two of the top tracks in the sport, Saratoga and Santa Anita. Considering those assignments, his popularity and the quality of his calls, it's easy to argue that Mirahmadi deserves to be recognized as the very best in his profession.

Mirahmadi will be leaving Monmouth at the end of the current meet. If he's amenable to the idea, isn't bringing Larry Collmus back to Monmouth an obvious move?

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Imbriale's 43-year tenure with NYRA dates to 1979 when he won a New York Daily News contest, which gave him the opportunity to call a race and work with the NYRA press office.  He has served as NYRA's full-time track announcer since January 2020.

“NYRA is the pinnacle of this wonderful sport, and these last three years have been filled with incredible moments and races that I will never forget,” said Imbriale. “I'd like to thank the fans at Saratoga for truly embracing me, and I look forward to being in the booth the rest of the year and at Belmont Park moving forward.”

Mirahmadi has been the track announcer at Santa Anita Park since 2018 and Monmouth Park since 2015.

“I felt the history and tradition of Saratoga Race Course the moment I entered the gates for the first time 25 years ago,” said Mirahmadi. “It is a magical place, and I am beyond grateful to follow in the footsteps of John Imbriale next summer at the Spa.”

Griffin has served as track announcer at Parx Racing since 2021. He previously worked as track announcer at Sam Houston Race Park, Gulfstream Park West and Portland Meadows. A native of Santa Monica, California, Griffin was backup announcer to Imbriale at the 2021/22 Aqueduct winter meet.

“Aqueduct Racetrack plays a central role in New York's Thoroughbred racing ecosystem, and it was a privilege to be able to call races there last winter,” said Griffin. “I thank NYRA for this opportunity and can't wait to get back to the Big A to begin this new role.”

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Saturday, Chris Griffin will call his first Pennsylvania Derby as the new voice of Parx Racing. He was hired on March 24.

“Trying to replace a legend like Keith Jones and coming here, it's been a seven-year ride for me,” Griffin said. “I have to pinch myself a little bit because I take a look at the rundown of the fields and these are serious racehorses that we have. It takes a lot of memorizing and a lot of studying, and just trying to stay relaxed. With two one-million-dollar races, it's just exciting, and it's a good time to be here.”

“Keith Jones is still texting me and giving me a shout,” he said. “He's like, “are you excited? Are you nervous?” I'm pretty much like all of that Keith. You try to relax the best you can. It's going to feel like a different day no matter what, but were excited. Its big racing, big horses with 13 races on the card. You look at a race like this (Pennsylvania Derby), and these are the best horses in the country, and to be here for these races I'm humbled by it because I get to call the action,” added Griffin.

As a fresh face among those who ply their trade announcing races from atop racetracks in what is considered one of the toughest jobs in racing, the Santa Monica, Calif. native's journey to the booth began far west of Bensalem, Penn.

“I started out at the Humboldt County Fair and got an opportunity there to call races after my stint being the voice of the Harlem Globetrotters,” said Griffin. “Sam Houston was a great experience for me to try and catch some Grade 3 races and try to build up the resume a little bit. Then when this opportunity came up, I got lucky. I popped in and here we are.”

Saturday will be the biggest day of racing at this point in Griffin's young career. The work and preparation that announcers put into a long, stakes filled day can vary depending on the experience as well as the certain challenges that can arise.

“I don't try and change the mechanics too much,” Griffin said. “I think if you start thinking about it a little too much you kind of psyche yourself out a little bit. I looked at the fields, and the two-year-old races are a little tougher because there's first time starters, and you don't really know them.”

“There are silks that I'm familiar with from the local connections, and that'll help me color in the program. I like to color in the program the night before the big race. You pretty much know now who's in what post position and who is where, but the only thing I can't prepare for is what happens during a race. The unexpected can always happen. You have to be prepared for it, but you can't prepare for it … if that makes sense.”

Griffin went on to say, “We haven't run a ton of mile and an eighth (Pennsylvania Derby distance) races on the main track since I've been here so that will be a little bit different. We definitely didn't have a mile and a half here like the Greenwood Cup, so some of the distances will be a little bit different, but other than that I treat it as another racing day here at Parx. We have a tremendous TV crew and staff and everybody is working hard to put things in place. At that point I want to be done by 9 am on Saturday morning and just jump in the booth and be like alright here we go.”

Racing can be a small world at times, and on Saturday, Griffin and Trainer Doug O'Neill, who will saddle 8-5 morning-line favorite Hot Rod Charlie in the Pennsylvania Derby, share a common bond which began 2,735 miles from Bensalem.

“It's so funny, Doug and I go way back,” said Griffin. “I was probably in my twenties running around and somebody told me that Doug O'Neill went to St. Monica's. I said, 'I went to St. Monica's,' which is a high school in Santa Monica, a private school, maybe six-hundred students or something like that.

“Doug had gone there before me. I went and tapped him on the shoulder, and was like, 'hey Doug O'Neill, I heard you went to St. Monica's, I'm Chris Griffin, I went there.' He was like 'Oh I know you. You were the quarterback with the championship football team.' It was the 1998 season. I graduated in 1999. We won our (California Interscholastic Federation) football championship. He knew all about it.

“Ever since then, we've been connected and when we see each other we say, 'Oh yeah, what's going on with St. Monica's?” said Griffin. “It's just one of those things. We're connected in a weird way for life. It's a cool little back story. It's nice to see him and hang out with him. It's fun to see Doug here on site.”

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“Following the conclusion of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course, NYRA track announcer John Imbriale received a positive COVID-19 test result after experiencing mild symptoms. As a result of the mandatory 10-day isolation period, Imbriale will miss the opening weekend of the fall meet (at Belmont Park) and is scheduled to return on Thursday, Sept. 23.

“In his absence, Frank Mirahmadi will handle the race calling duties on Thursday, September 16. Chris Griffin, who was named the lead race caller at Parx in March, will call Friday-Sunday.

“Imbriale is fully vaccinated, doing well, and looking forward to returning to Belmont next week.”

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“The Pennsylvania Derby is shaping up to be one of the most exciting races of the year,” said Paquette. “I am thrilled to come on board and can't wait to get to share the experience with fans through a great broadcast and social media.”

Paquette, a native of Massachusetts, recently finished up the summer at Colonial Downs as the paddock host and handicapper. With over 15 years of experience in the industry, she previously has worked as the paddock handicapper at Suffolk Downs and as a racing analyst at Sam Houston. In June, she also took to the announcer's booth for a weekend of Quarter Horse racing at Sam Houston.

Entries will be taken for the Pennsylvania Derby Day card on Monday, Sept. 20.

“Jessica is a star and will be a tremendous addition to our coverage on PA Derby and Cotillion day” said Parx Track Announcer, Chris Griffin.

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Since his father's passing on March 5 of this year, jockey DeShawn Parker has found himself humbled by the number of people reaching out to tell him stories about Daryl Parker going out of his way to be kind to them.

“Dad loved everybody; there's not one person he came across he didn't try to help,” said DeShawn, 50. “So many people came up to me just to tell me how nice he was. That was the biggest part of him.”

Daryl Parker, the first African-American hired in the U.S. to be a steward in 1986, spent his career adjudicating racing at smaller tracks near the family home Ohio. His reputation was that he was extremely fair in the booth, and always found ways to help people outside his official role.

“You always felt like you should thank him for giving you days, almost,” said DeShawn. “Even when you definitely deserved days, he'd say, 'Well, do this next time, and that'll make it a little better.'”

The sentiments surrounding DeShawn's father echo those in a recent video produced by Sam Houston Race Park announcer Chris Griffin. DeShawn wintered at the track for several years, earning leading rider honors in 2019, and the video depicts members of the local jockey colony congratulating him for being voted the winner of the 2021 George Woolf Memorial Award. 

One of the most prestigious awards in all of racing and named for the legendary late Hall of Fame jockey, the Woolf Award recognizes those riders whose careers and personal character garner esteem for the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred racing. The winner is selected via a nationwide vote by other jockeys.

Winning an award is always great but to win an award that is voted on by your peers like the George Woolf Memorial Award…is something really special. Thank you so much @JockeysGuild & everyone who sent me the kind words! My first thought was; I wish my dad was here to see this.

— DeShawn Parker (@JockDeShawn) March 18, 2021

“He's been incredible to ride against, and he's a great person, too,” jockey Sophie Doyle said in the video from Sam Houston. “He's always helpful and friendly at every racetrack I've ever ridden against him.”

“He's a great ambassador for the sport, a jockey we all look up to,” said Lane Luzzi.

“Not only is he a phenomenal rider, consistently doing it every year, but just being a great person,” added Reylu Gutierrez. “Congratulations DeShawn, you are an amazing rider and an amazing person, and I really look up to you.”

Thursday of Live Racing at SHRP. Caught up with a few members of the jockey colony to pass along congratulations to 2021 George Woolf Memorial Award winner @JockDeShawn, who rode here as recently as last season. pic.twitter.com/1uthlKBJtV

— Sam Houston Race Park (@SHRP) March 19, 2021

This apple obviously didn't fall far from the tree. Daryl didn't choose to impart his wisdom to his son through his words, however. He showed DeShawn what it meant to be a good man by his actions, inspiring his son to live up to that example.

Father and son grew up around the racetrack, their passions for the animal and the competition fostering an especially close relationship. Though Daryl Parker had to leave the steward's role for races in which DeShawn rode, he was fully supportive of his son entering the sport they both loved.

“They said it was a conflict of interest, but honestly, sometimes my dad was harder on me than anybody else,” DeShawn said, laughing. “He never got on me too bad about anything because I never tried to ride careless, but he wouldn't sugarcoat things. He'd say, 'You definitely deserved to get days for that.'”

Billy Johnson with Deshawn Parker

Since his father was based in Ohio, DeShawn ventured across the state border to Mountaineer Park in West Virginia, where he became the perennial leading rider for more than 20 years. While there, DeShawn worked with the late agent Billy Johnson, who helped him become the No. 1 rider in the country by wins in 2010 and '11.

“Everybody liked Billy, he's just one of those guys,” Parker said. “Never a bad word about him. Even if he spun the trainers, he would smooth it out so they weren't upset with him. He tried hard for everybody.”

They won a title together at Sam Houston in 2015, but with race days and purses declining in West Virginia, Parker made the decision to transfer his home track to Indiana Grand during the summer months. That meant a switch in agent to a mutual friend, Jimmy McNerney, for the 2017 season in Indiana.

DeShawn finished second in the standings in 2017 and 2018, fourth in 2019 despite missing time due to an injury, and finally won the title at Indiana Grand in 2020. 

“This is the best thing of the meet and of my year,” DeShawn told track publicity after the title was official. “I had some chances the past couple of years to win [the title], but I got hurt and it just didn't work out. My agent, Jimmy, always does a good job but he did an exceptional job this year for me, and I was able to stay healthy. I can't put into words what this means. This means so much to me.”

Unfortunately, 2020 was also the year that Daryl Parker spent battling a cancer diagnosis. He missed nearly the entire year of racing, and DeShawn could see how much that wore on his father.

“He loved his job, being on the track, and in fact he turned down some treatments in Cincinnati so he could go back to work,” DeShawn said. “I think he was already kind of getting depressed, sitting there doing nothing all day.”

Though Daryl had been pronounced cancer-free and returned to the stewards' booth for three weeks, the disease returned with a vengeance in December.

“It came on so quick, and he was one of those guys who was never really sick,” DeShawn said. “We knew the cancer could come back at any time, but it really hit him hard.”

Drryl was hospitalized from mid-December until his passing on March 5, and initially COVID-19 restrictions meant no family members were able to visit with him. By February, they'd moved to a different hospital and one person at a time was allowed in.

“I went every day that I was home, and we just sat there and talked,” DeShawn said. “I'm glad he got to go back to work; I don't think he would have had it any other way. They'd call him sometimes, the other stewards, like for advice on something, and you could just tell he wanted to be there.”

My idol my best friend and a great father!! He meant so much to my life and my career I can only hope to be as great as he was ..

— DeShawn Parker (@JockDeShawn) March 5, 2021

As the start of the 2021 season approaches at Indiana Grand, DeShawn feels like the best way to honor his father's memory is to continue working every single day at embodying the characteristics the man stood for. Compassion and kindness above all else, even when it's hard — that's Daryl Parker.

It isn't an easy thing to ask of a jockey. Every day, multiple times a day, your coworkers are trying to finish ahead of you out on the track. Add to that pressure the inherent danger of race-riding, and the jockey's quarters can easily become a pressure cooker of negative emotions.

“We all have to put that smile on our face every day, even when you get trainers complaining and maybe you don't want to say 'Thank you' and walk away,” DeShawn said. “On the track, when you get mad, you have to leave it out there because if you keep on being mad you're just going to make yourself look bad. We're all trying hard, doing the same job.”

It's that sportsmanship and positive attitude, maintained over a career of 5,846 wins to date, which earned DeShawn the Woolf Award. If he gets a bit emotional when he sees that award sitting on his shelf, it's easy to understand why. His father's inspiration and ever-present influence are what helped DeShawn to become the man worthy of such an honor.

“Our goal was to one day be stewards together at a track,” DeShawn revealed. “We may not get to do that, but I know he's riding with me now, so I just look at it that way. He's getting to do something he never got to do before, and I get to have him with me in the saddle.”

DeShawn Parker, winner of the 2021 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award

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“Keith was here for 34 years,” said Joe Wilson, Chief Operating Officer for Parx Racing. “This was a new process for all of us. Chris is a rising star in our industry with a tremendous work ethic. We are thrilled to welcome him to the Parx family.”

Griffin added, “This is my opportunity to enter a booth that saw a legend like Keith Jones call for so many years. I am grateful to the management at Parx for this incredible opportunity. Being able to call two million-dollar races as well as several other graded races is very exciting.”

A native of Santa Monica, California, Griffin got his start as an announcer for the National Hot Rod Association. After four years of traveling the country, Chris expanded his travels internationally as the full time announcer for the Harlem Globetrotters. While at a tour stop in Little Rock, Arkansas, Griffin's talent captured the attention of veteran race caller Frank Mirahmadi, who was calling the races at Oaklawn Park. Mirahmadi mentored Griffin and helped secure him his first full time racing job at the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale in 2015. He ended up calling races at the various California fair meets, Portland Meadows, Los Alamitos and Gulfstream Park West. In the fall of 2018 Griffin was named the track announcer at Sam Houston while pulling double duty as Marketing Manager.

Parx Racing runs Monday through Wednesday first with first post at 12:55pm.

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