Tag: track announcer

Chris Griffin Named New Track Announcer at Monmouth Park

Parx track announcer Chris Griffin has been named the new track announcer at Monmouth Park starting with the 2023 meet that gets underway in May.

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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Dooley Named Track Announcer at Horseshoe Indianapolis

John G. Dooley, a fixture in the announcer's box at numerous Midwest tracks, has been tabbed to replace Bill Downes as the voice of racing at Horseshoe Indianapolis Race Course, the former Indiana Grand Racecourse. Eric Halstrom, the vice president and general manger of the track, revealed the news in a tweet Friday afternoon.

A native of Staten Island, New York, Dooley graduated from St. John's University on Long Island and served as an intern at the Meadowlands and at the New York Racing Association before accepting his first announcer's job at Thistledown in 1991. After five years at the Cleveland-area oval and after calling the winter meet at Aqueduct in 1996 and 1997, Dooley relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and was on the mic at Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie from 1997-1999.

He got his major break in the year 2000 when he was given the nod to take over announcing duties at Arlington Park when the track reopened following a two-year closure. Dooley brought the curtain down on racing at Arlington this past September.

In 2004, Dooley added the Fair Grounds to his portfolio and has called the races in New Orleans ever since. The 2022 racing season at Horseshoe Indianapolis, highlighted by the GII Indiana Derby in July, begins Apr. 19.

 

The post Dooley Named Track Announcer at Horseshoe Indianapolis appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Turf Paradise: Guest Race Caller Dani Jackson Will Share The Mic With Craig Braddick Next Week

Dani Jackson, a voice familiar to many racing fans in the United Kingdom, will be the guest race caller at Turf Paradise from Jan. 17 to Jan. 21. Dani, from Manchester, UK, flies out to the Phoenix, Ariz. track at the invitation of regular Turf Paradise race caller, Craig Braddick, who has been mentoring Dani for the past six months.

Dani Jackson works for William Hill as a TV host and greyhound racing commentator, and she is often seen on Racing Post social media videos previewing top greyhound races. Recently, Dani has also auditioned with Racetech in the UK for a position as a race caller.

In June, Jackson responded to a Tweet from Craig Braddick saying that if there were any aspiring female race callers out there who could show they could do the job, he would be happy to have them come to Turf Paradise.

“I never thought in a million years that Tweet would bring Dani over to Turf Paradise all the way from the UK,” Braddick said. “But as soon as I heard her practice race calls from tracks in the UK, I knew she was a talent that deserved an opportunity, and I am really looking forward to her taking the microphone at Turf Paradise. I think racing fans everywhere are going to be very impressed with her skills!”

Jackson said she has been practicing calling live races at Turf Paradise off the monitor in preparation for her visit.

“I have got to know many of the horses and the jockey silks as well as the way the track plays,” said Jackson. “Craig has been tremendously encouraging – critical when needed but always challenging me to do better. I am really looking forward to calling the races at Turf Paradise next week.”

Braddick and Jackson will split race calling duties, and one day Jackson will call the entire card. Jackson will also be previewing races on the simulcast feed when the horses are in the paddock.

“Turf Paradise continues to attract horseplayers not only from the United States but also around the world,” Braddick said. “In fact, many people may say after Dani has been here, I am only the second-best British race caller Turf Paradise has had!”

The post Turf Paradise: Guest Race Caller Dani Jackson Will Share The Mic With Craig Braddick Next Week appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Fort Erie Track Announcer Frank Salive Retiring

Frank Salive, Fort Erie's track announcer, is retiring from his commanding post in the announcer's booth at the border oval on Tuesday. Salive has been the voice of horse racing for over three decades, calling races at several thoroughbred and harness tracks including Fort Erie Race Track, Woodbine, Western Fair, and Pompano Park.

In the mid-70s, the Leamington native was a star junior goalie for the Peterborough Petes. After hanging up his skates, he seamlessly transitioned into the world of mainstream sports broadcasting, working for various networks including CTV, CBC as well as TSN. In 1976, at the age of 21, Salive's first network assignment was covering five events a day at the Montreal Summer Olympics for CTV.

In 1990 he stepped into the world of horse racing at Woodbine Racetrack. Salive worked at Woodbine for a decade and a half before heading west to London, Ontario to call races at Western Fair for four years from 2005 to 2009. His next venture would be Pompano Park in Florida where his voiced filled the atmosphere and racing apron until 2012. As he developed his craft calling races, Salive credits several announcers that impacted his career in the announcer's booth.

“I would say Stan Bergstein was a foundation announcer that I really patterned myself after for harness racing. Certainly, Dan Loiselle (thoroughbred racing) helped me a lot in my years at Woodbine. I went a lot by his example – to transform a race from just the look of horses going on an oval into a little bit of a story,” said Salive.

In 2016, the venerable track announcer landed his feet at Fort Erie Race Track. He's called the border oval home for the last six racing seasons.

Narrating a fleet of horses as they move from gate to wire jockeying for top spot might seem like a fairly straightforward task, but Salive knows there's a lot more to it than that.

“You really don't know how your body and mind are going to react, but its kind counterintuitive to the crowd. The crowd is excited, and they are all cheering, and you have to be exactly the opposite. Before The Prince of Wales – a live national tv broadcast, you challenge yourself on how far you can slow down your heart rate and breathing because you can't be out of control with excitement from gate to wire. You have to build it up to the finish. So, it's different than being in the crowd as a race fan, you have to go the opposite direction and stay calm.”

Asked to recall career highlights at the border oval, the track announcer is quick to respond.

“I came from a strong Standardbred past so to get to cross over and do six of the Canadian Triple Crown races in my tenure here.”

To date, Salive has called close to 200,000 races during his illustrious career. Salive will call his last card at Fort Erie Race Track this afternoon.

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