Monmouth Park Announcer's Long Route to Oceanport

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High above the grandstand, new Monmouth Park announcer calls a race during the first weekend of the 2015 meet. Photo by Art Petrosemolo
High above the grandstand, new Monmouth Park announcer calls a race during the first weekend of the 2015 meet. Photo by Art Petrosemolo

Frank Mirahmadi, Monmouth Park’s new PA announcer, doesn’t take no for an answer. A thoroughbred fan, Mirahmadi could imitate the calls of many legendary racing announcers as he sought to be one himself. He was rejected for years until his own unique voice and accurate calls catapulted him into a small group of announcers at major thoroughbred racing venues across the country.
Mirahmadi replaced 2014 announcer Travis Stone who moved to historic Churchill Downs. Larry Collmus – who worked at Monmouth Park for years – and was the Churchill Downs announcer moved this spring to the post of  New York Racing Association announcer at the three NYRA tracks.
“I have been a candidate for this position before,” Mirahmadi says, ” as it is one of the seven or eight prestigious venues in the country. I could not be more pleased to be calling here this season and can’t wait for the Haskell Invitational.”
Joining the thoroughbred announcer community isn’t easy as Mirahmadi can attest, as he documents his path to success that started in his early twenties in the 1990s. “My dad had taken me to the track as a kid,” says the 47-year old Los Angeles native, “and I loved it. I had a talent for impersonating voices and soon could imitate some of racing’s best announcers like Santa Anita’s Trevor Denman, a giant in the business.” Mirahmadi said he was the life of the party with his racing friends and although it got him some track announcer tryouts, it didn’t land him a permanent job.
“I can’t tell you how much I wanted to do this,” he says, “and I stuck with it for more than a decade until through some strange twists and turns, I suddenly was a track announcer. I guess I had paid my dues! It wasn’t easy.”
Selling advertising in Southern California, the would-be announcer reached out to Don Robbins, the President of Hollywood Park ”out-of-the-blue” he recounts. “I actually got him on the phone and he asked me send him a tape…. or maybe he said it was OK if I sent him a tape,” Mirahmadi smiles. Without access to a studio, Mirahmadi made up a race call of all time great sprinters and recorded it in several of his favorite track voices at a Karaoke location. The tape got Mirahmadi a chance to call two races at Hollywood Park’s meet on Christmas Eve 1992 imitating three race announcers. But although he had the voice, he says, “I was an unknown and no one takes a chance on an unknown.” To this day, Mirahmadi can close his eyes and repeat his call of that race “OMJII in a four-way driving finish.” It just pops up in his memory, as do many races called in his career
What Mirahmadi learned from the tryout at Hollywood Park, he says, “is what makes or breaks a track announcer is accuracy. The fans can’t see the backstretch and they rely on the track announcer to get the call correct which not only includes what horse is in what position but who is moving up or losing ground. And,” he continues, “you do it without notes while watching the race. You must commit something about each horse and rider to memory. ” Mirahmadi memorizes the colors of riders’ silks, their caps or a horse’s special equipment and relies on the number only when needed.
But from his 1992 Christmas Eve calls at Hollywood Park to 2015 at Monmouth is a 13-year journey across thousands of miles – at times living out of a suitcase – that anyone with a roadmap would question but for someone driven to be a success in a certain field, it’s just the price you pay.
While continuing to work a full time job selling advertising Mirahmadi started sending demo tapes to racetracks across the country. He got a few nibbles, a tryout or a few days fill in, he recalls, but never a regular work. “At times it was discouraging,” Mirahmadi admits.
To get into the business, he moved to Delray Beach, FL to work at National RaceLine, a 900 pay phone service that re-played stretch calls from many tracks. “I would recreate the call,” he smiles, “when there were problems with the feed.” Continuing to sell advertising to pay the bills, Mirahmadi mailed packages with demo tapes and bio materials to general managers at 60 US tracks again trying to break into the field. At last, he remembers, he got call backs which led to a short stint at the Hialeah (FL) Park Race Track and eventually the announcer’s job in 1996. He stayed at Hialeah working for general manager Rick Sacco, brother of MP trainer Gregg, until the track closed in 2001.
Armed with the experience he needed, Mirahmadi became a road warrior calling races at some two dozen plus tracks across the country from the Great Barrington (MA) Fair to historic Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, CA, while also finding time to work at the TVG cable network as a thoroughbred analyst.
A candidate for jobs at Churchill Downs and Monmouth in the past few years while working as track announcer at Oaklawn (Hot Springs, AR) – site of the Arkansas Derby – Mirahmadi was open to a new challenge and when Monmouth Park called him to ask his availability for 2015 season.
As experienced as he is today, Mirahmadi admits to butterflies before big races including his recent call of the Arkansas Derby when the eventual Kentucky Derby winner American Pharaoh with Victor Espinoza aboard pulled away from the field for a stunning victory with Mirahmadi calling “He has not been asked the question but everyone knows the answer. He is indeed the Ruler.” Mirahmadi hopes to see American Pharaoh later this season running in the Haskell.

Pre-racing, Monmouth Park announcer Frank Mirahmadi does a handicapping show with Monmouth Park handicapper Brad Thomas. Photo by Art Petrosemolo
Pre-racing, Monmouth Park announcer Frank Mirahmadi does a handicapping show with Monmouth Park handicapper Brad Thomas. Photo by Art Petrosemolo

Mirahmadi uses Ricola cough drops or Halls Vitamin C lozenges to keep his mouth moist and vocal cords ready and he admits to, at times, actually calling a race with one in his mouth. Allergies have been a problem for the announcer and although he can’t believe it himself, he is allergic to horses.
Mirahmadi uses 12×50 Nikon binoculars to follow the race and spends the short time between a race’s finish and post time getting the field set in his memory.
As the season gets underway at Monmouth Park, the native Californian – a connoisseur of good pizza – looks forward to learning more about the Jersey Shore, East Coast tracks and tasting, what he hears is some of the best pizza made.
– By Art Petrosemolo
 

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