Santa Anita’s New Race Caller is Frank Mirahmadi

On Monday, Nov. 26, Santa Anita announced that their new race caller starting on Dec. 26 was Frank Mirahmadi. Frank's a Southern Californian through and through having been born in Beverly Hills and spending plenty of time at the place of his new job.

Mirahmadi auditioned for the race caller job at Santa Anita in 2016 after Trevor Denman's retirement, but he lost out to Michael Wrona. Over the weekend, Santa Anita advised Wrona that they weren't renewing his contract. Currently, Frank calls races at Aqueduct. His final day at the New York track is Dec. 16.

Anybody who's been involved in Southern California racing as a horseplayer knows who Frank Mirahmadi is. For those who don't, check out a few unique things about him.

Santa Anita Race Caller:  Frank Mirahmadi

Frank's a Great Impressionist

One listen to the race above, and you get the idea of how great of an impressionist Frank actually is. He starts off with one voice and then seamlessly transitions to Rodney Dangerfield. Word has it that Mirahmadi once called a race with 23 different voices.

Among his impressions are: Robert DeNiro, Marv Albert, Dangerfield, and former Santa Anita race caller Trevor Denman. Frank counts Denman as the reason he got into race calling. He's quoted as saying that if he had to decide between watching a race with no sound, or hearing Trevor call a race with no picture, he'd go for hearing Trevor call a race with no picture.

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Frank's Also a Great Race Caller

Although Mirahmadi can bring a number of different impressions into his race calling, he doesn't have to. Frank's good enough to call any race straight, like when he did describing Good Magic's Haskell Invitational victory. He's called races at Oaklawn Park, Monmouth, the Big A, and Golden Gate. Frank's voice is pretty unique which is why he'll throw in an impression once in a while, but often he just sticks to the basics.

Now the full time race caller at Santa Anita, Mirahmadi's going to have plenty of chances to showcase his skills in some of the biggest races in North America. On his first day on the job, Frank must call the Grade 1 Malibu, Grade 1 La Brea, Grade 2 San Antonio, and Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile. A weekend won't go buy where Santa Anita doesn't run at least one graded race.

Frank's a People Person

Mirahmadi loves to be around people. He said that one of the reasons that Stronach tracks chief operating officer Tim Ritvo decided to hire Frank is because Mirahmadi knows that horse racing is an "environment where people have passion together". Ritvo wants Frank to use that passion to get "people excited about the game." No doubt, Frank Mirahmadi will be able to do that. If Frank can get new fans into the world of horse racing, that's a good thing for all of us.