Foreign announcers to try out for Santa Anita position

ARCADIA, Calif. – Two foreign-based announcers – Craig Evans of Singapore and David Fitzgerald of England – will call the races at Santa Anita on weekends later this month, auditioning for the permanent job to replace Trevor Denman.

Evans will call the races Feb. 20-21. Fitzgerald has been assigned Feb. 27-28. Track officials said earlier this month they want to give both announcers a two-day tryout to describe a variety of races.

Evans, 48, and Fitzgerald, 31, join finalists Michael Wrona and Frank Mirahmadi as candidates for the full-time position to replace Denman, who said in December that he would no longer call the races at Santa Anita. Denman remains the announcer at Del Mar’s meetings in the summer and autumn.

Evans, from Australia, has been the announcer at the Singapore Turf Club since 2007.

Fitzgerald began working at the English television network Racing UK in 2004 and has called races at a variety of tracks in England since 2011.

Wrona and Mirahmadi have alternated as announcers at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting. When one is at Santa Anita, the other has called the races at Golden Gate Fields in Northern California.

Track officials have said they hope to decide on an announcer before the start of the track’s spring-summer meeting on May 5. Officials said more than 35 candidates have applied for the job.