Frank Mirahmadi will replace Michael Wrona as the track announcer at Santa Anita, the track announced in a press releases on Monday. Mirahmadi, 51, a native of Southern California, is currently calling races at Aqueduct. He also has been the main race-caller at Golden Gate Fields, Hialeah, Monmouth Park, and Oaklawn Park during his career, and has called races at numerous other tracks. He also has worked as an on-air analyst at TVG, doing extensive handicapping. He was treated in the summer of 2016 for colon cancer, had two surgeries, and one year ago was pronounced as free of the disease. The hiring of Mirahmadi and release of Wrona brings a soap opera-like twist to the announcer role at Santa Anita. Mirahmadi and Wrona were the main two announcers during an unusual audition for the job in the winter of 2016 after longtime announcer Trevor Denman resigned the position. The audition also included two announcers from overseas who had far fewer working days during the process than Mirahmadi and Wrona. Wrona was announced as the full-time announcer in the spring of 2016, and had been the voice of Santa Anita through the end of the track’s fall meet earlier this month. "To be put through the unprecedented and protracted audition process, and earn this opportunity, and have it taken from me, it's very hard to process," Wrona said. Mirahmadi could not be reached for comment. Wrona on Saturday said he had a meeting scheduled earlier that afternoon with Tim Ritvo, the chief operating officer of Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita, with Wrona believing it was to iron out a new contract, since his current deal was about to expire. But Wrona said that length of term and salary never came up, as Ritvo informed him that he was being let go. Wrona announced the news first on Twitter. Wrona, reached at his home near Santa Anita, said he was "devastated to the core." Joe Morris, the former vice president of West Coast operations for the Stronach Group, was the executive who oversaw the audition between Mirahmadi and Wrona. He resigned from the company in October 2017. Ritvo oversees the Stronach Group racing interests, which includes Gulfstream Park, Pimlico and Laurel, and over the past year-plus he has largely been based in Southern California at Santa Anita. He has taken a hands-on look at every phase at the track. Reached at Santa Anita on Saturday, Ritvo said he had a replacement for Wrona and would name him in a couple days. “We just wanted to let Michael know first,” he said. Asked if Wrona had done something wrong, Ritvo said: "It's just a change in business. We're going in a different direction. He did a fine job. We're appreciative of the job he did." Ritvo said the new announcer "will be more involved." "We want him to be a face and figure around the facility," Ritvo said. Asked if Wrona was asked to perform those tasks, Ritvo said, "No, he wasn’t given the option to do that." "We thought the other person was better able to do this," he said. Ritvo said of Wrona: “This wasn’t easy. He’s a class act.” The Wrona news follows in the same month that Santa Anita decided to reorganize and meld its simulcast and XBTV products, which resulted in on-camera personalities being let go, including former jockey Richard Migliore, Megan Devine, and Aaron Vercruysse. Several production personnel also were let go, including award-winning producer Michael Canale. Millie Ball, Zoe Cadman, and Jeff Siegel are among the on-camera talent who remain, and it is expected that Mirahmadi will be involved in the simulcast presentation. Wrona is the regular race-caller at Santa Rosa in Northern California during the summer, and recently was hired to be the new announcer at Kentucky Downs, beginning with its 2019 meeting next September.