Griffin named Monmouth Park race caller for next year
Chris Griffin, the race caller at Parx racetrack outside Philadelphia, will become the full-time announcer at Monmouth Park in New Jersey starting next year, Monmouth announced on Wednesday.
Griffin will take over for Frank Mirahmadi, who has been Monmouth’s race caller for eight years. Mirahmadi accepted a position as the full-time race caller beginning next year at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., whose meet runs concurrent with much of the Monmouth meet.
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Griffin has filled in at Monmouth in the past during Mirahmadi’s absences, so he knows the territory.
“I have gotten to know some of the people at Monmouth Park over the past three years,” Griffin said. “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.”
Monmouth Park typically runs live from early May to mid-September. That meet is then followed by a nine-day all-turf meet at The Meadowlands operated by Monmouth that spans five weeks into late October. Griffin will be the race caller for The Meadowlands meet as well.
Griffin had earlier been named the full-time race caller for the Aqueduct meet in New York, which runs from January through April. The addition of Monmouth will give him a nearly year-round job.
A native of California, Griffin started his racing career at the state’s fair meets before moving on to stints at Portland Meadows in Oregon, Los Alamitos in Southern California, and Gulfstream Park West in Florida. He was named the full-time track announcer at Sam Houston Race Park in 2018, and he filled in several times for John Imbriale at the Belmont Park fall meet in New York last year.
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