From hoops to horse races

Chris Griffin, the race-caller at the Oak Tree at Pleasanton meet, has had a varied background at the microphone. Before he began calling horse races, he was the announcer for the Harlem Globetrotters and for the National Hot Rod Association. Griffin has called the races at Ferndale and at the most recent Portland Meadows meeting.

As a child, Griffin would make a game out of rolling golf balls around a self-made track.

“I’d line the golf balls up and had enough different colors that I’d call races as I rolled the balls,” he said. “My dad would take me to the track, and I loved the colors, silks, jockeys. I still have a picture of Chris McCarron.”

Griffin said his days with the Globetrotters translate well to the fair circuit, which includes plenty of between-races entertainment.

“The Globetrotters were live entertainment, and I was there doing a two-hour show for the people who came,” he said. “I hope that I’m entertaining people and keeping them informed.”

Griffin will also call the races at the State Fair at Sacramento as well as Ferndale again.