Paquette named new track announcer at Parx

Jessica Paquette, a 20-year racing industry veteran who has done multiple short stints as the announcer at a number of U.S. tracks, has been hired as the full-time track announcer at Parx Racing outside of Philadelphia, starting on Dec. 12.

Paquette, who most recently was the director of communications at the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, will become the only female full-time, year-round track announcer at a U.S. racetrack. She has previously called races at Suffolk Downs, Colonial Downs, and Sam Houston Race Park, and has extensive on-camera experience as a racing analyst.

Paquette, 37, said on Friday that she had begun seeking out a full-time announcing job earlier this year after calling Quarter Horse races at Sam Houston. The spot at Parx opened up when Chris Griffin – who Paquette called “one of my best friends” – announced earlier this year that he would be leaving the Parx job to call races full-time at Aqueduct in New York and Monmouth Park in New Jersey.

“Chris was telling me to go for it, and so then I said, ‘Why not me?’ ” Paquette said. “I was at the point where I realized this is where a lot of women talk themselves out of doing something. So I kept saying, ‘Why not me?’ ”

While there has not yet been a woman to occupy an announcer’s booth full-time for an entire meet, Angela Hermann is believed to be the first woman to call a full card of racing in the U.S. when she subbed for Canterbury’s regular announcer in 2013. Three years later, she took over for Michael Wrona at Golden Gate Fields and called the last five weeks of the track’s winter-spring meet.

“It’s really humbling and not something I take lightly, to make a little bit of history,” Paquette said. “I have to give Angela a lot of credit and don’t want to take anything away from her.”

Joe Wilson, the chief operating officer for Parx, said that Parx is “thrilled” to have Paquette on board.

“The high regard with which she is held in our industry along with a tremendous work ethic makes her the perfect person to usher in this new era for Parx,” Wilson said.

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Although few women have gotten jobs as a track announcer, many major racetracks and all major racing broadcasts have female racing analysts and paddock reporters. In 2020, Gabby Gaudet, a racing analyst and reporter for FanDuel TV and Keeneland, was the first woman to announce a major Thoroughbred sale when she called two shifts at Keeneland’s January Horses of All Ages Sale.

Paquette said she is extremely excited to take on her new role in the announcer’s booth, at a track that races year-round. Paquette and Griffin will share announcing duties at Parx starting in mid-November, Paquette said, at which point she will begin to ease into the full-time role.

“The happiest version of me is at the racetrack every day,” Paquette said. “So this is a dream come true.”

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