Michael Wrona named to replace Trevor Denman as Santa Anita race caller

Michael Wrona, who left Australia 25 years ago to pursue his dream as a race caller, was named the permanent announcer at Santa Anita Park, replacing the popular Trevor Denman, who resigned from the Arcadia track on Dec. 4.

Wrona, along with Frank Mirahmadi, were the two internal candidates calling races for three weeks at time, alternating with races at Golden Gate, also owned by the Stronach Group that runs Santa Anita.

Wrona is well-traveled after leaving Australia and coming to the United States. He has worked at Hollywood Park, Bay Meadows, Golden Gate, Retama Downs, Arlington Park, Lone Star and Fair Grounds.

This was not the first public audition to which Wrona has participated. He tried out for the job at Churchill Downs, but Mark Johnson was selected.

Wrona said he doesn’t believe in signature phrases, even though his “racing” varies from most callers who start a race with “and they’re off.”

“I like to keep the delivery as varied as possible,” Wrona told The Times earlier his year. “I don’t like to anticipate what I’m about to say. I don’t lean on any particular phrase. I just throw things in very randomly.”

When he came to the U.S. in 1990, legendary Australian announcer Johnny Tepp suggested he retool an old Aussie race call.

“When a horse is covering a lot of ground, trapped wide around both turns, there’s an expression that a horse is covering more ground than Burke and Wills,” Wrona explained, referencing two famous Australian explorers.

Tepp thoght if you replaced Burke and Wills with Lewis and Clark it might work.

“So I did and it got a great reaction,” Wrona said. “Every now and then I’ll throw in covering more ground than Lewis and Clark, if some poor horse is posted five wide around both turns.”

Mirahmadi is expected to be offered Wrona’s Golden Gate job. Mirahmadi left a permanent job at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas to try out for the Santa Anita position. He also calls at Monmouth in New Jersey.

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With lengendary race caller Trevor Denman no longer in the both, Australian Michael Wrona looks to makes his mark at Santa Anita Park.

Santa Anita did not announce if Wrona would be paid on an annual contract or on a day rate, which is more common in the U.S. Santa Anita has about 130 race dates a year. Denman will continue to call the races at Del Mar in the summer.

The track brought in two international callers for tryouts. David Fitzgerald did a stint on Feb 20-21. He has been calling races in Britain since 2010. He has called the Royal Ascot meeting, a five-day version of the Breeders’ Cup, the last two years.

Craig Evans, who calls at the Singapore Turf Club, was also given an audition Feb. 20-21 but was viewed as the fourth candidate after he failed to recognize a late charge by crowd-favorite Ziconic, a son of Zenyatta.

Wrona now has the country’s pre-eminent announcing job at Santa Anita, ending a long journey through many race tracks.

john.cherwa@latimes.com

Twitter: @jcherwa

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