Hasta la vista Frank Mirhamadi

[kingoftherapids]

thanks for the years!

[jdelo77]

Leaving for Santa Anita ?

[cbhawg03]

Seriously, who is the backup announcer at Oaklawn?  Does Oaklawn just go silent like Keeneland if they don't find a replacement prior to the start of the meet?

Terry was great for a long time, but when it was bad, it was bad at the end.  2011 Derby for instance, tho think there rumors of Terry losing a lot on The Factor.   

[cbhawg03]

Leaving for Santa Anita ?

yea

[kingoftherapids]

I have resigned my position as track announcer at Oaklawn Park to pursue opportunities at Santa Anita Park and The Stronach Group. I will be calling part of the upcoming winter/spring meet at Santa Anita. As a Los Angeles native who has been going to The Greatest Race Place for over 40 years, I am deeply honored to have this opportunity and obviously hope they decide I'm the best choice. Oaklawn is a very special place, and that's an understatement. I love and respect the ownership, management and fans and now have friendships from Arkansas that will last a lifetime. They gave me a chance to call races at the highest level and whether I get the SA job or not, I'm going to miss Oaklawn. I played the Santa Anita Track Announcer in the movie Seabiscuit. I hope to follow in the booth of my idol, Trevor Denman. Thanks to everyone for your support.

[HawgWild]

Who knew KoR was FM!? 

cbh - stop hating on Terry! 

[Horsesrus]

Guesses on replacements.  Travis Stone maybe before he heads to Churchill end of April. 

[cbhawg03]

Who knew KoR was FM!? 

cbh - stop hating on Terry! 

Hey, Terry was great man, but the end was bad, like Kobe Bryant bad (He is awful, not sure he would even start for CMA at the moment).  When Terry was good though, he was really good.

That is probably the best race that I have seen at Oaklawn.  I don't remember a closer finish by two horses that good.  If I remember right, Mike Smith almost won the Oaklawn Handicap right after that race as well, but ran out of ground.  I could have the wrong year though since Azeri won it 3 years in a row.

[cbhawg03]

Guesses on replacements.  Travis Stone maybe before he heads to Churchill end of April.

Some Twitter lobbying for Don Stevens

[kingoftherapids]

I just got done texting back and forth with Don... he made a good point. Oaklawn is only 3 months out of the year. he is a marketing guy at delta during the off season.

[PineyWoodsRooter]

Travis Stone wasn't the greatest when he was at Louisiana Downs.
No energy at all in his calls.

[kingoftherapids]

Who knew KoR was FM!? 

cbh - stop hating on Terry! 

You found me

[HawgWild]

Hey, Terry was great man, but the end was bad, like Kobe Bryant bad (He is awful, not sure he would even start for CMA at the moment).  When Terry was good though, he was really good.

I just want to remember the good years: "And here comes XX, pickin'em up and layin'em down!" 

[husker71]

Had no idea KOR was FM but he always had really good info especially about jockeys and trainers coming in before the season.  I guess my life ambition of being the next Sherlock Holmes is down the drain.  Hope they get somebody who put as much "love" into his calls at KOR, but that may be hard to find.  KOR a couple of minutes before the races at OP on TVG made me some money the last couple of years especially on maidens.  One day he gave out a +$50 maiden at OP.   Paid my airfare to Manila.  Thank you KOR or FM who ever the hell you are.

[heavylifting]

One person whose name never seems to come up, who is still out there and is a personal favorite of mine, is Tony Bentley, who used to call the Fair Grounds.

I don't know if he's semiretired, but he still works the steeplechase circuit; in fact, I heard him call the races at Far Hills, NJ in October and he was as crisp as he ever was.

If he's up for it, I'd love to see/hear him back at a major circuit.

[cbhawg03]

Vic Stauffer anyone?

I personally don't like his calls but don't think he is employed.

[husker71]

Those who heard Terry at his best were his calls for Who Doctor Who    of course I am biased as my father was Herb Rieckens right hand man for 20+ years   The day Who Doctor Who died I was in Fremont Nebraska and called Terry (only got through to his office)  but Herb told me that you could feel the hurt in Terrys voice when he called back.   By the way why the moniker King of the Rapids??

[HawgWild]

iwastherein1969's post about "hard knocking" horses had me looking through some old programs to come up with a name or two. I was looking through the racing program for 4/17/87 and came across Who Doctor Who, ridden by Pat Day, in the 8th race that day. I had him starred with a $20 WPS note. He won and paid $2.80, $2.40 & $2.20. You rarely got good odds on a horse with Day up. Kinda like a Yogism, "I hate to bet a Day horse because the guy doesn't lose."   

[Rendezvous Cook]

LOL.  KOR isn't FM, he just posted FM's quote going out the door. 

We're going to miss Frank.  Terry went downhill very quickly, as shown in the videos above.  Announcing at Oaklawn isn't a BIG gig (though it is to us Arky's) in the industry.  3 months is hard to make due. 

[RockChalkJayhawk]

Those who heard Terry at his best were his calls for Who Doctor Who    of course I am biased as my father was Herb Rieckens right hand man for 20+ years   The day Who Doctor Who died I was in Fremont Nebraska and called Terry (only got through to his office)  but Herb told me that you could feel the hurt in Terrys voice when he called back.   By the way why the moniker King of the Rapids??

I too recall the days of Who Doctor Who.  Wayyy back in the day, I paid a visit to a relative who lived in Omaha and we all went to AkSarBen.  I'd never been to a race track, didn't even care about horse racing. I had no clue what I was doing, but the thrill of the atmosphere once I had a few bucks on a horse was awesome. 

I recall betting $10 across on a horse named Farnam Saga.  Apparently, this horse was a closer in a field of speed (I know this now, not then), but at any rate, Farnam Saga comes rallying off the turn with a dramatic closing rush to get up for the win.  Terry's booming voice and his fervent stretch call as my selection rallied hooked me on horse racing forever.  And as for Terry, well, suffice to say I love to remember my heroes from their prime rather than their decline. 

Thereafter, I made many a trip to Omaha, although no so much to visit family but to attend the races at AkSarBen.  It's been a long time ago, but I believe I can still recall a big match race between Who Doctor Who and Explosive Girl.  Fun times!

Your post brought back a ton of wonderful memories.

[HawgWild]

Why didn't FM call the Santa Anita Derby Saturday? I thought that was were he went. What's the scoop?

[kingoftherapids]

he was doing a working interview for the job and found out a few weeks ago he didnt get it. so he is not the announcer at santa anita. wrona is.

[HawgWild]

So, he left here without a firm job offer, just an opportunity for a working interview? What's he doing now? You know? Thanks for the info.

[Torqued pork]

Frank was calling races at Golden Gate last weekend. I don't know if he was filling in until a permanent announcer can be found or if he is the permanent announcer.

[kingoftherapids]

Frank was calling races at Golden Gate last weekend. I don't know if he was filling in until a permanent announcer can be found or if he is the permanent announcer.

wrona left GG for SA. Frank filling in. he will call entire monmouth meet. i guess GG is trying to decide what to do with him. and that is correct. he left here without a job offer. can't blame him for going after his dream job. everybody and their brother thought he had it. there are some underlying things that i think might have come back to bite him.  who knows.   i think FM is way better than wrona

[HawgWild]

I wonder if he wishes he had the OP job back? Did he leave on good terms with the management?

[kingoftherapids]

I wonder if he wishes he had the OP job back? Did he leave on good terms with the management?

He sure pissed them off when he told him he was leaving 2 months before the end of the meet.

[userpick]

Pete seems like a good guy but lord...it drives me insane when half of the field is already in the gate and he says "horses have reached the starting gate"...one thing about Frank, if you didn't get a bet in time, it was entirely your fault because he gave you plenty of warning

[jdelo77]

They could do a lot worse than Worna  , that's for sure !!! I'm a huge fan of him but he does a decent job , there was a race a few weeks ago and I the stretch he said " they couldn't reach him if the were shot out of a cannon ...that was pretty funny

[cbhawg03]

Pete seems like a good guy but lord...it drives me insane when half of the field is already in the gate and he says "horses have reached the starting gate"...one thing about Frank, if you didn't get a bet in time, it was entirely your fault because he gave you plenty of warning

Pete needs more sayings, if a horse has run but it stuck behind horses Pete will always says he's dressed up with nowhere to go. Like that is the only thing he knows.

[HawgWild]

Since this is a sports board, I'll use a sports analogy: Seems like FM decided to forego his senior season and declare for the draft only to find out he didn't get drafted.

[userpick]

Pete needs more sayings, if a horse has run but it stuck behind horses Pete will always says he's dressed up with nowhere to go. Like that is the only thing he knows.

Lol this is true. But frank always said "and he ERUPTS on the outside"...it's a tough job though so I shouldn't be too hard on them.

[kingoftherapids]

what is pretty surprising is how many emails he gets with people saying they love certain phrases. "rrrrrrrrrracing at oaklawn" and the all dressed up phrase get named a lot. The good thing about him is the sense of humor. He called Stan Seagle, the little trainer, "world famous" the other day. lolol Also how precise and accurate he is is a compliment often. The key to announcing is to name every horse in the race at least twice. that is the rule. announcers have their certain phrase. terry was short stretch of the mile run.
any other degenerates know can hear these in their heads:

" DOOOOOOOWN the stretch they come"
"the horses have reaaaached the starting"
"it is nowwwww possssttttt timeeeee"
"illlll sonnnnnnnnn paaaatiiii"
"Offffff in the 4th at Delta downnns"
I'm not going to even put in of bataglia terrible calls. he is the absolute worst to me.

the best though is when he comes over the system in between races a couple months ago and says,
"attention ladies and gentlemen. I got good news and i got bad news. ***everybody gets really quiet*** the good news is the owner of car XXXXX made it in time to bet the classix carryover. the bad news is you left your car running"

I have never in my life heard a grandstand laugh like that. i was somewhere last month and two people were randomly talking about it. that cracked me up.

[HogFanInBryant]

One time I heard Wrona call a race at Golden Gate and I nearly pissed myself.  It was a mile race and the big favorite had taken about $150k of the total show pool of $155k and he ran out of gas right before they hit the stretch.  Just very casual Wrona said "suicide alert to all bridge jumpers", then proceeded to never miss a beat and called the stretch call just like normal.

[cbhawg03]

what is pretty surprising is how many emails he gets with people saying they love certain phrases. "rrrrrrrrrracing at oaklawn" and the all dressed up phrase get named a lot. The good thing about him is the sense of humor. He called Stan Seagle, the little trainer, "world famous" the other day. lolol Also how precise and accurate he is is a compliment often. The key to announcing is to name every horse in the race at least twice. that is the rule. announcers have their certain phrase. terry was short stretch of the mile run.
any other degenerates know can hear these in their heads:

" DOOOOOOOWN the stretch they come"
"the horses have reaaaached the starting"
"it is nowwwww possssttttt timeeeee"
"illlll sonnnnnnnnn paaaatiiii"
"Offffff in the 4th at Delta downnns"
I'm not going to even put in of bataglia terrible calls. he is the absolute worst to me.

the best though is when he comes over the system in between races a couple months ago and says,
"attention ladies and gentlemen. I got good news and i got bad news. ***everybody gets really quiet*** the good news is the owner of car XXXXX made it in time to bet the classix carryover. the bad news is you left your car running"

I have never in my life heard a grandstand laugh like that. i was somewhere last month and two people were randomly talking about it. that cracked me up.

Wasn't that a Saturday? Thought he said good news was you got here to bet early double but bad news is you got to move car. Either way was funny though.

[kingoftherapids]

You are probably thinking of 2 or 3 Saturday's ago when he said the daily double.  This was second weekend of the meet when there actually was a 6-8k carryover