Expat Australian Michael Wrona has landed the plum job as track announcer at Santa Anita.
Wrona, 49, began calling races as a teenager in Queensland and has spent 25 years in the United States, the past 10 at Golden Gate Fields.
The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita, conducted an international search for their new announcer with Wrona coming out on top of the final four.
“This was a much harder decision than anyone could have imagined,” Joe Morris of the Stronach Group said.
“In the end, as we said from the beginning, we listened to our fans, our horsemen, the media and our employees.”
Wrona will begin his full-time role in May.
“I’m overjoyed and humbled that Santa Anita is entrusting me with a booth occupied by so few announcers in the tracks storied history,” he said.
Santa Anita has only had four primary track announcers since it opened in 1934, though others have filled in throughout the years.
