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Wrona feels it’s very important to pronounce horse, owner, trainer and jockey names correctly when calling a race. He recently contacted trainer Paul Jones to check on the pronunciation of Jess Lyndes Reason before the horse broke her maiden on April 18.
“I just use a minor variation in the wording of the welcome and farewell,” he said. “Instead of welcoming people to Los Alamitos, I wel- come them to the coverage of the races. Instead of bidding them safe travels, I thank them for playing Los Alamitos.”
One difference from Burgart that fans will recognize, whether they experience Wrona’s calls live or on television, is Wrona’s accent. Now 54, Wrona grew up in Australia. His accent, while noticeable, has softened over the many years calling races throughout the U.S., and fans do not appear to have any trouble understanding him.
Wrona’s grandfather inadvertently intro- duced young Michael to his future career when he bought his grandson a horse racing board game complete with plastic horses, dice, and play money. Michael enjoyed calling out the horses’ names more than winning a race or making money.
“The dice were holding back the flow,” he said. “So my next step was to draw the colors of horses of that era on little pieces of paper. I would push them across my bedroom floor, and I would invent these racecalls.”
Eventually, Wrona created more than 1,000 sets of paper silk colors. He also listened to actual racecalls on the radio, which turned out to be a better education than attending the races in person.
“You’re not leaning on pictures,” he explained. “It’s all on the broadcaster to be descriptive enough.”
Wrona especially admired the calls of Australian racecaller John Tapp.
“While other kids in high school were idol- izing athletes or rock stars, I just wanted to be Johnny Tapp,” Wrona said.
Wrona also became a fan of the Australian racehorse Kingston Town, who won three consec- utive editions of the W.S. Cox Plate in 1980-82.
Breaking into the business, then as much as now, wasn’t easy. In fact, Wrona took a job at a bank in Brisbane while having the occasional opportunity to call a race or two. When he finally got the chance to call an entire card, at
a place called Brunette Downs in the middle of the Australian continent, he had to phone in sick to the bank so that he could travel to the two- day race meet held in conjunction with a rodeo.
Brunette Downs epitomized the concept of a bush track. Wrona remembers a bookmaker who took bets while standing on a 44-gallon drum. The track didn’t even have an outside rail.
“One horse didn’t take the turn, and they had to put the next race back while they rounded it up,” Wrona said. “But it was my first occasion where I was the actual racecaller for the day.”
Eventually, Wrona quit the bank job to take a position in radio. He worked up to call- ing races live on the radio. Tapp, who hosted the racing segment of a sports television show, played some of Wrona’s calls and compli- mented him on them.
In 1990, Marje Everett, who ran the Hollywood Park Thoroughbred track in Southern California, offered the announcing
job to Tapp, who declined. He recommended Wrona for some guest calling there, and that trip led to Everett offering the position to Wrona.
Since then, Wrona has called at a variety of American tracks, including most of those in California, such as Santa Anita, Golden Gate Fields, and Bay Meadows. His stint at Bay Meadows will always be special because there he met his wife, Kathy. She has worked mutuels at several tracks, and the two of them now make their home in Huntington Beach, not far from Los Alamitos.
In the mid-1990s, Wrona called at Arlington Park, including the 1996 Arlington Citation Challenge Invitational Stakes, where Cigar equaled Citation’s modern-day record of 16 consecutive wins. Wrona also called the 2016 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita.
While those were important Thoroughbred events, Wrona looks forward to calling the major races at Los Alamitos, which will include the Champion of Champions in December.
“I’m very excited about the prospect of calling some of these famous, rich, prestigious races,” he said. “Los Alamitos plays host to so many top-line horses and horsemen.”
Starting at the beginning of the season, Wrona has been able to ease into the big races. Like horsemen and racing fans, he looks forward to the two year olds making their debuts.
“I’m really enjoying seeing these youngsters coming through because it’s my first year of expe- riencing new, fresh faces on the scene,” he said.
Wrona may also be a fresh face at Los Alamitos, but he brings a wealth of experience that is benefiting fans and horsemen.
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