Frank Mirahmadi makes slam dunk of a call during July 4 racing fest
One buzzed-about race had all the trappings for a clever call, and Frank was ready.
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Saratoga announcer Frank Mirahmadi got to flex his trivia muscles early this year, making a home run — rather, slam dunk — of a call during NYRA’s special July 4th Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.
When Saturday’s racing began, all eyes were on Ewing, a Mark Casse-trained 2-year-old debuting in the Maiden Special Weight.
Not only was the buzz around the track that Ewing had it in the bag, but cross-genre sports fans loved the name. The potential rising star was named after basketball legend Patrick Ewing and the colt of Knicks Go — the New York Knicks being where the icon spent 15 years of his decorated NBA career.
The puns almost wrote themselves.
“Ewing, cutting the corner professionally, and opening up with authority,” Mirahmadi announced at the top of the stretch, with Ewing ahead of the pack by four lengths.
And then he really took off, leaving plenty of time for Mirahmadi, ready with his sports trivia, to stretch out his call.
“You name one after the Hoya Destroya and a first-round draft pick, 11-time All Star, he had better run, and a runner indeed,” Mirahmadi said during his call that elicited many chuckles. “Ewing by a BLOCK!”
“We were waiting for it,” said America’s Day at the Races’ Laffit Pincay III. “We knew Frank would have something special if Ewing did something like that.” He added that as Ewing broke away into a solid lead, his cohost Jonathon Kinchen called that Mirahmadi was “gonna say something really cool.”
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