Butterflies at the track
New announcer predicts opening-night jitters
Oaklawn Park supporters met new track announcer Pete Aiello in North Little Rock on Wednesday night.
Aiello was hired in December to replace Frank Mirahmadi, who now works for Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. He interacted with a crowd of about 300 at the Oaklawn Kickoff Banquet at the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel.
Aiello said he knows he will battle a heavy dose of nerves before his first call
Friday, when Oaklawn is scheduled to open its 57-day 2016 season.
“There’ll be 1,400 new horses that I’ve never seen before, and I think I probably have heard of five of them,” Aiello said. “That will be nerve-wracking, and, you
know, I’ll be around all new connections. And the thing about it is, you only get one chance to make a first impression. I just want to get off on the right foot, so I’ll be supernervous.”
Aiello sounded confident his nerves will fade after the opening race.
“After that, I’ll be on autopilot,” he said.
Longtime Oaklawn jockey Jon Court was one of several jockeys and trainers at the banquet. He said Aiello had impressed him.
“We listen to announcers, and I’ve heard Pete, and I’m excited about him coming here,” Court said. “I’m excited to see how he takes on the Oaklawn meet. I’ve heard him call races, and I’ve got nothing but confidence in him. I think he’ll have a fun run
throughout the meet, and I’m sure it will be another step up toward the plateau of his career.”
Aiello, 30, said Oaklawn’s management and staff have expressed similar confidence in his ability and talent, honed most recently at Hialeah Park in Hialeah, Fla., and Gulfstream West — formerly Calder Race Course — in Miami Gardens, Fla.
“One of the things that will make it easy for me, and that I don’t have to worry about, is that I feel like I have the support of everyone at Oaklawn,” Aiello said. “They’re confident that I will do a good job, and that makes me confident.”
Also new to Oaklawn this season is bugler Chris Holt, an Arkansas native with a degree in music education from Central Arkansas and 22 years of experience as a performer and music teacher in high schools in Arkansas, Georgia and South Carolina.
“This was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” Holt said in a news release. “I’m really looking forward to the meet.”
Oaklawn also will introduce high definition this season as it broadcasts its live meet to about 450 high-definition televisions located across the facility. Director of Racing David Longinotti said the difference in picture quality should be obvious.
“It will be like day and night,” he said. “It’s just like when you’re at home watching a high-def channel or a standard-def channel. It’s the same difference.”