The Untold Story of Joe Hernandez: The Voice of Santa Anita by Rudolph Alvarado

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The Untold Story of Joe Hernandez: The Voice of Santa Anita by Rudolph Valier Alvarado

Caballo Press

The Bottom Line

Few people have mastered the very specialized skill of race-calling, a job requiring a balance between speed and accuracy. The race call is part of the atmosphere of horse racing, an aspect of the game that is not used in most other spectator sports, and one man stands alone as the greatest caller in American racing history. This is an excellent look back at the great Joe Hernandez and some of the great horses and people he encountered during his 4 decades of service in California. Rudolph Valier Alvarado's work pays tribute to Joe Hernandez and educates the fan about his contributions to American racing.

Pros

A fitting tribute to one of racing's greatest race callers
Well-written and thoroughly researched
Enjoyable read for any racing fan
Includes a CD of 17 of Hernandez's most famous race calls including Seabiscuit and Silky Sullivan

Cons

None. This is an excellent work about Santa Anita's Ironman

Description

Joe Hernandez was hired on as the very first track announcer at Santa Anita, calling 15,587 races from 1934-1972
He called many racing greats including Seabiscuit and Citation, as well as jockeys George Woolf and Bill Shoemaker.
He dropped out of high school when hired as a sports writer with the San Diego Tribune and then the Los Angeles Examiner
He soon started calling races at Caliente, then Tanforan, Bay Meadows, Chicago, and finally Santa Anita
He quickly became the premier race caller on the west coast, from Longacres to Del Mar, drawing interest across the country
He had stints calling races at Pimlico in Baltimore and was invited to call the 1950 Kentucky Derby.
But even great callers make mistakes; on two occasions he called the wrong race, having had the wrong program page open.
Joe Hernandez is to racing what Joe DiMaggio and Cal Ripken Jr. are to baseball.
He was a pioneer in the art of race calling, when the idea of a Mexican-American on the microphone was unheard of.
He opened doors for Hispanics in horse racing, and started a tradition that you hear every day at tracks around the world.

Guide Review - The Untold Story of Joe Hernandez: The Voice of Santa Anita by Rudolph Alvarado

The race call is part of the atmosphere of horse racing, a aspect of the game that is not used in most other spectator sports, and Joe Hernandez, hired by Santa Anita to be its first announcer, was a pioneer of his craft. He called the very first race at the historic Arcadia oval on Christmas Day, 1934, and every race there until his streak ended on January 27, 1972, a total of 15,587 races. His race-calling streak ended when he collapsed in the booth midway through a race that day, suffering from internal bleeding after being kicked by a horse that morning, and died 6 days later.

Hernandez fabricated stories about his past, including where he came from. Award-winning Michigan-based biographer Rudolph Alvarado, inspired by hearing Hernandez's calls of Seabiscuit's races, set out to research the life and times of this Mexican-American, who despite his ethnic background became the pride and joy of Santa Anita and of American racing in general. With help from Joe's son Father Frank Hernandez, a Jesuit priest, they interviewed numerous people and searched public records throughout the southwest.

Clearly, Hernandez's favorite horse was Seabiscuit, and his greatest thrill was calling the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap when the Charles Howard colorbearer finally won the $100,000 race.

Hernandez was not only a race caller and a news reporter. He imported horses from South America to race in the U.S., including champion Cougar II. He was a jockey agent for John Longden during the Hall of Fame rider's early days, and later on, to give back to the racing community, he helped Mexican backstretch workers, conducting English language lessons after training hours.

On the included CD, fans can listen to Seabiscuit winning the Big Cap, or Silky Sullivan coming out of the clouds, as well as the call that ended the streak, days before his passing.