Every fan who stepped foot upon Santa Anita throughout its first thirty-seven years heard his voice.

Azucar, Seabiscuit, Honeymoon, Citation, Noor, Silky Sullivan, Swaps, Native Diver. He called races featuring every single one of those equine legends. Longden, Shoemaker, Lambert, Pincay, Valenzuela. They all built their careers as he watched them from his perch above the grandstand as he conveyed what he saw to the crowds in attendance.

This fan of Thoroughbred racing was the constant presence, the one person who would assuredly be there on a race day in Arcadia. And as he diligently reported for work over the course of those years, he gradually built his legend each time he took to the microphone.

That admirable work ethic gave Joe Hernandez the moniker of the original Voice of Santa Anita, and he has gone into history as its undisputed iron man.

But that was not the first track where Hernandez described the action. Some years before he settled into Huntington Drive, the one-time copy boy for the San Diego Tribune worked for Agua Caliente racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico before getting into the announcer's booth at Tanforan in Northern California. But Southern California eventually beckoned, and Hernandez became an integral part of the rebirth of Southern California racing when Santa Anita arrived to the landscape.

With his trademark opening line of "There they go!" Hernandez provided the soundtrack to every contest held at Santa Anita starting on Christmas Day 1934. He was there for the very first Santa Anita Handicap, and called Seabiscuit's legendary run to victory in the Hundred Grander in 1940. He announced the names of Citation and Noor when the two squared off during one of their several head-to-head matchups. He called Swaps in each of the brilliant Cal-bred's four career starts at Santa Anita, as well as Silky Sullivan's improbable come-from-behind rally on a February day in 1959. Several years later, fans could hear the name of Native Diver over the public address system, courtesy of Hernandez.

For the better part of those first four decades, there was not a legendary horse in California that escaped the eyes of Joe Hernandez at Santa Anita. A complete professional, he arrived to work every single day during those winter/spring meets. Jockeys came and went, as did the horses, either through retirement or moving on to other circuits. But Hernandez was always there, seeing the racing stars of the day as several of them journeyed towards the status of legend.

Little did Hernandez know, he had put himself on that path as well.

While Hernandez is best remembered for his tenure at Santa Anita, his racetrack experience was not limited to just that one venue. Along with his stints at Agua Caliente and Tanforan, Hernandez served as the first racecaller for Hollywood Park and Del Mar. He spent just over two decades in that role at the latter track, and by extension became Southern California's first true voice of Thoroughbred racing as he was hired by all three of the Southland's major tracks.

But race fans outside of California came to know Hernandez as well. The talented racecaller also found employment at various circuits across the United States, and notably served as announcer for the 1950 Kentucky Derby, a real feather in the cap of anybody in the profession.

Hernandez actually took on another role in racing. Along with being an announcer, he also became an owner, and he was instrumental in bringing the great Cougar II from South America to Southern California. A horse with immense talent, Cougar II went on to take many stakes in the area, notably the 1973 Big 'Cap, and won an Eclipse Award as Champion Male Turf Horse the year before.

A highly accomplished man in his industry, Hernandez's greatest achievement is his unparalled calling streak. No one else occupied the announcer's booth at Santa Anita from 1934 until late January 1972. On the morning of January 27, Hernandez went to Hollywood Park before heading to Santa Anita for the day's action. Reportedly kicked by a horse at the track, Hernandez did not allow that to keep him from the job he loved. He made it to Santa Anita, and as usual, was on hand for the start of the proceedings.

But the kick from earlier in the day caught up to him. As he called the action early in the card, fans suddenly heard silence. Hernandez had collapsed in the announcer's booth, and was sent to a local hospital after being found. After an amazing run of just over thirty-seven years, the announcer's legendary Santa Anita streak stopped at an amazing 15,587 races.

Hernandez regained conciousness after collapsing, but he would never again call the action at the track he was synonymous with. Sadly, Hernandez passed away a couple of days later, and that signaled a true end of an era for the region. To give an idea of what Hernandez meant to Santa Anita, flags were flown at half-staff at the track and jockeys lined the rail as a moment of silence was given in his honor.

Nearly a half-century has gone by since the voice of Joe Hernandez filled Santa Anita, but he has long been there in spirit. A bust with his likeness can be found near the Kingsbury Fountain, with the plaque underneath it displaying his status as Santa Anita's first announcer and his streak of races called. It is one of the all-time great records in Thoroughbred racing, and fans that roam the track have the opportunity to learn about the man who played a massive role in the history of California racing.

Fittingly, Santa Anita pays tribute to him every year with the Joe Hernandez Stakes. It plays a part in keeping the memory of one of the track's true icons alive, and it is of course rightly held during the winter part of the season.

In 2009, the life of Joe Hernandez was chronicled in a book by Rudolph Alvarado. An award-winner, "The Untold Story of Joe Hernandez: The Voice of Santa Anita" has brought the icon to a new generation of racing fans. What they will find is a tale of a great man who embodied the best of Thoroughbred racing.

Sources:

Hernandez working at various tracks and San Diego Tribune: Abbott, Bion. "Heart Attack Stills Voice of Joe Hernandez." Los Angeles Times, February 3, 1972

Flags flown at half-staff and jockeys along rail when moment of silence given: Ibid.