Jon White to Retire

Jon White, who first went to work for Santa Anita as a television commentator in 1993 and later took over as the morning-line oddsmaker in 2009, has announced that he will be retiring when the track's current Hollywood meet ends on June 16.

“I've been contemplating retirement for four years or so and feel the time is right,” White said. “I'm about to turn 69 and would very much like to retire while in good health. I am very grateful for the opportunity to first work as a television broadcaster for both Santa Anita and HRTV and then to make the track's morning line for all these years.”

White, who has been voted into the Washington Racing Hall of Fame this year, began his racing career when hired by the Daily Racing Form in 1974 at Playfair Race Course in his hometown of Spokane, Wash. All told, he spent 23 years with the Racing Form–including 12 on the Southern California circuit–as a writer, chart-caller and handicapper.

In 1993, White joined Santa Anita as a television commentator for the track's simulcast network. In 2002, he became the first on-air host hired by the national television network HRTV.

At the age of 24, he was hired by the Washington Horse Racing Commission to serve in that capacity at Yakima Meadows in 1979. He later also worked as a steward at Les Bois Park in Idaho and at Golden Gate Fields, Los Alamitos, Fairplex Park and Ferndale in California.

In addition to the DRF, White has written for BloodHorse, California Thoroughbred, Thoroughbred Record, Washington Thoroughbred and Thoroughbred Times. His weekly column has appeared on the Xpressbet.com website for 20 years. He received the 2019 Joe Hirsch Memorial Writing Award from the New York Racing Association for his Xpressbet.com column about Justify's run to the 2018 Triple Crown, as well as the 2003 Mark Kaufman Media Award from the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders & Owners Association for his racing and breeding coverage in Washington.

White, who resides in nearby Monrovia, said his retirement will give him the opportunity to travel.

“I'm looking forward to a new chapter in my life,” he said. “I have been to a slew of racetracks and, by the way, I consider Santa Anita to be the most beautiful of them all. I've had fun being at an Arc in France, a Melbourne Cup in Australia and two Japan Cups. I have been to 65 different tracks all over the world and am really looking forward to adding to that number in retirement.”