BloodHorse’s Mitchell Amongst Media Eclipse Award Winners

The Nationwide Thoroughbred Racing Affiliation, Every day Racing Kind, and the Nationwide Turf Writers and Broadcasters introduced Jan. 6 the winners of the 2021 Media Eclipse Awards in six classes. One recipient is BloodHorse’s Eric Mitchell.

The 2021 Media Eclipse Award winners are as follows:

Characteristic/Commentary Writing – Sandra McKee, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred, “A Jockey’s Life. Baltimore’s Adams Set Driving File in 1930;” June 2021.

Information/Enterprise Writing – Eric Mitchell, Bloodhorse.com, “Tracks Be part of Rallying Cry to Finish Cargo Delivery;” Aug. 24, 2021.

Tv – Reside Racing Programming – NBC Sports activities, “The Breeders’ Cup World Championships,” Nov. 6, 2021, on NBC; Billy Matthews and Lindsay Schanzer, Producers.

Tv – Options – NBC Sports activities “Sizzling Rod Charlie,” April 30, 2021, on NBCSN; Sam Flood, Government Producer; Rob Hyland, Coordinating Producer; Jack Felling, Coordinating Producer; David Picker, Senior Characteristic Producer and Annie Koeblitz, Producer.

Audio/Multi-Media Web – Attheraces.com “Breeders’ Cup Magical Moments,” Oct. 25, 2021; Matthew Taylor, Director of New Media and Innovation; Peter Fornatale, author and interviewer and Naomi Tukker, interviewer.

Images – Jeff Faughender, courier-journal.com (Louisville Courier-Journal); “Between the Shadows,” Might 1, 2021.

Media Eclipse Award winners shall be introduced their trophies on the 51st Annual Eclipse Awards Ceremony and Dinner at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Ca on Thursday, Feb. 10. Eclipse Award ticket data is obtainable on the NTRA web site https://www.ntra.com/eclipse-awards/.

Information/Enterprise – Eric Mitchell

In “Tracks Be part of Rallying Cry to Finish Cargo Delivery,” Eric Mitchell investigated the deplorable circumstances of racehorses shipped by boat in metal container containers from america to Puerto Rico, and the response of American racetracks to this much-criticized follow. The article was revealed on Aug. 24, 2021.

That is the primary Media Eclipse Award for Mitchell, from Lexington who’s the BloodHorse bloodstock editor and a 21-year veteran on the publication.

“I am clearly thrilled by this honor,” mentioned Mitchell on profitable an Eclipse Award. “Extra vital, although, I hope this brings consciousness to the problem. It’s a subject I’ve written about for a few years, speaking to quite a few individuals within the U.S. and Puerto Rico who’re eager to see extra stress and a focus to make it cease.”

Mitchell turned conscious of this inhumane delivery follow in April 2019 when he bought a name from Kim Heath of Ocala about 9 horses that had tragically died throughout one cargo from the Port of Jacksonville. He started following the problem and getting extra data on the toll this journey takes on the horses, lengthy after they’ve arrived in Puerto Rico. This yr, Thoroughbred racing in Puerto Rico turned extra enticing as a consequence of substantial bonus incentives in its purse applications, which in flip drove extra homeowners to say cheap horses within the U.S. and ship them by cargo ship.

On this piece, Mitchell described the sometimes treacherous voyage lasting three days, as horses are first loaded in Jacksonville however stay in loaded and cramped circumstances on a ship for hours earlier than the journey even begins throughout the Caribbean Sea. “These horses then get trucked to the Port of Jacksonville, the place they’re loaded onto a TOTE Maritime ship, which doesn’t go away the port till 3 a.m. Wednesday and can arrive round midnight on Thursday. The horses keep on the boat till mid-Friday morning as a result of the longshoremen do not begin unloading till 9 a.m.”

Whereas many horses survive the journey, they usually later endure quite a lot of sicknesses attributable to dehydration, stress throughout delivery, and unsanitary circumstances of the delivery container. Many develop pleural pneumonia or laminitis and are euthanized weeks after delivery in. The flood horses in Puerto Rico additionally overwhelmed the sources of Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare.

A groundswell of help from horsemen and racing organizations coalesced final August led by Caesars Leisure’s Indiana Grand and 1/ST Racing (The Stronach Group tracks), which pledged to ban horsemen from their tracks who shipped horses to Puerto Rico by container ship. The Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protecting Affiliation and New York Thoroughbred Breeders Affiliation additionally adopted with denunciation of the follow.

Mitchell mentioned many individuals helped him observe this story however explicit recognition goes to Dr. Jose Garcia Blanco, a veterinarian and bloodstock agent who buys for the Confederación Hípica of Puerto Rico, the biggest of the island’s two Thoroughbred homeowners’ organizations; Kelley Stobie, co-founder and Chief Monetary Officer of Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare, and Eduardo Maldonado, a number one Puerto Rican breeder and former government director and president of the Puerto Rico Breeders Affiliation.

MITCHELL: Tracks Be part of Rallying Cry to Finish Cargo Delivery

Honorable point out within the Information /Commentary class went to 2015 Media Eclipse Award winner Tim Sullivan for “Kentucky Derby Steward Lastly Tells All About Beautiful Most Safety Disqualification,” which was revealed within the Louisville Courier-Journal on April 22, 2021.

Judges within the Information/Enterprise class have been: Tom LaMarra, Director of Communications and Backstretch Companies for the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Affiliation; Amy Owens, Communications Affiliate at Keeneland; and David Papadopoulos, a senior editor at Bloomberg Information.

Characteristic/Commentary Writing – Sandra McKee

On Sept. 12, 1930, 16-year-old apprentice rider Albert Adams set the world file for many consecutive wins by a jockey with 9 when he guided Wandering Jim, who had gained a race for him simply two days earlier than, to victory at Marlboro Race Monitor in Maryland. Writing within the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred, Sandra McKee introduced Adams’ story of a boy with nice character, who battled towards crooked stables that value him his profession, again into the highlight in “A Jockey’s Life. Baltimore’s Adams Set Driving File in 1930.” The article earned McKee, from Baltimore, her first Media Eclipse Award.

“I needed to win this award for thus lengthy,” mentioned McKee, who has been a contributing author to the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred for the previous eight years, following a 36-year profession as a sportswriter for the Baltimore Night Solar and the Baltimore Solar. “Over time, all of the horse racing writers at The Solar needed to win an Eclipse Award. After which I adopted Tom Keyser on the beat. Tom gained the Eclipse Award 3 times in 4 years. To say I used to be motivated is an understatement. And now, to be chosen 10 years after leaving The Solar, is unbelievable. I am very excited to be within the firm of all of the gifted individuals who have gained this award. It’s a nice honor.”

The Adams legacy was saved alive by his descendants, particularly Ed Adams, the good nephew of Albert Adams, who died in 1970. Ed Adams contacted Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred and when editor Joe Clancy heard of it, he supplied the story to McKee.

“I bought the pleasure of attending to know Albert Adams by getting out the largest magnifying glass I may discover to pore over previous newspapers,” mentioned McKee. “Ed Adams had an enormous thick pocket book of clippings from the Nineteen Thirties. Ed’s cousin Judy Adams remembers Albert clearly and recalled his descriptive recollections, his chuckle, and persona.”

As McKee recounts, Adams’ profitable streak was heralded amongst different nice information in sports activities of the day. “It was a wonderful second, celebrated by native newspapers and numerous racing publications around the globe. Adams was commemorated in Ripley’s Imagine It or Not. A sports activities headline in contrast him to New York Yankee nice Lou Gehrig. Illustrated sports activities cartoons measured him towards Indianapolis 500 champion Ralph DePalma, who competed in additional than 1,500 auto races, and New York Giants ace pitcher Artwork Nehf, who gained the deciding video games of back-to-back World Sequence (1921 and 1922).”

Nonetheless, as Albert Adams turned extra profitable, and gained mounts from trainers at bigger stables, he was ordered to carry again horses, which was clearly reverse of his “trip to win” philosophy. A lot in order that when he disobeyed directions to lose on function, he was subjected to suspensions by these stables. “The groundings, mainly for desirous to trip an sincere race, had taken their toll. By the top of the 1934 season his using profession was over.”

Nonetheless Adams went on together with his life. He continued to gallop horses and labored to search out mounts for youthful jockeys. In World Warfare II, he served as an infantry sergeant within the twenty ninth Division within the Pacific. Following the battle, he labored in an vehicle meeting plant for 5 years earlier than taking a job with the Baltimore Sanitation Division. “On his days off, he nonetheless loved going to the races and he rooted for the younger jockeys who took goal at his nine-in-a-row file.”

Judges within the Characteristic/Commentary class have been Bob Kieckhefer, racing author for United Press Worldwide; Invoice Kolberg, former assistant director of publicity at Santa Anita and Del Mar and revealed creator on Thoroughbred racing; and Rob Longley, sports activities columnist, who first coated the Triple Crown in each Canada and the U.S. in 1996 and is presently a baseball columnist for the Toronto Solar.

The profitable article will be considered right here.

Tv – Reside Racing Programming – NBC Sports activities

For the second consecutive yr, NBC Sports activities has gained the Eclipse Award for Reside Tv Programming for its broadcast of the $6 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Basic (G1) on NBC and Peacock, rising to the end of its stay two-day protection of the thirty eighth Breeders’ Cup World Championships from picturesque Del Mar in California.

Persevering with to offer its viewers with technical improvements and a number of viewing alternatives, NBC Sports activities employed distinctive views from the monitor with entry to roughly 75 video sources, together with a number of stay jockey cams and jockey and coach/proprietor mics; and jockey cams connecting to real-time knowledge that allowed viewers to see graphic overlays on replays, together with velocity, present place, distance from the chief, and distance from the end. For particular person entry to the horses, NBC Sports activities utilized Breeders’ Cup Contender Cams, that includes 14 paddock ISO cameras and 10 front-side ISO roof cameras.

“It was a privilege to current the best two days in horse racing—the Breeders’ Cup World Championships—all culminating within the Breeders’ Cup Basic,” mentioned Lindsay Schanzer, NBC Sports activities producer, Breeders’ Cup. “As all the time, this manufacturing was an actual group effort, and it’s a tribute to the complete NBC Sports activities group, together with the unimaginable collaboration between our companions at each the Breeders’ Cup and TVG, that we have been capable of give viewers probably the most complete Championships protection but. We kicked issues off with an entertaining open by world-renowned chef (and 2021 Breeders’ Cup winner!) Bobby Flay, balanced highlighting the gorgeous scene at Del Mar in addition to the wide selection of storylines within the remaining race of the Championships and capped all of it off with an unforgettable race gained by best-in-class champion Knicks Go  . We’re so happy with the ultimate product, and stay up for bringing many extra Breeders’ Cups to audiences for years to return.”

Along with Schanzer, the manufacturing group was led by producer Billy Matthews and director Kaare Numme. Ron Vaccaro was the editorial producer.

The NBC Sports activities expertise on the printed consisted of Ahmed Fareed, Jerry Bailey, Randy Moss, Laffit Pincay III, Nick Luck, Eddie Olczyk, Matt Bernier, Steve Kornacki, Kenny Rice, Donna Brothers, Britney Eurton, Larry Collmus, and Maria Taylor.

Judges within the Reside Tv Programming class have been Liz Bronstein, tv present runner and government producer, and creator of the Animal Planet 2008-09 sequence “Jockeys;” Jack Renaud, 33-year producer for CBS Information, who started masking racing at native stations in Lexington and Louisville; and Toni Slotkin, Emmy Award-winning producer/affiliate director at ABC Sports activities and member of ABC’s Eclipse Award-winning horse racing groups; consulting producer/particular tasks for MLB Community.

Tv Characteristic – NBC Sports activities

In setting the scene for one of many extra well-liked Kentucky Derby possession tales of 2021, NBC Sports activities produced an Eclipse-Award profitable Characteristic on Boat Racing, 5 former Brown College soccer gamers who turned half homeowners, (together with Roadrunner Racing, William Strauss and Gainesway Secure) of Derby contender Sizzling Rod Charlie .

NBC Sports activities chronicled the vitality and sheer pleasure of Patrick O’Neill, Alex Quoyeser, Daniel Giovacchini, Eric Armagost, and Reiley Higgins hitting it huge and attending to the coveted Run for the Roses with simply their third gross sales buy. The characteristic begins with the Boat Racing group sitting in Adirondack chairs on a garden in Santa Monica, Calif., telling their story of staying related after faculty commencement. Later, they be a part of Patrick’s uncles, Doug O’Neill, coach of Sizzling Rod Charlie, and bloodstock agent Dennis O’Neill, for early morning exercises at Santa Anita Park. The scene shifts subsequent to the TwinSpires Louisiana Derby (G2) on the Honest Grounds Race Course & Slots in New Orleans, the place the group goes wild with exultation when their beloved “Chuck” crosses the wire first on this key Derby prep race. The journey concludes with the group bounding as much as the rail to observe Sizzling Rod Charlie exercise on the Churchill Downs backstretch in keen anticipation of fulfilling Derby goals, or as reporter Jac Collinsworth deadpanned: “Infusing youth right into a sport sometimes match for kings.”

“It was an honor to share the story of Sizzling Rod Charlie with our viewers,” mentioned NBC Senior Characteristic Producer David Picker. “And what a narrative it was. In only a few quick years, the Boat Racing guys went from faculty to the Kentucky Derby as homeowners. They usually introduced a lot enthusiasm to the game alongside the way in which. It is the form of story we love to inform on racing’s largest day.”

Along with Picker, the NBC manufacturing group included Sam Flood, Government Producer; Rob Hyland, Coordinating Producer; Annie Koeblitz, Producer, and narration from Collinsworth.

The profitable entry will be considered right here.

Judges within the Tv Options class have been Dick Jerardi, who coated greater than three many years of Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup races for Philadelphia Every day Information; Kris Kugler, Horse Racing Protection Producer, ESPN; and Lenny Shulman, Emmy Award-winning author/producer, creator, and senior correspondent for BloodHorse.

Audio/Multimedia Web – Attheraces.com and Peter Fornatale  

In “Breeders’ Cup Magical Moments,” Matthew Taylor of Attheraces.com, the web site for U.Ok. racing broadcaster Attheraces and Sky Sports activities, and journalist, creator, and “Within the Cash” podcast host Peter Fornatale, current a multimedia show that includes recorded interviews with 17 racing personalities recalling their most memorable moments of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, which has been run consecutively since 1984. The interviews have been carried out by Peter Fornatale and Naomi Tukker. The presentation was additionally supported by textual content from the themes and vivid colourful graphics, in addition to race replays.

The tales have been informed from each an American and European perspective. Among the many personalities interviewed have been famend racing journalist and creator Andy Beyer; handicapper Jonathon Kinchen; Breeders’ Cup-winning jockeys Jerry Bailey, Frankie Dettori, Rosie Napravnik, Lester Piggott, Mike Smith, Gary Stevens, and John Velazquez; trainers D. Wayne Lukas and Aidan O’Brien; broadcasters Kevin Blake, Matt Chapman, Randy Moss, and Nick Luck; and Jamaican cricket legend Michael Holding.

“It is a large honor for us to win this award,” mentioned Taylor, Director of New Media and Innovation for At The Races. “There was an ideal curiosity in American racing within the U.Ok. throughout the pandemic, and there’s no higher approach to promote American racing to a European viewers than by way of the Breeders’ Cup. The willingness of the contributors we approached to be part of this was extraordinary. Nobody raised their fingers and mentioned ‘No.’ They have been all proud to speak concerning the Breeders’ Cup as part of their profitable careers.”

“I am blown away,” mentioned Fornatale, who resides in Brooklyn, N.Y. “Eclipse Awards have been gained by so many individuals and so many horses I’ve admired through the years. To be included among the many recipients is only a large honor. From the shedrow to the saddle to the stands, we needed to create a mosaic of nice occasions and recollections that captures what makes the Breeders’ Cup so particular. I’m so proud to work with Matthew, one in all my largest supporters, and likewise with Naomi, who did a implausible job together with her interviews and was indispensable. This was a group mission all the way in which.”

The profitable entry will be considered right here.

Judges within the Audio/Multi-Media Web class have been Glenn Crouter, former lead tv anchor for Woodbine Reside Community and sports activities and way of life announcer for Newstalk 1010 in Toronto; Bob Curran, longtime Vice President of Company Communications for The Jockey Membership and graduate of the St. Bonaventure College journalism program; and Julie Sarno, freelance author, former editorial employees member of The BloodHorse, employees member at The Meadowlands, employees member and division head at Del Mar.

Images – Jeff Faughender

Faughender, from Louisville, Ky., has gained his first Eclipse Award for a rooftop {photograph} capturing the complete 20-horse discipline from the 147th Kentucky Derby Introduced by Woodford Reserve (G1), which was run on Might 1, 2021. With the horses racing down the Churchill Downs stretch after the beginning of the Run for the Roses, Faughender captured the Derby discipline in between the shadows solid by the famed Twin Spires over the racetrack.

The {photograph} was revealed on the Louisville Courier-Journal web site. Faughender has been with the Courier-Journal the previous 22 years in numerous capacities and has labored as a visible journalist since 2017.

“I am actually blown away by it,” Faughender mentioned on profitable the Eclipse Award. “I’m thrilled past phrases. It is fairly an accomplishment for me and the individuals who supported me on the Courier-Journal.”

Success from dangerous luck appeared to smile on Faughender final yr in taking the profitable Eclipse Award photograph. A number of weeks earlier than the 2021 Kentucky Derby, Faughender injured his knee taking part in tennis and requested for a photograph project that would not require an excessive amount of strolling. So he was assigned to cowl the race from the roof of the racetrack with the give attention to taking pictures the end.

“I used to be delighted to get the rooftop project,” mentioned Faughender. “I used to be targeted on taking pictures the end but additionally the beginning of the race. In establishing my pictures, I turned to my left. I noticed shadows of the spires over the racetrack, and I thought of getting the sphere in a single view.”

Utilizing his Canon 5D Mark IV digicam with a Canon 200-400mm f/4 L lens, Faughender caught the Derby begin at 6:59 p.m. ET, with an extender, however turned it off to reframe the Twin Spires in shadow because the horses approached the wire for the primary time. “I knew that there was a shot to get and I hoped that the horses would keep collectively going to the primary flip.

“It wasn’t till I bought again to the Media Heart that I noticed it on my pc and mentioned, ‘Sure, I bought it.'”

The photograph appeared that evening on the Courier-Journal web site. Faughender additionally put it on his Fb web page, the place it was found by fellow Courier-Journal photographer and three-time Eclipse Award Images winner Michael Clevenger, who praised Faughender’s picture and put it on his Fb web page.

“The image bought a number of consideration after that, particularly from veteran photographers, who had by no means seen a photograph like that,” mentioned Faughender. “Generally it takes only one shot.”

The profitable {photograph} will be considered right here.

Honorable Point out within the Images class went to five-time Eclipse Award winner Barbara Livingston of Every day Racing Kind for her photograph of France Go de Ina  shedding his rider Masaki Takano throughout a pre-Preakness Stakes (G1) exercise Might 12, 2021. The picture was posted on DRF.com.

Judges within the class have been Mark Abraham, freelance photographer and presently deputy director of america Senate Press Photographers’ Gallery; Rob Carr, employees sports activities photographer with Getty Photos; and Mike Kane, veteran Thoroughbred journalist and photographer.