Letter from the President: Breeders' Cup on the Horizon

I’m excited to see many of you at our 65th annual NTWAB Annual Awards Dinner on Oct. 29, the next day during our bi-annual general membership meeting Oct. 30 at Del Mar in the auxiliary press box, and during the two-day Breeders’ Cup World Championships Oct. 31-Nov. 1.

We have a sell-out crowd of approximately 150 attendees for our dinner at The Brigantine as we honor Nick Luck, Steve Andersen, Joe Harper, and Perry Ouzts. If you do not yet have a ticket but would like to attend, please contact Dick Downey at ntwab2014@gmail.com, and we’ll place you on a waiting list in case of any late cancellations.


The awards dinner will be just down the street from Del Mar Thoroughbred Club on the outside patio at The Brigantine Del Mar, 3263 Camino Del Mar. We’ll begin with cocktails at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 6:45, with awards presentations to follow. The Breeders’ Cup Media Awards will also be presented during the evening. Business/cocktail attire. You may purchase valet parking at The Brigantine, but due to our capacity crowd, the restaurant suggests Uber or Lyft rides to accommodate guests best.

 

For those not at Del Mar on Oct. 30, I hope you can join us for our membership meeting at 11 a.m. PT (2 p.m. ET) via Zoom. 

 

The meeting will include an update on our organization's developments over the past year and provide an opportunity for us to review applicants to our organization. We’ll have a follow-up from the awards dinner and also address any other items of business. The board is committed to serving the needs of our membership, and we welcome your perspective for the closing months of 2025 and as we head into 2026.

 

If you’d like specific issues to be added to the agenda, please let me or NTWAB Secretary Jennifer Kelly know. A complete agenda will be sent next week.


At the bottom of this document are some beneficial media resources available for Breeders’ Cup coverage. 


We regret to inform you that there will not be a pre-entry teleconference this year. The NTWAB board expressed our dissatisfaction to Claire Crosby and Jim Gluckson regarding that decision, as six of the seven participants in the call last year were NTWAB members - evidence of our membership’s use of that forum.


The board has encouraged them to bring it back in 2026 and to better engage with us regarding decisions that affect our members. I would encourage those with feelings on the issue to convey their views to Claire and Jim. 

 


Kind regards,


Byron King

President, NTWAB
Oct. 22, 2025


October 7, 2025
Lexington, Ky. (Oct. 7, 2025) ─ The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), in conjunction with Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers And Broadcasters today released the guidelines for the 2025 Media Eclipse Awards. The media awards are presented by the NTRA, Daily Racing Form, and the NTWAB in recognition of outstanding achievement in media coverage of Thoroughbred racing.
By Dick Downey September 9, 2025
Bill Christine, a multiple award-winning sports and turf writer and former president of NTWAB, died at age 87.
August 28, 2025
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Breeders’ Cup Limited is proud to announce the addition of two new media awards for exceptional coverage of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, with the Tracy Award for Outstanding Photography and the Tracy Award for Outstanding Videography joining two existing writing awards – the Joe Hirsch Award for Outstanding News Reporting and the Bill Leggett Award for Outstanding Feature Writing.
August 26, 2025
LOUISVILLE, KY (Aug. 26, 2024) 71-year-old Perry Ouzts – who this summer passed Russell Baze for the most rides by a jockey in North American racing history - will be honored along with track executive Joe Harper, turf writer Steve Andersen and broadcaster Nick Luck during the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters’ 65th Annual Awards Dinner on Wednesday, Oct. 29 in Del Mar, Calif.
July 25, 2025
Breeders’ Cup Limited is proud to announce the addition of two new media awards for exceptional coverage of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, with the Tracy Award for Outstanding Photography and the Tracy Award for Outstanding Videography joining two existing writing awards – the Joe Hirsch Award for Outstanding News Reporting and the Bill Leggett Award for Outstanding Feature Writing.
May 28, 2025
The NTWAB general membership meeting was held on Wednesday, April 30, 2025 in the Media Center at Churchill Downs.
May 23, 2025
For those covering the Belmont Stakes, we hope the following information is beneficial. We appreciate NYRA addressing some challenges our membership experienced covering the event last year. They welcomed our feedback.
May 12, 2025
My fellow NTWAB members, i t was great seeing many of you in person and those and others on Zoom at our bi-annual meeting during Derby week.
May 7, 2025
Two-time Eclipse Award winner and NTWAB past president Tom Law, managing editor of ST Publishing which produces The Saratoga Special and Thisishorseracing.com, has been named recipient of the Old Hilltop Award for covering Thoroughbred racing with excellence and distinction.
By Dick Downey April 25, 2025
With Kentucky Derby week fast approaching, this note serves as a reminder that our upcoming spring NTWAB meeting will take place on Wednesday, April 30, at 11 a.m. ET.