NTWAB Announces 2024 Annual Award Winners
LOUISVILLE, KY (Aug. 27, 2024) Team Kenny McPeek – the many people involved in the unforgettable year for the trainer’s stable – will be honored along with the Backside Learning Center, turf writer Sean Clancy and broadcaster Laffit Pincay III during the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters’ 64th Annual Awards Dinner on Wednesday, Oct. 30 in Del Mar, Calif.
The NTWAB Annual Awards Dinner is the organization’s only fundraiser, and a portion of the proceeds of the event will fund Thoroughbred industry charities and internships for prospective racing journalists. The 2024 NTWAB Awards Dinner will be held at The Brigantine Del Mar, located just a mile away from Del Mar Racetrack, which will host the Breeders’ Cup Nov. 1-2.
In honoring Team Kenny McPeek with the Mr. Fitz Award for typifying the spirit of racing, the NTWAB recognizes the trainer and his staff, exercise rider Danny Ramsey, jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., and the horses’ owners – whose collective efforts and promotion of the sport have created fans and cultivated excitement in horse racing.
McPeek this year became just the third trainer in history to pull off what is known as the Oaks-Derby Double when Thorpedo Anna and Mystik Dan won the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs. With Mystik Dan a follow-up second in the Preakness and eighth in the Belmont Stakes (G1) and Thorpedo Anna capturing the Acorn Stakes (G1) and Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) at Saratoga before running second against males in the Travers Stakes (G1), fans and media were the beneficiaries of engagement from Team Kenny McPeek.
The Backside Learning Center, an independent non-profit organization, provides support and resources for the community of racetrack workers and their families at Churchill Downs and surrounding tracks and training facilities, making the BLC a fitting recipient of the Joe Palmer Award for meritorious service to racing. The BLC offers access to education and programs for youth and adults that support health and well-being; holistic support through comprehensive case management and human services; and a support system for family empowerment while emphasizing culture and community engagement.
Clancy is the recipient of the Walter Haight Award for career excellence in turf writing. A champion steeplechase jockey who embarked on a journalism career after his riding days, Clancy, with his brother Joe, started Steeplechase Times in 1994 and The Saratoga Special in 2001. He is a two-time Eclipse Award winner. He won his first in 2009 in the News/Commentary category for “Life’s Work” in The Blood-Horse about the estate sale of the late Hall of Fame trainer Sidney Watters Jr. Last year, he was honored for his story “The Worst Test” about the fatal breakdown of Maple Leaf Mel in the Test Stakes (G1) that appeared in The Saratoga Special.
Pincay, the son of one of the greatest jockeys in the history of the sport, is the recipient of the Jim McKay Award for broadcast excellence. Part of the HRTV team from 2002-15, he joined ESPN’s telecast of the 2007 Breeders’ Cup and later became a key part of coverage of the American Triple Crown and the Breeders’ Cup on NBC. Since 2019, he has worked as a host for the FOX/NYRA broadcasts seen daily during all of New York’s meetings, including Belmont and Saratoga, as well as coverage of Oaklawn Park’s biggest events like the Arkansas Derby (G1).
Tickets for the NTWAB Awards Dinner can be purchased at the NTWAB website
here. Tickets are $85 for NTWAB members and Breeders’ Cup credentialed media and $115 for non-members and guests. The NTWAB also offers tables of eight and 10 at a discount. Invitations will be mailed to NTWAB members, and non-members can request an invitation by contacting Jennifer Kelly at thesirbarton@gmail.com.
The winners of two Breeders’ Cup writing awards will also be announced by Breeders’ Cup at the dinner.
