President King's Pre-Preakness Newsletter

My fellow NTWAB members, it was great seeing many of you in person and those and others on Zoom at our bi-annual meeting during Derby week.

To those who missed the meeting, I’m excited to share that we approved applications for full membership for Jerry Bailey, Anthony Pascale, and Joe Bruno, plus associate membership for Pascual Artiles. Welcome gentlemen! Vance Hanson was also unanimously elected to join the NTWAB board, replacing Tom Law, our longtime president and board member. Thanks to Tom for his outstanding service and to Vance for joining the board!

 

With Preakness now upon us, here are some media resources. For starters, the draw for the Preakness will take place tonight at 7 p.m. ET and will be streamed on this link on YouTube.

 

Here are two other Preakness links of value, one for the media guide and another for the transcript of the NTRA Preakness teleconference from last week.


With some Preakness competitors also having raced horses at the Breeders’ Cup last fall, attached below are the Breeders’ Cup publicity bios written in advance of that event. The written pieces are now outdated by six months, but the background information may assist: probable owners, probable trainers, probable jockeys.

 

Please reach out to any NTWAB director with any needs or concerns at Pimlico this week, or feel free to drop us an email.

 

Kind regards,

 

Byron King

NTWAB President

May 12, 2025

NTWAB Annual Awards Dinner Honors Luck, Andersen, Harper, Ouzts

By Dick Downey • November 1, 2025
A sold-out crowd attended the 65th edition of the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters Annual Awards Dinner at The Brigantine Del Mar on Oct. 29 where four traditional NTWAB Awards and four Breeders'.Cup Media Awards were presented. Photo array by Skip Dickstein. Narration by Dick Downey with contributions by Byron King.

Letter from the President: Breeders' Cup on the Horizon

October 23, 2025
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.

2025 Media Eclipse Awards Rules

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.

Bill Christine, Former NTWAB President, Dead at 87

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.

Breeders' Cup Expands Media Awards

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.

NTWAB 2025 Annual Awards Dinner to Honor Four

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.

Breeders' Cup Expands Media Awards for Coverage of World Championships

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.

Minutes of the Derby Week NTWAB General Membership Meeting

May 28, 2025
The NTWAB general membership meeting was held on Wednesday, April 30, 2025 in the Media Center at Churchill Downs.

Belmont Stakes Media Notes

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.

NTWAB Past President Law Named to Receive Old Hilltop Award

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.