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 The written pieces are now outdated by six months, but the background information may assist: probable owners, probable trainers, probable jockeys.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




January 23, 2026
Cutting to the chase, and to the surprise of almost no one, the HORSE OF THE YEAR is SOVEREIGNTY. Other finalists were Forever Young and Journalism. Congratulations!
January 8, 2026
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters today announced the winners of the 2025 Media Eclipse Awards in six categories. Every entry must have been primarily published or aired for the first time between November 16, 2024, and November 14, 2025.
January 4, 2026
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB) today announced the finalists for the 2025 Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards, recognizing excellence through the past year in Thoroughbred racing.
December 26, 2025
The National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB), with matching financial support from The Jockey Club, has agreed to support a record nine internship applications at horse racing media outlets in 2026, by far the largest group funded since the program began in 2023.
December 4, 2025
It was great seeing so many of you at Del Mar for the 2025 Breeders’ Cup and during our annual NTWAB Awards Dinner and our general membership meeting during Breeders’ Cup week.
December 2, 2025
The National Turf Writers and Broadcasters with matching financial support from The Jockey Club, today announced a substantial expansion of its internship funding program for equine media outlets in 2026. Both organizations have authorized contributions of up to $12,000 each, co-funding potentially eight paid internships designed to bolster staffing in horse racing media and foster the next generation of equine journalists.
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.
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.
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.