Good morning. We’re just a few weeks away from the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita Park and the 63rd annual NTWAB Awards Dinner. I received some information related to the timing of the Classic post-race press conference from the Breeders’ Cup communications team this week and have pasted it below.

The invitation to the Nov. 1 Awards Dinner is attached. Please note that the location has changed to the Altadena Town & Country Club, 2290 Country Club Drive in Altadena. The new location – which has hosted multiple NTWAB Awards Dinner events in the past – is about 8 miles from Santa Anita and 4 miles from the Breeders’ Cup media hotel.

Our event-planning team led by Loren Hebel-Osborne and Julie Sarno made quick work of securing an 11th-hour location after we encountered some issues with the previously announced venue, which was hit with a break-in that resulted in significant damage to the Woolf Den. We’ve also been able to keep the costs down – just $85 for NTWAB members and credentialed Breeders’ Cup media – and hope you will attend if making the trip to California for the Breeders’ Cup.

The event will start at 6 p.m. with cocktails followed by dinner at 6:30 and the awards to follow shortly after. Keeping with tradition, we’ll move things along. We have an amazing slate of winners for this year’s event, with all the credit going to the membership for their selections. The Breeders’ Cup writing awards will also be presented during our event.

The NTWAB membership meeting will be at 11 a.m. PT Thursday, Nov. 2 at a location to be determined at Santa Anita. A detailed agenda will be sent prior to the meeting, but we will most likely discuss the awards dinner, membership applications, the NTWAB’s relationship with HISA and any other specific Breeders’ Cup related issues (access, parking, etc.).

Speaking of membership applications, the deadline to submit materials is Oct. 23. To apply, the prospective member must submit an application letter with their name, affiliation(s), years with affiliation(s), years covering racing and breeding and include two references from current Regular Members.

Please direct any application materials to either Tom Law (tlawky@gmail.com) or Jennifer Kelly (thesirbarton@gmail.com). Applicants who applied in the past and were asked by the board to provide additional information on their work status will need to re-apply with supporting materials. Associate members seeking to move to Regular status also need to re-apply.

Finally, if you are going to endorse an individual seeking Regular membership, please remember Article III of the bylaws which requires the applicant to be “actively and professionally engaged in the coverage of Thoroughbred racing.” Associate members are “people associated with the coverage of Thoroughbred racing but are not eligible for regular membership.” The NTWAB board will meet prior to the Nov. 2 membership meeting to review each application, before presenting those endorsed to the general membership for a vote.

Looking forward to seeing you soon,
Tom Law
NTWAB President

From Breeders’ Cup:

The Breeders’ Cup communications team is aware that, due to the placement of the Breeders’ Cup Classic in the order of the Saturday card, winning Classic connections may not be immediately available for the post-race press conference if they have a horse in the following races. We plan to personally reach out to any Classic connections (owner, trainer, jockey) with additional entries in the following races and request that they return to the press conference area after they have fulfilled their racing obligations. Of course, this is subject to participant cooperation. Additionally, the Breeders’ Cup notes team will provide post-race quotes immediately following the Classic, also subject to participant cooperation.