The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters today announced the winners of the 2024 Media Eclipse Awards in six categories.
The 2024 Media Eclipse Award winners are as follows:
Live Television Programming — NBC Sports, “The 150th Kentucky Derby” — Lindsay Schanzer, Senior Producer, May 4, 2024
Feature Television Programming — NBC Sports, “The Impossible Dream,” — Rachel Goodman, Producer, May 4, 2024
Writing, Feature/Commentary — Chris McGrath, Thoroughbred Daily News — “Lunching with Legends at Lil’s,” March 26, 2024
Writing, News/Enterprise — Sean Clancy, The Saratoga Special — “Two for the Show,” Aug. 28, 2024
Photography — Scott Serio, “Night Rider — Skippylongstocking wins the Charles Town Classic,” Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred, October 2024
Multimedia — Sue Finley, Thoroughbred Daily News, “After Saving Two Horses from a Kill Pen, Stewart Aims to do More to End Slaughter,” July 15, 2024
Media Eclipse Award winners will be presented their trophies at the 54th Annual Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards Ceremony and Dinner at The Breakers Palm Beach in Florida on Thursday, January 23.
Live Television Programming — NBC Sports
NBC Sports has won its fifth consecutive Live Racing Programming Eclipse Award for its coverage of the 150th Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky on May 4, 2024. Last year’s special anniversary coverage of America’s most famous horse race rose to an unforgettable crescendo with the three-horse photo finish of race winner Mystik Dan, Sierra Leone and Forever Young (JPN).
NBC deployed a wide range of production enhancements to capture the spectacle of the famed Run for the Roses including a new set location overlooking the newly constructed paddock at Churchill Downs, which featured SkyCam coverage from the paddock; a “Phantom Camera,” providing super slo-mo replays and reactions; a live drone and two live jockey cam systems utilized among 54 total cameras; two Nucleus cameras—one on each finish line—that provided fans with a unique super slo-mo look at any photo finishes; a camera focused on race caller Larry Collmus; and a Bat Camera, which will flew alongside the horses as they raced down the backstretch.
“NBC Sports is thrilled to accept the Eclipse Award for Live Television Programming for our coverage of the 150th Kentucky Derby,” said Senior Producer of the Kentucky Derby coverage, Lindsay Schanzer. “It’s not often in television (or anything!) that you can say you were a part of the 150th edition of something, but we were privileged to play broadcast host to the incredible milestone event put on by Churchill Downs on the First Saturday in May. While we try every year to capture the spectacle and long-standing traditions that make up the Run for the Roses, this year we had a special opportunity to showcase those elements and how they have withstood the test of time for a century and a half. And on top of the incredible historical significance of the day, we were treated to one of the great finishes in the history of the race. I am so proud of our team and how we covered the three-way photo finish that was ultimately awarded to Mystik Dan, and can only hope we’ll be blessed with as exciting a finish for Derby 151!”
The 150th Kentucky Derby was produced by Schanzer and Billy Matthews, and directed by Kaare Numme and Tim Nelson. Amy Zimmerman was senior associate producer, Jeff Burriesci was associate director, Jack Felling was coordinating feature producer, and Ron Vacarro, VP of Editorial. Sam Flood is Executive Producer and President, NBC Sports Production.
The commentators were: Host Mike Tirico; analysts Jerry Bailey and Randy Moss; handicappers Eddie Olczyk and Matt Bernier; host/reporter Ahmed Fareed; reporters Britney Eurton, Donna Brothers, Kenny Rice, and Nick Luck; race caller Larry Collmus; features host Rebecca Lowe; insights analyst Steve Kornacki; fashion and lifestyle correspondents Dylan Dreyer and Zanna Roberts Rassi, and Tim Layden, who wrote and narrated an essay on his perspective of the 150th “Run for the Roses.”
Honorable mention in the Live Television Programming category went to FOX Sports for the 156th Belmont Stakes, which aired on June 8, 2024, and was produced by Bill Richards.
Judges in the Live Television Programming were Kristine Kugler, Horse Racing Producer, ESPN. Dave Johnson, track announcer, television analyst, and race caller for ABC Sports, and now co-host of Down The Stretch on SiriusXM; and Patty Wolfe, Multimedia Eclipse Award winner and three-time Emmy winner at ABC Sports.
Television Features — NBC Sports
NBC Sports has won the Television—Features category for “The Impossible Dream,” a profile on the improbable and courageous life of Larry Demeritte, trainer of West Saratoga, who he saddled in the 2024 Kentucky Derby. The feature, which aired on NBC on May 4, 2024, was produced by Rachel Goodman.
Demeritte was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma Blood Cancer seven years ago, beginning his third bout with the disease since 1996. On chemotherapy each month, at 74, last year Demeritte became the second Black trainer since 1951 to be saddling a horse in the Kentucky Derby. He was preparing Larry Veruchi’s West Saratoga, a 3-year-old son of Exaggerator, who had won the Iroquois Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs as a 2-year-old, and finished second in the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G2) in his final Derby prep. Raised in Nassau in the Bahamas, where he became a successful trainer in a racing family, Demeritte watched the Derby on television every year, and was inspired in 1976 to come to the U.S., and train horses in Kentucky, and someday dreamed of saddling a horse of his own in the Run for the Roses.
Narrated by Mike Tirico, Demeritte relates his story to NBC in the quiet of the Churchill Downs backstretch. “Sometimes I wake up with aches in my bones,” Demeritte admitted, “but why lay in bed and feel sorry for yourself when you can see a horse gallop around the track. You don’t get a rush from anywhere else.” The feature included footage and photos of Demeritte’s days in the Bahamas, and an interview with owner Veruchi, who instructed Demeritte to buy him a Derby horse for under $20,000. He bought West Saratoga for $11,000. “I buy Champagne horses with a beer budget,” Demeritte revealed with a wide grin. (West Saratoga finished 12th in last year’s Derby.)
“Larry Demeritte’s unshakeable joyful spirit has stayed with me since the day I met him,” said Goodman. “To see the way people are drawn to him and the incredible community he has nurtured in his barn is to witness the very best in horse racing. Despite being dealt some of life’s most difficult challenges, his passion, perseverance, and faith never wavered and to see him achieve his lifelong dream of competing in the Kentucky Derby was a moment that I will cherish forever. All of us at NBC Sports feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to share that story.”
In addition to Goodman, the Coordinating Producer of “The Impossible Dream” was Jack Felling; Editor, Kevin Carcich; Cinema Photographer, Taylor Morrison; and Field Producer, Max Rahamin. Sam Flood was Executive Producer and Lindsay Schanzer, Senior Producer.
The winning entry can be viewed here.
Judges in the Television Features category were Liz Bronstein, television showrunner and executive producer, and creator of the Animal Planet 2008-09 series “Jockeys”; Jeannine Edwards, multiple award-winning reporter, and analyst for ESPN from 1995-2018; and Chris Svendsen, CBS Sports producer and director.
Feature/Commentary Writing — Chris McGrath
Chris McGrath, from Oxford, England, has developed a great passion for American racing and for its remarkable personalities. Last year, he brought it home with “Lunching With Legends at Lil’s,” a lunchtime gathering with venerable racing stalwarts Ercel Ellis Jr., Arthur Hancock III and veterinarian Dr. Robert Copelan. The article, which appeared last March in Thoroughbred Daily News, is the first Eclipse Award for McGrath.
Having made several trips to the U.S. over the years, McGrath visited Hancock at Stone Farm, and got into a conversation about weekly luncheons at Lil’s Coffee House in Paris, Ky., with Ellis, a pioneering racing radio broadcaster and the renown Copelan, a leader and innovator in the veterinary community for more than 65 years. Hancock and McGrath came to the luncheon one afternoon. Total ages among the three racing men at the time of publication of the luncheon was 189, with Copelan the leader at 97.
While letting the trio at the table do the talking, McGrath pulls the reader into a solid gold history of racing tales going back more than 100 years, with the trio swapping stories on connections to Man o’ War, Nasrullah, Citation, Forli (ARG), and Sunday Silence, to name a few racing icons. Among them was young Copelan telling the time one late afternoon at Darby Dan Farm when he rode a pony inside a paddock and spooked two yearlings to jump the fence, and the horses winding up in Big Darby Creek; and then having to fish them both out with the use of flashlights. Or Ellis relaying a tale on Man o’ War’s early days when a clocker sought his groom one morning at Saratoga.
“What’s the name of that big red colt?”
“Man o’ War.”
“Who’s he by?”
“By himself, mostly.”
Hancock and Copelan went back and forth on memorable moments and passionate outbursts about Arthur’s father, Arthur “Bull” Hancock, Jr., the scion of Claiborne Farm.
The luncheon adjourned after about one hour of revelry.
“I’m enormously grateful to Sue Finley, Gary King and the rest of the guys at TDN for providing such a great platform to share these wonderful experiences,” said McGrath. “I have been on their team since 2018 and, while my desk remains closer to Newmarket, my heart has meanwhile been won by the horses of America and the people who raise and race them.”
Born in Cambridge, McGrath wrote for prominent English mainstream daily newspapers, including The Times, The Independent, Sporting Life, and the Racing Post. He is most proud of a social history of the Thoroughbred, Mr. Darley’s Arabian, shortlisted for William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 2016.
The winning entry can be viewed here.
Honorable Mention in the Feature/Commentary category went to: Three-time Media Eclipse Award winner Natalie Voss for “‘Never Felt So Calm’: After Divine Intervention, Trevor McCarthy Taking Break From The Saddle,” which was published on Nov. 10, 2024, in the Paulick Report.
Judges in the Feature Commentary Category were Amanda Duckworth, an independent international communications consultant and journalist with a focus on Thoroughbred racing; Tom LaMarra, Director of Communications and Backstretch Services for the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, and Amy Owens, Communications Associate at Keeneland.
News/Enterprise Writing — Sean Clancy
Sean Clancy earned this third Eclipse Award, and his second consecutive honor, for writing with “Two for the Show” a stirring recap of the DraftKings Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course last August, punctuated by the dramatic finish of Fierceness holding off the fast-closing filly Thorpedo Anna at the wire.
The article appeared in The Saratoga Special, as did his 2023 News/Enterprise Eclipse award winner, “The Worst Test,” on the tragic accident of Maple Leaf Mel in the Test Stakes (G1). Clancy won his first Eclipse Award in 2009 in News/Commentary writing in The BloodHorse for “Life’s Work,” about his recollections of the late Hall of Fame Trainer Sidney Watters Jr.
“I’m honored to win a third Eclipse Award and a second for The Saratoga Special. The Special celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, what a way to kick that off. This award is a credit to everyone who has helped in those 25 years—advertisers, readers, writers, interns, friends and family. It’s been a journey. Just like last year, my first call was to my brother, Joe. My second call was to Tom Law. Great writers, great friends.”
Clancy from Middleburg, Va., is the co-editor and publisher of The Saratoga Special along with his brother, Joe, which they co-founded in 2001.
In covering his 23rd Travers, Clancy enveloped the drama of one of the most anticipated editions of the Mid-Summer Derby, headed by Thorpedo Anna trying to become the first filly to win the Travers since 1915, facing top colts in Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Dornoch, Blue Grass Stakes (G1) winner Sierra Leone and the 2023 Juvenile Champion Fierceness.
“Every once in a while, a race lives up to its hype. Fierceness and Thorpedo Anna made sure the 2024 Travers did that,” said Clancy. “Thanks to Todd Pletcher, John Velazquez, Kenny McPeek and Brian Hernandez for sharing their experiences with us. They spoke for two tough horses who brought their best to the 2024 Travers. Thoroughbred racing at its zenith.”
Or as Clancy succinctly wrote: Fierceness won the race. Thorpedo Anna made the race.
The winning entry can be viewed here.
Honorable mention in the News/Enterprise category went to: Bryce Miller for “In a racing first, Del Mar is feeding backstretch workers. It’s about community—and connection,” which appeared in the San Diego Union Tribune on Sept. 12, 2024.
Judges in the News/Enterprise category were Reid Cherner former sports, racing writer and columnist for USA Today; Dan Liebman, former editor of The BloodHorse and The State-Journal in Frankfort, Ky.; and Rob Longley, sports writer and columnist for the Toronto Sun.
Photography—Scott Serio
For Scott Serio, Founder and Chief Photographer of Eclipse Sportswire, winning his second Eclipse Award for Photography for “Night Rider—Skippylongstocking Wins The Charles Town Classic,” was as harrowing as it was rewarding.
While preparing to place his remote cameras on the inside rail near the finish line in the late afternoon for the Aug. 23 Charles Town Classic (G2) at Hollywood Casino Charles Town Races in West Virginia Serio bumped into the cushion on the rail and unleashed a swarm of bees, which stung him five times in the left arm. “I’m on the ground in pain and the National Anthem starts, with two of my friends standing over me,” recalled the Cecil County, Maryland resident.
Rushed in an ambulance to local Jefferson Medical Center, Serio received an injection in his right arm. Undaunted, he felt well enough to take an Uber ride back to the track. With his left arm immobile, Serio operated his remote camera, a Sony A9 with an adapter using a Nikon 16mm Fisheye Lens, to capture Daniel Alonso’s 5-year-old Skippylongstocking just after crossing the wire to win the Charles Town Classic.
Serio’s image, which appeared in the October 2024 issue of Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred, captured Skipplylongstocking illuminated under the track lights with all four feet off the ground under jockey Jose Ortiz. The background is formed by a line of fans in darkness stationed along the outside rail gazing at the winner.
Serio, who first went to Charles Town in 1982, has long felt a romantic attraction to night racing at the small track. “It has a unique lighting setup at the finish line that creates an almost studio-quality effect, close to cinematic, when a horse runs in the right spot a few feet past the finish line.” He also called it a ” labor of love to show great racing can be as dramatic at a place like Charles Town as it is at cathedrals of racing like Saratoga, Churchill and Santa Anita.”
Serio also paid tribute to historic Maryland photographers of his youth, like (Eclipse Award winner) Skip Ball and Cappy Jackson in Maryland Horse Magazine. “It is incredibly rewarding to earn this award for an image published in that original publication’s current iteration, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred,” said Serio. “Looking back to the incomparable Mike Marten ( the late two-time Eclipse Award winner) teaching me how to do remotes back in 1988 at the Preakness, winning this award with an under-the-rail shot brings my journey in racing photography full circle.”
Serio won his first Eclipse for a morning workout image at Keeneland Race Course prior to the 2015 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, which appeared in the Cecil Guardian. This is the sixth Eclipse trophy won by an Eclipse Sportswire photographer since 2011.
The winning photo can be viewed here.
Honorable mention in the Photography category went to three-time Eclipse Award winner Michael Clevenger for his photo-finish image of the Kentucky Derby, which appeared first on the Louisville Courier Journal website on May 4, 2024.
Judges in the category were: Mark Abraham, freelance photographer and currently deputy director of the United States Senate Press Photographers’ Gallery; Rob Carr, Getty Images/Chief Photographer, Sport; and Mike Kane, veteran Thoroughbred writer and photographer.
Multimedia—Sue Finley
Sue Finley produced a multimedia piece titled “Saving Two Horses from a Kill Pen, Stewart Aims to do More to End Slaughter,” an interview combining video and text with quickly emerging owner/breeder John Stewart. The entry, posted last July, explored the issue of saving horses from kill pens and furthering industry efforts to prevent horse slaughter. The video portion of the piece was edited by Anthony and Alia LaRocca at BridleVision.
Last spring, Finley, Publisher and CEO of Thoroughbred Daily News, noticed a social media feed posted by Stewart about his purchase of racehorses My Lil’ Dude and Drive For Fun from a kill pen in Louisiana, and was going to bring them to Resolute Farm to live out their lives. Stewart believed that these horses could serve as a catalyst for the industry to start talking about the slaughter problem, including placing the main responsibility on the breeder and the original owner of the horse.
“This is an issue I have been passionate about for a long time,” said Finley, who served for 12 years on the board of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation. “The slaughter issue is one that troubles me deeply. I thought this story could help the industry to have a much-needed conversation about slaughter.”
Finley reports that more than 20,000 American horses every year are still transported for slaughter, “an unknowable number of them Thoroughbred racehorses, who are slaughtered for human consumption in foreign countries.”
She called Stewart after seeing his post, and while the horses weren’t at the farm yet, she was welcome to come out and interview him when they arrived. She interviewed Stewart during the Fasig-Tipton July sale, and while there they learned that he had not only saved these two, but that he had also rescued a Saddlebred and a mini who had also been saved from a kill pen. All the rescues were together in a beautiful barn with a staff dedicated to nursing them back to health. “It was very inspiring,” she added.
“I would like to thank our talented producers, Anthony and Alia LaRocca at BridleVision, for their beautiful work on this piece, and Katie Petrunyak, who served as a second camera on the story. But really, this award belongs to John Stewart for not only rescuing these two horses, but for provoking a conversation in the industry about the need to solve the very real problem that we have with slaughter.”
Finley, who has been with TDN since 1993, resides in Fair Haven, New Jersey.
The winning entry can be accessed here.
Honorable mention in the Multimedia category went to Katie Petrunyak, for “Jeramie Fennell Finds Redemption on Horseback,” which was published on October 18, 2024, in Thoroughbred Daily News.
Judges in the Multimedia category were Mike Brunker, former racing writer for the Las Vegas Review-Journal; John Engelhardt, 35 years as a producer in TV/radio/podcasts, and current host of The Regular Guy on winningponies.com; and Joe Withee, Director of Broadcast Publicity, Emerald Downs.
This press release has not been edited by BloodHorse. If there are any questions please contact the organization that produced the release.
