Daily Racing Form's executive columnist transcended printed page and became an ambassador

ON NOVEMBER 21, a dinner in New York City will honor retiring Daily Racing Form executive columnist Joe Hirsch. He will officially retire on November 29, ending a 49-year tenure with the Form. It will mark the end of an era.

Joe is a link to another time, when the game was played predominantly by sportsmen who were more concerned about winning a big race and improving the breed than making money. As a writer and then columnist, Joe recorded racing history for a publication that enjoyed a monopoly. The Form was the 900-pound gorilla; Joe was its conscience and moral compass.

Joe walked comfortably in the era of the large private stables of the Whitneys, Wideners, Vanderbilts, and Mellons, and at some point his role grew beyond writer to include ambassador. He loved the game and respected it. He knows everyone in racing.

He wore a suit and tie to work, had impeccable manners, and always had a good word to say. He nurtured young talent, taking new writers under his wing and steering them in the right direction.

A tireless worker, Joe walked the backstretch of whatever track was home that day, trolling for news, and everyone on the backstretch trusted him and took him into their confidence, knowing he would never embarrass them or leak news before it was ready to be divulged to the public.

In his trademark trench coat, suit and tie, and sunglasses, he would walk the backstretch in the morning and, when he came into a barn, if other reporters were there, they would part like the Red Sea to let Joe through. He carried a small notebook--a memo book--and when talking to a trainer he would scratch down one or two words during five minutes of conversation and then depart. The next day, his column in the Form would contain extensive quotes from the trainer, no doubt based on the principle that reporters are reporters, not court stenographers. But Joe probably was reporting it word for word anyway.

He led a life much like the horses he was covering, moving from track to track, city to city. He was at every big race--whether it was on the East Coast, the West Coast, or any point in between--and if Joe was not there, well, exactly how big was this race?

He poured all his time and energy into his work, and you never believed there was a time Joe was not working, whether it was 6 a.m. or midnight. This is, in part, how he found time to co-author five books in addition to his daily routines, which for years included "Derby Doings," a daily wrap-up of every horse being considered for the Kentucky Derby (G1).

His unique position in the racing world is exemplified by the awards he won from his peers, the National Turf Writers Association (of which he was founder and first president). The writers annually honor three individuals for three distinct categories, and Joe is the only person who has won all three. In 1988, he was awarded the Walter Haight Award for career excellence in Turf writing; in 1994, the Joe Palmer Award for Meritorious Service to Racing; and, in 1998, the Mr. Fitz Award for typifying the spirit of racing. It is a good bet that Joe will be the only person ever to hit that trifecta.

He is also the only Turf writer to be recipient of the Eclipse Award of Merit (1992), among a bevy of awards he has received from organizations over the years. And, oh yeah, he could write. He won the Eclipse Award for newspaper writing in 1978 and the Lord Derby Award from the Horse Race Writers Association of Britain in 1981, the only person ever to hit that daily double.

Always on the go and working, Joe did not let Parkinson's disease get in the way of his job in recent years.

That is because Joe is a gamer, showing the trait that he admired so much in others. He always talked about the resilience of people in racing, who get beat more often than they win, and those without the requisite character are quickly shaken out of the game. The good ones remain.

On November 29, the game will lose one of the really good guys, Joe Hirsch.