NEWS
Turf Writers to honor Team Barbaro, Richardson, New Bolton, Crist
Posted: Friday, August 25, 2006
The individuals associated with undefeated Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Barbaro, veterinary surgeon Dean Richardson, D.V.M., and the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center, and veteran racing journalist Steven Crist will be honored later this year with awards presented by the National Turf Writers Association.
The individuals associated with undefeated Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Barbaro, veterinary surgeon Dean Richardson, D.V.M., and the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine's New Bolton Center, and veteran racing journalist Steven Crist will be honored later this year with awards presented by the National Turf Writers Association.
'Team Barbaro'—the group of Barbaro, owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson, trainer Michael Matz, assistant trainer and exercise rider Peter Brette, and jockey Edgar Prado—will receive the Mr. Fitz award during the 47th annual NTWA Awards Dinner on November 1 at The Olmstead in Louisville.
Presented annually to an individual or group for typifying the spirit of racing, the award is named for the late Racing Hall of Fame trainer Jim "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons. Past winners of the Mr. Fitz Award include Nick Zito, Bill Shoemaker, John Henry, Joe Hirsch, and Bob and Beverly Lewis.
Barbaro won the Kentucky Derby on May 6 at Churchill Downs by 6 1/2 lengths after running one of the fastest final quarter-miles in the race's history to stay undefeated in six career starts. He suffered a career-ending injury two weeks later in the Preakness Stakes (G1) and is currently recovering from surgery to repair his broken right hind leg and subsequent laminitis contracted in his left hind leg.
Richardson and the New Bolton Center will receive the Joe Palmer Award, named for the former New York Herald Tribune Turf Writer and presented annually for meritorious service to racing.
Richardson is chief of surgery and the Charles W. Raker Professor of Equine Surgery at Penn Vet's Widener Hospital at New Bolton Center, which opened its doors to the media and staged timely press conferences in the immediate hours and days after Barbaro's surgery.
Past winners of the Joe Palmer Award include Laffit Pincay Jr., Richard Duchoissois, Eugene Melnyk, Charlie Whittingham, John Gaines, E. P. Taylor, Secretariat, and Allen Paulson.
Crist, chairman and publisher of Daily Racing Form, will receive the Walter Haight Award named for the former Washington Post turf writer and columnist and presented annually for excellence in turf writing.
A graduate of Harvard University and a reporter and columnist for the New York Times from 1981-'90, Crist also founded the critically acclaimed daily newspaper The Racing Times. He later served as a member of New York Governor Mario Cuomo's commission on racing and as a vice president of the New York Racing Association in the mid-1990s.
Crist is also author and co-author of several books, including Exotic Betting, Betting on Myself: Adventures of a Horseplayer and Publisher, and The Horse Traders.
Crist is the second consecutive winner of the Walter Haight Award from the Form, joining 2005 winner Jay Privman. He also joins fellow Form writers Don Fair, Saul Rosen, Barney Nagler, Joe Hirsch, and Leon Rasmussen as winners of the award. Other previous winners include Steve Haskin, Jennie Rees, Andy Beyer, Ed Bowen, Bill Nack, Kent Hollingsworth, Bill Leggett, and Red Smith.
