NEWS
ESPN Radio, NBC win Eclipse Awards
Posted: Thursday, January 07, 2010 4:48 PM
Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) coverage and features helped ESPN Radio and NBC earn media Eclipse Awards for 2009.
In awards announced Thursday by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers Association, ESPN Radio earned honors in the Audio/Multi-Media Internet category for its live Derby coverage and NBC was honored for a feature it put together on longshot winner Mine That Bird.
“We’re thrilled and gratified to win the Eclipse Award,” said John Martin, executive producer of ESPN Radio Event Production. “It’s a tremendous honor for ESPN Radio and everyone who worked on the broadcast. Radio is theater of the mind. What we try to do with the Derby is place the listener there in the middle of the tremendous excitement and ambient sound of the jockeys, trainers, and the fans.”
During its two-hour Derby broadcast, ESPN Radio reporters and analysts covered a wide range of news and feature topics surrounding the event, including the scratch of morning-line favorite I Want Revenge; an examination of racing surfaces and safety measures in horse racing one year after the fatal injury to ‘08 Derby runner-up Eight Belles, and a feature on 75-year-old local trainer Tom McCarthy.
The Kentucky Derby broadcast was hosted by Rece Davis, who was joined by analyst Jerry Bailey, reporters Bob Valvano, Ron Flatter, and handicapper Jody McDonald.
In the national television feature programming category, NBC will receive a media Eclipse Award for its documentary “The Story of Mine That Bird, 50-1,” which aired at the beginning of its BlackBerry Preakness Stakes (G1) telecast on May 16. NBC previously won in this category in ‘02 and in ‘05.
The feature was narrated by Bob Costas.
“We had to tell the story of a how a 50-to-1 longshot came to win the Derby,” said Rob Hyland, who produced the feature with Jack Felling. “There were so many layers of the story filled with high drama that we needed to let the viewers know.”
Supported by interviews with Mine That Bird’s owners, Leonard Blach, D.V.M., and Mark Allen; trainer Bennie "Chip" Woolley Jr. and jockey Calvin Borel, NBC reached back to the colt’s two-year-old season, his disappointing Derby preps at Sunland Park, Woolley’s 1,500-mile van ride to the Derby, his walk to the Churchill Downs paddock while on crutches, and the jubilation of the connections following the race.
“We edited around the clock for the next 12 days right up until the Preakness, as more parts to the story were unfolding,” Hyland added. Those events included the sale of Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Rachel Alexandra to Jess Jackson; Rachel Alexandra’s entry in the Preakness; and Borel’s decision to ride the filly in racing’s second jewel of the Triple Crown.
“Telling this story is the true essence of horse racing,” said Hyland. “It reminds us that anything can happen on any given day. For me, personally, it’s a true honor to win an Eclipse Award because my wife’s father is a horse trainer.”
Hyland is married to Michelle Matz, daughter of Michael Matz, who trained ‘06 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro.
