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NEWSLETTERS
Newsletter dated December 26, 2006
NTWA Newsletter from President
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NTWA Newsletter from Tom Law
Greetings fellow National Turf Writers Association members, I hope this note finds you all doing well and enjoying life in the midst of the busy holiday season. The New Year is fast approaching and along with it, some of the best winter racing the country has to offer in places like South Florida, Southern California, and New Orleans. Here’s hoping that many of you get to enjoy some of that racing whether it be work or play.
Looking at the immediate future, Eclipse Award ballots are due by 3 p.m. ET on Wednesday, December 27. Instructions on where to fax your votes and ballots were included with the ballots.
Jim Gluckson at NTRA/Breeders’ Cup sent a note prior to the Christmas holiday noting that the accounting firm Ernst & Young reported that five individuals faxed the wrong side of the official Eclipse Award ballot to the firm’s Louisville office. Jim also reminded voters that a website has been setup at www.ntra.com/voting so Eclipse Award voters from the three voting blocks (NTWA, Daily Racing Form, and NTRA) can check to see if their votes have been received. Voters can check the site through the deadline of 3 p.m. ET on December 27. Jim also encourages voters that choose to vote on the final day to do so early in the day. If you have faxed your ballot and it does not appear on the site within a reasonable amount of time, please call Jim at 212-230-9512 or on his cell phone at 646-335-6835.
Speaking of the Eclipse Awards, members of the Eclipse Awards Steering Committee, including myself and Vice President Tom Pedulla, participated in another conference call on Monday, December 18 to discuss nominations for the Special Eclipse Award and Eclipse Award of Merit. Additional information on those two awards will be released shortly.
We are still a ways away from our semi-annual meeting at Churchill Downs prior to the Kentucky Derby, but it is not too early to start thinking about some of the main items that will be on the meeting’s agenda. Three seats on the organization’s board of directors will need to be filled at that time.
The meeting is also one of only two times during the year when individuals can apply for membership. Remember that anyone seeking to become a member needs to have all their proper documentation in order and in the hands of Jill Williams prior to the meeting—a letter officially stating they are interested in applying for membership and two additional letters from members in good standing recommending them for membership.
We will also be able to provide updates on the annual awards dinner during that spring meeting, and even sooner as we set out to host an enjoyable event on the Jersey Shore prior to the Breeders’ Cup at Monmouth Park.
Some follow-up on the 2006 annual awards dinner from NTWA Secretary/Treasurer Jill Williams, who reports that all dinner expenses we incurred have been paid in full by our organization. We are still waiting to collect cash from a few individuals/organizations for silent auction items, dinner tickets, and dinner program ads, so our financials aren’t currently available but will be very soon.
Finally, longtime NTWA member Steve Davidowitz’s new book, The Best and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing, was published on December 19 by DRF Press. A press release on the book is at the end of this newsletter.
A reminder that the NTWA website is up and running at www.turfwriters.org. We hope to include each member’s affiliation to the “Links to Racing Info” section, so if you can send your affiliation link to jill@turfwriters.org that would be great. Any and all suggestions on the site can be sent that way, too.
As always, please reach out to me with any additional questions or concerns at tlaw@thoroughbredtimes.com, my office at 859-260-9800 ext. 125, or on my cell phone at 859-396-9407. Finally, I hope everyone has an enjoyable remainder of 2006 and nothing short of a spectacular New Year.
Tom Law
NTWA President
December 26, 2006
Press Release:
THE BEST AND WORST OF THOROUGHBRED RACING
Who are the best horses, jockeys, trainers and horseplayers of modern times? What were the sport's biggest mistakes, most shocking upsets and most important handicapping contributions? Author Steve Davidowitz, who has seen and known them all, answers these provocative questions and hundreds more, but that's just the beginning of the opinions and observations in The Best and Worst of Thoroughbred Handicapping.
Davidowitz, a veteran reporter, columnist and handicapper who has worked and gambled at dozens of American racetracks, is a passionate lover of the racing game--and an equally passionate critic of its shortcomings. In addition to starting and settling arguments about the sport's most talented people and racehorses, Davidowitz takes aim at its rascals and reprobates and at an industry that too often fails to address and resolve its issues.
The result is a provocative and pointed collection of top-10 lists and essays that touch on every aspect of the racing game: horses, jockeys, trainers, owners, breeders, gamblers, stallions, broodmares, as well as its best and worst moments and practices.
Whether you are a novice seeking to expand his knowledge of a complex sport and its history or a railbird with opinions as strong as the author's, The Best and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing is sure to educate, entertain and inspire you.
PRAISE FOR THE BEST AND WORST OF THOROUGHBRED HANDICAPPING
"Who's the best trainer of modern times? The fastest sprinters? The best jockey? After four decades as an astute handicapper and journalist, Steve Davidowitz has an answer to all of these questions--and many more. The Best and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing is surely to provoke lively debate among racing fans everywhere."
Andrew Beyer
Washington Post columnist
"I gotta book right here... As if horseplayers didn't have enough to argue about every day at the track, now comes along Steve Davidowitz with the champion argument-starter of all time. He gives us a book full of facts and opinions and full of run."
Frank Deford
Sports Illustrated
Steve Davidowitz has been a professional handicapper, reporter, editor, consultant, and columnist for more than three decades. A member of the National Turf Writers since 1973, Steve is the author of the influential and best-selling handicapping book 'Betting Thoroughbreds', which he updated a few years ago to cover modern handicapping situations and a variety of advanced exotic wagering strategies. A highly touted baseball star at Rutgers University who lost a potential pitching career due to a freak boating mishap, Davidowitz has a wide-ranging background that includes solo travel to Cuba as a teenager; scuba diving in the Caribbean; playing folk guitar in the clubs of New Orleans, and photographic magazine covers and exhibitions of his work. As a single parent, Steve also raised his son, Brad, now a corporate program analyst in Minneapolis, married with two children.
Davidowitz says he "began to major in horse-racing studies at Rutgers University, Garden State Park Division," when a New Brunswick, New Jersey, bookmaker gave him a copy of the 1959 American Racing Manual. Some 40 years later, Davidowitz helped Daily Racing Form bring that prestigious annual back to print as the ARM's editor from 2000-2003.
An active horseplayer who manages a pick-six syndicate, Steve has contributed articles to The New York Times and been a featured columnist and/or racing editor for Turf and Sport Digest magazine, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Oakland Tribune, The Philadelphia Journal, The Racing Times, the St. Petersburg Times, and the Houston Post, among other publications.
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