NEWSLETTERS

Newsletter dated April 29, 2008

NTWA Newsletter from President Tom Law
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Greetings fellow Turf writers,

I hope this note finds everyone well and prepared for the start of the Triple Crown this weekend with the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby.

First and foremost, Joan Lawrence of the NTRA passed along a note that retired Daily Racing Form columnist Joe Hirsch—a mentor to so many of us, one of the founders of the NTWA, and the organization’s first president—was admitted to New York Presbyterian Hospital Columbia University Medical Center with a fractured hip sustained on April 27. Joe’s cousin, Pete Krulewitch, said he was due for hip replacement surgery either on Monday or Tuesday and was expected to make a full recovery. Joan plans to pass along information on Joe’s progress and a mailing address.

MEETING: There are just a few items to address in advance of our semi-annual meeting on Thursday, May 1 at Churchill Downs. Our meeting will be at 11 a.m. in the auxiliary press center. Among the topics of discussion will be our elections (see below), new members, and the NTWA awards dinner later this year.

Darren Rogers, who joined Churchill as its senior director of communications after previously serving a similar position at Lone Star Park, has agreed to attend the meeting to discuss any access-related, parking, shuttle bus, or other issues for Turf writers in town to cover the Derby.

ELECTIONS: As mentioned in the March newsletter, the makeup of the NTWA board of directors and its team of officers is about to see some major changes. The three two-year officer terms (President Tom Law, Vice President Tom Pedulla, Secretary/Treasurer Jill Williams) expire at the meeting and three two-year board member terms (Hank Wesch, Dave Johnson, and Brad Telias) expire at the May 1 meeting.

As mentioned previously, any and all of these individuals are welcome to be nominated to serve the organization again. Other members in good standing are also welcome to step forward. I’ve received some feedback already for board member positions, but we could always use more to assemble the best possible board and team of officers as possible.

If you are interested, or would like to suggest another member, please feel free to contact me (TLaw@thoroughbredtimes.com) or Jill Williams (Jill@turfwriters.org).

DUES: Thank you to the following members who have paid their 2008 dues: Alfarano Allen Angst Apel Arrington Austin Bailey (Logan, Rick , & Steve) Bearse Belfiore Beyer Biles Bisher Black Blake Blandford Bossert Bossinakis Bowen Brunker Christine Clancy (Joe & Sean) Clippinger Conley Cooke Jr. Correll Crist Crossley Curry Cusano Cushny Daley De Martini Deckard Demling Denk DeRosa DeSantis Deubler Didato Doolittle Dougherty Downey Downs Duckworth Duke Eberhardt-Keogh Ehalt Eng Farley Farrell Fierro Finley Free Gantz Giauque Greene Grisham Groothedde (Rudi & Lisa) Gruender Hale Hall (Greg & Tom) Hallett Hammonds Harris Harzmann Haskin Hebel-Osborne Heller Henwood Herbert Hilts-Gossett Hovdey Hoyt Ike Ireland Jerardi Johnson (Dan & Dave) Joyce Kane Kerrison Kieckhefer Klein Kling Korotkin LaMarra Law Lewyn Liebman Lowe MacDonald Mandel Marr Marshall Marten McEvoy McGee McKee McMillen McNamara Milbert Mitchell (Eric & Ron) Modesti Mooney Musgrave Myrick Nack Nicoletti Novak Oppenheim Owens Palmisano Parker (Ellen & Ron) Patterson Pedulla Peters Platz Prather Pricci Privman Rak Rees Rodenas Rodriguez Rolfes Ross Sarno Scheinman Schmitz Schuelein Scott (Anne, David, & Laurel) Senzell Shandler Shinar Shulman Simon Siraco Smith (Beverley & Pohla) Snider Snierson Sowers Sparkman Stevens (Patricia) Stogel Stone Stumes Summers Telias Thornton van Dyke Veitch Volponi Watchmaker Wesch West White Williams Wilson Wincze Wolff Wolski Yates Zamarelli Zast Ziegel

OTHER NOTES:
** The NTWA suffered a loss earlier this month with the death of longtime member, Turf writer, handicapper, and chartcaller Cliff Guilliams on April 12 in Louisville. He was 52. A native of Evansville, Indiana, who developed an interest in racing attending Ellis Park as a youngster, Guilliams called charts for Daily Racing Form and Equibase Co. for more than 20 years. He became an Equibase chartcaller in 1998 when Daily Racing Form and Equibase merged their chartcalling teams. Guilliams was a writer for the Evansville Courier & Press and the handicapper for the Louisville Courier-Journal for races at Churchill Downs and Keeneland Race Course, where he was working at the time of his death. Guilliams, who wrote the book “Final Calls to Absent Friends” published in 2001, is survived by his wife, Susan, whom he married on March 14.
Thanks to the efforts of many, a race on the April 27 program at Churchill Downs was named in Cliff’s honor and plans are currently in the works to honor his memory through the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association’s College Scholarship Day events held annually at Keeneland Race Course and Ellis Park.

** John McEvoy's third horse racing thriller "Close Call" was published in March by Poisoned Pen Press. His previous novel "Riders Down" in 2007 won the Ben Franklin Award from the Independent Publishers Association as best mystery/suspense novel.

** The NTWA Charitable Foundation voted on and passed a motion to make a $1,000 donation to the Belmont Child Care Association and to purchase a table of ten tickets for $2,500 to the BCCA’s annual dinner/auction event on Wednesday, August 20 in Saratoga Springs, New York. The ten seats to the dinner will be offered to and used by NTWA members in Saratoga Springs for the Saratoga Race Course meeting. Additional information will be sent on the event in the coming weeks.

As always, I’m more than willing to discuss this and any other issues at any time. I’ll be in Louisville at various points during the week and am always available via email at tlaw@thoroughbredtimes.com, my office at 859-260-9800 ext. 125, or on my cell phone at 859-396-9407. Thanks for your time, enjoy the Kentucky Derby.

Tom Law
NTWA President
April 29, 2007

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