Turf Writer Rees Accepts Buyout to Pursue New Racing Endeavors

Jennie Rees, who is currently the nation’s longest-tenured turf writer with a mainstream daily newspaper, has accepted a buyout offer from the corporate parent of the Courier-Journal. After 34 years with the Louisville paper, Rees confirmed that her final day on the racing beat will be Nov. 1, the day after the Breeders’ Cup.

Speaking via phone from the Keeneland press box on Saturday, Rees underscored that her decision to leave shouldn’t be viewed by readers and colleagues through a “racing and journalism are dying” prism. Rather, the upbeat Rees said she is embracing the change as an opportunity to pursue other initiatives that will fuse her enthusiasm for the sport with her talent for communicating.

“I’m at the point where I want to spend more time at the track than in the newsroom,” Rees said. “I want to work another 10 or 15 years and use my passion for horse racing advocacy and fan education in different ways. I don’t have anything concrete. I really want to work with some racetracks, and I think I will, doing things to try to bring in new fans. The best way is one-on-one contact, but that takes grass roots and heavy lifting. It’s not something that’s done easily, but I hope to be part of that movement.”

Rees said her departure should not be misconstrued as a sign that the Louisville paper is abandoning racing coverage or that her beat was targeted for elimination. The Virginia-based Gannett Co., which owns a chain of publications, including USA Today and the Courier-Journal, recently offered early retirement packages to employees nationwide, and Rees said she simply fit the demographic.

“As far as what the Courier does [with the racing beat] going forward, I can’t say,” Rees explained. “I know this: The Courier will maintain a strong commitment to horse racing.”

Since about 2000, downsizing has dwindled the ranks of turf writers in press boxes across America. At some publications, beat writers have taken retirement packages, but been allowed to retain their bylines as freelancers (as a means of taking benefits and salaries off the books without cutting into editorial coverage). But Rees said the Gannett deal she agreed to prohibits that type of arrangement.

“I might have some op-ed pieces for my new advocacy work,” Rees said, but she won’t be a bylined journalist for the Courier-Journal, nor does she expect to ply her trade as a newspaper freelancer. She did add that Gannett was gracious enough to alter the deadline of when her buyout was supposed to be effective so she could see the BC championships through to their conclusion.

Rees won Eclipse Awards for newspaper writing in 1993 and for news/enterprise in 2011. She was elected president of the National Turf Writers Association for the 2002-03 term.

Rees said she believes her retirement will make Alicia Wincze-Hughes of the Lexington Herald-Leader the last remaining full-time racing staffer at a mainstream daily paper.

Without any financial backing from any industry entity, Rees said she and a friend have already designed and held outreach seminars to educate female fans in “fun, social settings” related to racing.

“I’m kind of all over the map, but I’m very excited,” Rees said. “The one thing I will guarantee is passion in whatever I do. Both journalism and racing are changing, and I hope to be part of that change in a positive way.”