Daily Racing Form

Horseshoe Indianapolis hosted the fourth annual Grayson Grass Challenge throughout the month of August to benefit Grayson-Jockey Club Equine Research and made a $9.6k donation as a result. "We just completed our fourth year hosting this event and the handicappers involved raised a record amount for Grayson," said Eric Halstrom, Vice President and General Manager of Racing. "Grayson came to us a few years ago about partnering on a promotion and this special contest emerged as a result. We are elated to donate a total of $9,674.60 to Grayson this...

To the Editor: The campaign to abolish dirt racing in favor of synthetic surfaces may be well-intentioned, but is a dangerous knee-jerk overreaction that would accomplish little but the destruction of Thoroughbred racing as we know it. These advocates seem to have forgotten that we tried this a generation ago, when Southern California, Keeneland, and Dubai all switched to synthetic racing--and then tore out those tracks when it became obvious that they were producing misleading results and undeserving Grade I winners and champions. As Bob Baffert correctly said at the...

The finalists and runners-up for the 2023 Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards (TIEA), set for Tuesday, Oct. 17 at Keeneland, were named in a release by Godolphin late Thursday. Sara Gordon, TDN's Social Media Manager, is a finalist for the Newcomer Award. Gordon, a native of Woodbine, Maryland, is a lifelong equestrian who parlayed her love of horses into a career in turf writing. She is based in Lexington, Kentucky. With finalists in six categories, the winner and runner-up of the seventh category, the Dr. J. David "Doc" Richardson Community Award,...

The Eclipse Award ceremony will again be held at The Breakers Palm Beach next year. The 53rd annual event, hosted by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, will be held Jan. 25. "After a great success this past year, we are excited to bring the Eclipse Awards back to The Breakers Palm Beach," said NTRA President and CEO Tom Rooney. "The enthusiasm for this event continues to build, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back to Palm Beach at the...

Marty McGee, the longtime Kentucky correspondent for the Daily Racing Form, announced Tuesday that he is leaving the paper to become the agent for Joe Talamo. He had been with the Racing Form since 1992. "After 38 years as a professional racing journalist, I will begin working full-time as an agent for my nephew-in-law, jockey Joe Talamo," McGee posted on his Twitter account. "Joe and I are very excited about what the future holds. He's an immense talent who belongs among the game's elite." McGee wrote that the upcoming GI...

Bill Spawr, 83, announced his retirement and disbanded his stable after a 46-year career as a public trainer. According to the Santa Anita media team, Spawr was a star running back at Downey High School who got hooked on racing while working as a part time clerk in a local liquor store that served up Daily Racing Form and gravitated to the racetrack full-time at age 23. He spent 14 years as a veterinarian assistant before opening a public stable in 1977. With 1,709 career wins, Spawr captured two Winter/Spring...

Jay Privman, who retired from the Daily Racing Form in late 2022 after a career spanning six decades, will be presented with a Special Eclipse Award for Career Excellence at the 52nd Eclipse Award ceremonies to be held at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida, Jan. 26. "This is quite humbling and most appreciated, as it has been bestowed by my peers and those I covered," Privman said. "I get very emotional seeing whose names have also won a Special Award, like the greatest rider I ever saw, Laffit Pincay,...

The Week In Review On Saturday, six days after Joree Scriver got hurtled to the Sunland Park dirt in a violent, one-horse spill, the 21-year-old jockey was able to report good news: For the first time since her accident and emergency surgery to fix spinal damage, she was able to discern a bit of sensation in each of her legs. "I'm a little rough, but I'm alright," Scriver told TDN via phone from the intensive care unit at Las Palmas Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, about five miles over...

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB) today announced the finalists for the 2022 Eclipse Awards, recognizing excellence in Thoroughbred racing. Winners in 17 horse and human categories will be announced on FanDuel TV, and other outlets, during the 52nd annual Eclipse Awards, presented by John Deere, Keeneland, and The Jockey Club,  on Thursday, Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m. ET. The evening will culminate with the announcement of the 2022 Horse of the Year. Of the 258 eligible voters represented by...

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters today announced the winners of the 2022 Media Eclipse Awards in six categories. Photography--Wendy Wooley--"Elbow Room Please," The Paulick Report, Oct. 1, 2022. Writing-- Feature/Commentary--Tim Layden--"Beneath the Super Bowl's Turf: The Ghosts of Hollywood Park," NBCSports.com, Feb. 8, 2022. Writing- News Enterprise--Tom Law--"Big Tally," Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred, July 1, 2022 Live Television Programming--NBC Sports Breeders' Cup World Championships Nov. 4-5, 2022--Lindsay Schanzer--NBC Sports Producer of Horse Racing Feature Television Programming--NBC Sports--"Cody's Wish" Nov. 5, 2022--Jack...

Dave Litfin, the widely respected former handicapper for the Daily Racing Form, died Thursday night in Saratoga Springs after a long battle with cancer. He was 64. The news was announced by his wife of 39 years, Robin, on her Facebook page. Litfin was a call-taker with the Form and joined the New York Racing Association's publicity staff as the press box manager in 1984. He went to work for the DRF in 1990 where he wrote the "Handicapper's Corner" column. He was the author of two books, "Dave Litfin's...

Thoroughbred owner and breeder Jim McIngvale will be honored along with Eclipse Award-winning photographer Barbara Livingston, broadcaster Chris Lincoln and turf writers Tom Pedulla and Mike Welsch during the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters' 62nd annual Awards Dinner on Wednesday, Nov. 2 in Lexington. The NTWAB Awards Dinner is the organization's only fundraiser, and a portion of the proceeds of the event will fund Thoroughbred industry charities and internships for prospective racing journalists. The 2022 NTWAB Awards Dinner will be held at Malone's Prime in Lexington. McIngvale, widely known as...