Post by Peter Gross on Nov 26, 2009 6:11:49 GMT -5
The Jockey Club of Canada revealed yesterday the finalists for the Media portion of the Sovereign Awards and excuse my self- promotion, but the paper I edit, Down The Stretch, Canada's most informative and entertaining horse racing newspaper got the most nominations. We have five candidates in the finals, though the night of the Awards - January 29th - won't necessarily be a night of abundant bling for us.
In the category of Outstanding Newspaper Article, I was disappointed that my submission on Mine That Bird winning the Kentucky Derby was overlooked, but the voters did pick three Down The Stretch stories. Perry Lefko's Fate of the Fortwas a concise assessment of Fort Erie horse people trying to save the historic racetrack. Eleanor LeBlanc, the associate editor of Down The Stretch got in for Racing Stars change hats for a good cause, her excellent coverage of the Equi-challenge in which jockeys and harness drivers had to play polo and ride equestrian style. And Keith McCalmont, whose Triple Dead Heat blog is the by far, the most interesting of all horse racing sites on line, got nominated for They're really at the post, a bright and insightful look at the tough men who load horses into the starting gate. The fourth and last nominee is multiple Sovereign Award winner Curtis Stock who wrote Lifetime of Horse racing brings love, happiness and tragedy,the heart-wrenching saga of 86 year0old trainer Lorne Dupont. I just printed this off the internet and not only is it an amazing story of the kind of awful things that can beset one human being in a lifetime, it is also extremely well-written. Down The Stretch has a three-horse entry in a four-horse race ....and we have no chance.
Perry Lefko doubled up on his nominations with a spot in the finals of the award for Outstanding Feature Story. Lefko has a strong shot - Eddie and Jennifer is a very touching story about a Fort Erie jockey who has stood by his mate after she was severely injured in a car accident. Lefko's competition comes from Bruce Walker who wrote A penny For Your Thoughts for the Canadian Thoroughbred Magazine and Jennifer Morrison whose Lindro and Impropriety appeared in Horse-Canada.com.
The big surprise for me is that I have been nominated, not for anything I have written, but for a photograph I took of Chantal Sutherland wrapped in a Canadian flag. Basically all I did was press a button - Chantal is just as good in front of the camera as she is on a horse. I joked to her at the time that we were making an 'iconic' picture. Maybe I was right. Dave Landry, brother of jockey Robert is also nominated and Michael Burns Photography and Michael Burns Jr have a nomination each. I'm hoping I win, because traditionally, Michael Burns Jr is assigned to shoot the winners in each category and it would be very ironic if he had to take a picture of me beating hin out of the award ( which he's won about 400 times.)
I should point out that Woodbine grants me free access to all the pictures that the Burns family takes. They do great stuff and in the course of a year, I stick about 100 of them in Down The Stretch, Canada's most informative and entertaining horse racing newspaper. Having the most nominations of any media outlet ( we have five) is very exciting to us. Each nominee gets two tickets for the Awards evening, which is always a glitzy and skillfully put together show.
As they say, just being nominated is an honour. Actually winning is much better.
In the category of Outstanding Newspaper Article, I was disappointed that my submission on Mine That Bird winning the Kentucky Derby was overlooked, but the voters did pick three Down The Stretch stories. Perry Lefko's Fate of the Fortwas a concise assessment of Fort Erie horse people trying to save the historic racetrack. Eleanor LeBlanc, the associate editor of Down The Stretch got in for Racing Stars change hats for a good cause, her excellent coverage of the Equi-challenge in which jockeys and harness drivers had to play polo and ride equestrian style. And Keith McCalmont, whose Triple Dead Heat blog is the by far, the most interesting of all horse racing sites on line, got nominated for They're really at the post, a bright and insightful look at the tough men who load horses into the starting gate. The fourth and last nominee is multiple Sovereign Award winner Curtis Stock who wrote Lifetime of Horse racing brings love, happiness and tragedy,the heart-wrenching saga of 86 year0old trainer Lorne Dupont. I just printed this off the internet and not only is it an amazing story of the kind of awful things that can beset one human being in a lifetime, it is also extremely well-written. Down The Stretch has a three-horse entry in a four-horse race ....and we have no chance.
Perry Lefko doubled up on his nominations with a spot in the finals of the award for Outstanding Feature Story. Lefko has a strong shot - Eddie and Jennifer is a very touching story about a Fort Erie jockey who has stood by his mate after she was severely injured in a car accident. Lefko's competition comes from Bruce Walker who wrote A penny For Your Thoughts for the Canadian Thoroughbred Magazine and Jennifer Morrison whose Lindro and Impropriety appeared in Horse-Canada.com.
The big surprise for me is that I have been nominated, not for anything I have written, but for a photograph I took of Chantal Sutherland wrapped in a Canadian flag. Basically all I did was press a button - Chantal is just as good in front of the camera as she is on a horse. I joked to her at the time that we were making an 'iconic' picture. Maybe I was right. Dave Landry, brother of jockey Robert is also nominated and Michael Burns Photography and Michael Burns Jr have a nomination each. I'm hoping I win, because traditionally, Michael Burns Jr is assigned to shoot the winners in each category and it would be very ironic if he had to take a picture of me beating hin out of the award ( which he's won about 400 times.)
I should point out that Woodbine grants me free access to all the pictures that the Burns family takes. They do great stuff and in the course of a year, I stick about 100 of them in Down The Stretch, Canada's most informative and entertaining horse racing newspaper. Having the most nominations of any media outlet ( we have five) is very exciting to us. Each nominee gets two tickets for the Awards evening, which is always a glitzy and skillfully put together show.
As they say, just being nominated is an honour. Actually winning is much better.
