The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers And Broadcasters announced Dec. 28 that Mary Simon has won the 2012 Media Eclipse Award for Writing in the News/Enterprise category for "Added Obstacle," an examination of the history and current status of the race-day medication furosemide (or Salix), which appeared in Thoroughbred Times June 9.
This is the second writing Media Eclipse Award for Simon, who grew up in Upland, Calif., and has resided in Lexington since 1985. Simon previously won the Media Eclipse for Outstanding Feature Writing in 2000 for Thoroughbred Times.
The 42nd Annual Eclipse Awards dinner and ceremony will be held on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, at Gulfstream Park Racetrack and Casino in Hallandale Beach, Fla.
Simon credits her husband, Mark, former editor of Thoroughbred Times, which ceased publication in September after 27 years, who assigned her the story.
"I am happy to win this for Mark," said Simon. "He is the best editor in the business and I’m so incredibly proud of the great legacy he left with Thoroughbred Times, especially during this past difficult year."
In "Added Obstacles," Simon uses the 25th anniversary of Alysheba’s attempt to win the 1987 Belmont Stakes (gr. I) without Lasix, which was not permitted in New York at that time, as a starting point for examining the history of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage and the incorporation of furosemide in U.S. racing.
Simon researched equine bleeding back some 500 years and found homemade methods used through the centuries to treat or prevent it.
Honorable Mention in the News/Enterprise category went to Stan Grossfeld for "Photo Finish," about horse rescue, which appeared in the Boston Globe Sept. 25.
The panel of judges for the News/Enterprise Writing category was comprised of Beverly Smith of the Globe and Mail in Canada, Ed Gray, Thoroughbred journalist, and Ed DeRosa of Brisnet.com.