The Blood-Horse news editor Tom LaMarra has been selected as one of two winners of the 2011 Old Hilltop Award that will be presented by Pimlico Race Course during the annual Alibi Breakfast. The breakfast will take place May 19, two days prior to the $1 million Preakness Stakes (gr. I), in the track’s terrace dining room.
LaMarra and Daily Racing Form photographer Barbara Livingston will be presented with the Old Hilltop Award, presented for covering Thoroughbred racing with excellence and distinction.
The Special Award of Merit, given to someone who has made a positive impact on the racing industry, will be presented to Joe Bryce, the chief legislative officer in Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s State of Maryland Legislative & Policy Office. Bryce was instrumental in helping O’Malley orchestrate a deal last December to create 146 live racing days in the state for 2011.
Los Angeles Times turf writer Bill Dwyre is the recipient of the David F. Woods Award, for his depiction of trainer Bob Baffert’s reaction after Lookin At Lucky’s 2010 Preakness win. The Woods Award honors the best story for the previous year’s Preakness. Judging was done by Preakness notes team members Ed Gray, Mike Kane, and Matt Graves, all award winning turf writers.
Associated Press photographer Mike Stewart is the winner of the Jerry Frutkoff Preakness Photo Award, sponsored by Nikon. Stewart captured Lookin At Lucky coming out of the shadows and reaching the wire first in Preakness 135. Judging was completed by Nikon’s Sam Garcia, Maryland Jockey Club photographer Jim McCue, Adorama Camera’s Jeff Snyder, and Molly Riley of Reuters. Riley and Snyder are previous winners of the award.
Since 1996, the United States Postal Service has opened a temporary Preakness station the week of the Preakness. The “honorary postmasters” for the Preakness 136 station will be the Lady Legends, eight retired female riders who came out of retirement a year ago to participate in a pari-mutuel race on Black-Eyed Susan Day.
Tom LaMarra
Anne M. Eberhardt