(Edited press release)
WLKY-TV in Louisville has won the 2006 Media Eclipse Award for local television for its documentary "The Final Foal," about the filly Maggie Slew, the last offspring of 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew.
The “The Final Foal,” a one-hour program, aired April 29, 2006, was produced and photographed by Scott Eckhardt and written and narrated by John Boel. It tells the story of Maggie Slew, who was born Feb. 19, 2003, at Don and Dana Myers's Swifty Farms in Seymour, Ind.
Eckhardt traces Maggie Slew as a yearling in Ocala, Fla., and then to the races during her 2-year-old and part of her 3-year-old seasons at Ellis Park, Keeneland, Monmouth Park, and Churchill Downs. Maggie Slew was the 1,096th and last foal in the stallion career of Seattle Slew, who died in 2002. She is out of the Alydar mare May Day Ninety.
“This is a tremendous honor to be recognized by the Thoroughbred industry,” said Eckhardt, who has worked in the news department at WLKY for 10 years. “I have always wanted to make a film about the life of a racehorse from the beginning, and when I saw a small item in the newspaper about the impending birth of Seattle’s Slew’s last foal, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity do this story coupled with the magnitude of what Seattle Slew brought to racing."
Honorable mention in the local television category went to CTV-Calgary and Horse Racing Alberta for “Brother Derek’s Run for the Roses,” which aired July 1, 2006. Jeff Robillard was executive producer.
Judges for the local television category were Jack Coffey of Eclipse Productions; independent film producer Fritz Mitchell; and Jay Posner of the San Diego Union Tribune.
