The Los Angeles Turf Club and Oak Tree Racing Association will honor the leading public handicappers at their respective Santa Anita Park meetings with memorial awards named for leading California owner/breeder Bernard J. Ridder and Los Angeles Times columnist Allan Malamud.The Oak Tree award is named for Ridder, an original member of the on the association's board of directors and founding principal of the Knight-Ridder Newspaper chain. His top horses included Cascapedia, Flying Paster and Messenger of Song. The award includes $2,000 to be split between the leading handicapper at the autumn meeting and his/her charity of choice."We want to acknowledge the contributions and importance of our public handicappers," said Sherwood Chillingworth, executive vice president for Oak Tree. "We feel we have the best collection of handicappers in the country here covering our meeting and I'm confident Ben (Ridder) would be pleased to know an award of this kind was named in his honor," he added.
The Allan Malamud award goes to the top handicapper at the LATC's winter/spring meeting. "Allan Malamud was a must-read in the Los Angeles Times and he was never more at home, anywhere, than in the Santa Anita pressbox," said Ron Charles, LATC president. "This is a great way for us to recognize the hard work and dedication these handicappers bring to our sport."
