12/29/06
Last updated: 12/28/06 9:26 PM
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Julien Leparoux’s tumble was captured in the 2006
Eclipse Award winning photo (Matt
Goins) |
Matt Goins has won the 2006 Media Eclipse Award for Photography for his
picture of apprentice jockey Julien Leparoux being unseated from his mount,
Sanibel Storm (Stormy Atlantic), in the stretch at Keeneland on April 28. The
photograph appeared in the sports section of the Lexington Herald-Leader on
April 29, and was subsequently picked up in other publications.
Dogwood Stable’s Sanibel Storm, a two-year-old filly who was making her debut in
the 6TH race on the final day of the Keeneland spring meet, ducked into the
inside rail near the sixteenth-pole. Goin’s photo captured Leparoux being thrown
over her head prior to somersaulting into the infield. Both rider and horse were
unhurt.
“I’m a very lucky guy,” said Goins, who turned 36 last week. “This is one of
the greatest thrills of my life. Before I blew out the candles on my birthday
cake I wished I would win the Eclipse Award.”
Goins, a commercial photographer for 15 years, said he should not have been
at the track that day after undergoing an appendectomy 16 days earlier.
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“I should have been home resting, but I took the assignment to cover the
final day of racing on the old main track before construction of the Polytrack
surface. I was about 20 feet from the spot when Julien went head over heels. I
was really glad that both he and the filly were all right.”
The panel of judges in the Photography category comprised Ed Reinke,
The Associated Press; Jim Gensheimer, San Jose Mercury News; and Mike Kane,
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. The decision of the judges was
unanimous.
