Kenny Rice, an award-winning horse racing and sports announcer, will host the
37th annual Eclipse Awards, scheduled for January 21 at the Beverly Wilshire
Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
“Kenny is a pro’s pro, and we are delighted that he will host our industry’s
most star-studded night,” said Alex Waldrop, president and CEO of the National
Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA).
The Eclipse Awards are presented by the NTRA, National Turf Writers
Association (NTWA) and Daily Racing Form. Named after the great
18th-century racehorse and foundation sire Eclipse, the awards are bestowed upon
17 horses and individuals whose outstanding achievements in 2007 have earned
them the title of champion in their respective categories.
Rice has contributed reports and interviews to NBC Sports’ Thoroughbred
racing coverage since 1999, including the Kentucky Derby (G1), the Preakness S.
(G1) and the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. He has also appeared on a
variety of horse racing shows on the ESPN family of networks, serving as both
host and reporter on various Breeders’ Cup and “Road to the Kentucky Derby”
series. From 1980-99, Rice was the sports director at WTVQ-TV in Lexington,
Kentucky, and in 1996, he won a Media Eclipse Award for outstanding local
television coverage of Thoroughbred racing. That same year, he was also
presented with the Charles W. Englehard Award by the Kentucky Thoroughbred
Owners and Breeders Association for lifetime achievement in reporting on
Thoroughbred racing and breeding.
“It’s a wonderful honor and an exciting challenge to host the ‘Oscars’ of
Thoroughbred racing,” said Rice, who resides in Lexington. “If you consider the
large number of sports awards, there are very few that follow you for the rest
of your life. If you win an Eclipse Award, you’re forever identified as having
reached the pinnacle of Thoroughbred racing.”
In addition to his Thoroughbred racing pursuits, Rice reported on the 2004
United States Olympic Equestrian Trials. In 2006, he co-hosted the telecast of
the World Equestrian Games for NBC.
Stepping outside of racing, Rice served as the boxing reporter on NBC’s
coverage of the 2004 Olympics from Athens. He has done play-by-play of college
basketball and football games for HDNet, including this year’s Harvard-Yale
football game, and the Wooden Classic and Wooden Tradition college basketball
tournaments. Since 2006, he has also been the voice of the International Fight
League on Fox Sports Net, and has also been the play-by-play announcer for the
Professional Bull Riders Association for NBC since 2004.