Thoroughbred Daily News series nominated for Bergstein
award
Team Valor International has nominated all six stories from a Thoroughbred
Daily News series on drugs in horse racing for the Stan Bergstein Writing
Award. Bill Finley, Ryan Goldberg and Lucas Marquardt each wrote installments in
the series “A Painful Truth,” which began on May 2 and wrapped up on June 22.
Team Valor CEO Barry Irwin initiated the award last year following the death
of Bergstein, who relentlessly wrote about drug issues in both Thoroughbred and
Standardbred racing for decades. The first award, decided by a four-judge panel
of writers, went to an installment from another series on drugs in racing that
appeared in the New York Times.
The TDN series examined drugs in racing dating back to the early 20th century
and moved forward with a look at the present dysfunctional regulatory system
that differs drastically from state to state. The writers also compared
America’s permissive drug rules to the stringent standards in place in most
other countries with horse racing and placed a spotlight on several positive
developments, including emerging laboratory technology, cooperation among some
jurisdictions and tracks incorporating private property rights to exclude
presumed bad actors.
The full series is accessible at
www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/members/magazine/. The following 6 stories
will be presented individually to the panel of judges for the second annual Stan
Bergstein Writing Award, which will carry a $25,000 prize and will be presented
at the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program’s Global Symposium on
Racing and Gaming:
10
Marquardt, May 30
Finley, June 15
For the 2013 award, Team Valor previously nominated a piece from Ray Paulick
on the Paulick Report website about the absence of veterinary records in
California’s mandatory post-mortem examinations for equine fatalities.
Stories may be submitted for consideration to Jeff Lowe at
jeff@teamvalor.com by November 1.
Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com