Clevenger awarded Eclipse for photography

Courier-Journal photographer garners second Eclipse for this Classic snapshot (Michael Clevenger) The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters announced Monday that Michael Clevenger of Louisville, Kentucky, has won the 2010 Media Eclipse Award for Photography for his picture of the dramatic finish between Blame and Zenyatta in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs on November 6. The photo appeared on the front page of the Louisville Courier-Journal on November 7. This is the second Eclipse Award for Clevenger, 45, a staff photographer for the Courier-Journal for the past 12 years. He won his first Eclipse Award in 2002 for a photo of that year’s Kentucky Derby (G1) finish. “Winning the Eclipse Award is truly exciting and an honor that leaves me speechless because I am blessed to be recognized for making images of a beautiful sport,” Clevenger said. “I know how hard so many photographers work at their craft and dedicate themselves to photographing horse racing. To be up against them is humbling, and it’s humbling to being even considered for an Eclipse.

“My true reward is to have the opportunity to have the best seats in
the house to see racing history made and working at a newspaper that
values what I do. I also appreciate the opportunity to make photographs
that our readers enjoy seeing. Winning the Eclipse is the icing on the
cake.”

The 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic on was one of the biggest moments in
sports of 2010. The undefeated six-year-old mare Zenyatta was trying to
repeat as the Classic winner before more than 72,000 fans under
darkening skies at historic Churchill Downs, the culminating race of the
Breeders’ Cup World Championships. Trailing the field most of the way,
Zenyatta unleashed a furious stretch drive but fell short to Blame by a
head at the wire.

Clevenger’s ground-level photo captures both Blame and Zenyatta, side
by side battling to the wire. The horses are illuminated by the lights
of the stretch in the center of the frame with the famed Twin Spires
above and the crowd on its feet in the background.

“With Zenyatta’s tendency to run wide, the challenge was to figure
out where she might be at the end,” Clevenger said. “I timed the shutter
release that she would run in the middle of the picture. It’s difficult
to know and the horses don’t tell you. It’s definitely a gamble, coupled
with the fact that you didn’t know how dark it was going to be for the
race.”

Clevenger took the winning photo with a Canon EOS 1D-Mark III.

Honorable mention in the Photography category went to two
individuals: Skip Dickstein for his photo of the 2010 Breeders’ Cup
Classic, which appeared in the Blood-Horse magazine on November 9 and
Barbara Livingston for her photo of Naughty New Yorker (Quiet American) breaking from the
gate between two horses at Saratoga, which ran in Daily Racing Form on
August 2.

Judges in the Photography category were Jim Gensheimer,
photojournalist for the San Jose Mercury News; John Engelhardt, director
of publicity at River Downs and Dan Johnson of the Des Moines Register.

The 40th Annual Eclipse Awards will be held on January 17 at
the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach, Florida. For hotel accommodations and
Eclipse Awards ceremony reservations, contact Michele Ravencraft at the
NTRA’s Lexington office, (800) 792-6872, or e-mail
mravencraft@ntra.com.