TDN's Marquardt Wins Bergstein Writing Award

Lucas Marquardt was awarded the Stanley Bergstein Writing Award Nov. 14, at the Thoroughbred Club of America in recognition of a story he penned on the industry's move away from synthetic surfaces.

Team Valor chief executive officer Barry Irwin presented the award to Marquardt for his story, "Is This the Death of Synthetic Racing? And if so, why?" It appeared in a Thoroughbred Daily News publication.

Launched three years ago by Team Valor, the award carries a trophy and $25,000 in cash.

"It really is humbling just to be nominated," said Marquardt who also thanked the TDN. He noted the commitment of Team Valor to the award, saying the prize was "a significant chunk of change and it's a testament to Stan Bergstein and the ideals he stood for. It's a testament to Barry's conviction that we need a clean industry."

Irwin noted that Marquardt's story questioned if horsemen, owners, and track officials who have pushed for a return to dirt racing may lose potential new fans because of the increased breakdown rate on dirt surfaces compared with synthetic surfaces.

"Those preferring dirt tracks may have won the battle but they just as easily might lose the war to win the hearts and minds of a public sick and tired of watching horses die on the track from catastrophic breakdowns," Irwin said.

Kentucky Horse Racing Commission member Ned Bonnie also spoke at Friday's luncheon in a keynote address titled, "Speaking Truth to Power, a Recipe for Success." Bonnie said high-level journalism is needed to push any successful sport or business.

"Journalism can document what we're doing, what we do well, and what we do badly," Bonnie said. "We all work to be the best we can be."

Bonnie said the award honors journalists who believe in the industry but want the industry to be better.

"You're doing it for the right reasons," Bonnie said. "We as members of the industry cannot do without you. We applaud you."

Irwin said there were no losers among this year's nominees, noting that he read many interesting stories. 

"This year turf writers wrote stories that generated serious conversations," Irwin said. He listing some of the topics covered by this year's nominated stories, which included drug compounding, the use of shock devices by riders, regulatory problems, out-of-competition testing, problems at testing labs, and other issues. "This year we saw stories that exposed practices only insiders were aware of."

Other nominated writers included Frank Angst of Blood-Horse Publications, Eddie Donnally for the Paulick Report, Joe Clancy of ThisIsHorseRacing.com, Bill Finley of TDN (nominated for two stories), and past winners Joe Drape of New York Times, and Ray Paulick, of the Paulick Report, who was nominated for four stories this year.

Irwin lamented the decline of horse racing coverage in major newspapers but noted that coverage through various Internet outlets has helped fill that void.