Joe Hirsch Award for Volponi's BloodHorse Story
Image:
Description:
Photo: Coglianese Photos
Belmont Stakes
Paul Volponi of BloodHorse and Jon White of XBTV earned top honors in the New York Racing Association's (NYRA) 10th annual Joe Hirsch Memorial Writing Contest, recognizing the best in media coverage of the 2018 Belmont Stakes (G1), won by Justify .
Volponi won for his feature piece entitled "The Long Ride," which investigated the pacing, positioning, and circumstances jockeys must account for to succeed in the 1 1/2-mile "Test of the Champion." Read the winning story here, from the June 9, 2018 magazine issue.
White won for his Belmont Stakes recap, "Triple Crown Perfection," which vividly retold the story of Bob Baffert's 2019 campaign with Justify and Mike Smith, culminating in their victory in the Belmont Stakes to become the 13th Triple Crown winner.
This is the first Joe Hirsch Award for both Volponi and White.
The award presentation will be Tuesday, June 4 at Citi Field, prior to the post-position draw for the 151st running of the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets (G1) June 8 at Belmont Park.
The awards are named in honor of Joe Hirsch, the longtime executive sports columnist for Daily Racing Form (DRF) who died Jan. 9, 2009.