DRF's Livingston, Welsch earn career awards from the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters

Barbara Livingston, the chief photographer for Daily Racing Form, and Mike Welsch, the longtime DRF racing correspondent and clocker, have each been selected to receive a major career award from the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters this year, the organization announced on Thursday.

Livingston, a six-time Eclipse Award winner for photography, will receive the Joe Palmer Award for “meritorious service to racing,” the NTWAB said. Livingston is easily the most recognizable photographer in racing, and her photographs of the equine and human elements of the racing and breeding industries consistently garner accolades.

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Welsch, who has worked for Daily Racing Form since 1972, will share the Walter Haight Award for “career excellence in Turf writing” with Tom Pedulla, a freelance journalist who was the racing correspondent for USA Today from 1995 to 2012. Welsch’s insights into workouts are highly sought-after in the weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby, the Breeders’ Cup, and other major racing events. He also provides racing coverage on some of the sport’s most high-profile circuits.

Livingston and Welsch will receive their awards at a dinner ceremony on Nov. 2 in Lexington, Ky., where the Breeders’ Cup will be held this year on Nov. 4-5.

Also receiving awards from the NTWAB will be owner-breeder Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, who will receive the Mr. Fitz Award for “typifying the spirit of racing,” and Chris Lincoln, the longtime ESPN racing broadcaster, who will receive the Jim McKay Award for “career excellence in broadcasting.”