Eclipse Awards: Edwards to host ceremony

Jeannine Edwards, the senior broadcast analyst for ESPN who is a mainstay of the network’s horse racing broadcasts, will host the Eclipse Awards ceremony on Jan. 16 in Beverly Hills, Calif., the National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced on Monday.

Edwards, who had announced that she had been selected to host the ceremony via Twitter last week, will be the first female host of the ceremony. A former exercise rider, apprentice jockey, and trainer, Edwards has been with ESPN since 1995 after working as the in-house TV host for Maryland racetracks.

The Eclipse Awards ceremony honors the horses who are voted as divisional champions, along with human awards for training, breeding, owning, and riding.

“Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been in love with horses and racing,” Edwards said in a release distributed by the NTRA, which administers the ceremony. “For me, the Eclipse Awards would come along every year and be the anxiously awaited, crowning moment of a season’s worth of indelible achievements. With so many divisions up in the air, I’m just as eager as everyone else to see who will be taking home the hardware.”

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