Hammond to receive Special Eclipse for Career Excellence

Tom Hammond, the veteran broadcaster who spent decades with NBC as an announcer for its Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup broadcasts, along with other high-profile sports, will receive a Special Eclipse Award for Career Excellence, the administrators of the Eclipse Awards announced Thursday.

A native of Lexington, Ky., Hammond was first tabbed by NBC for racing coverage as a reporter for the inaugural Breeders’ Cup event in 1984. Over the next three decades, he anchored the network’s racing coverage, providing his familiar voice to the coverage of 16 runnings of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, as well as 11 Belmont Stakes. He anchored the network’s Breeders’ Cup broadcast until 2016.

Hammond got his start in Lexington for local television stations, and he founded a production company specializing in racing coverage. Early in his career, he also was an announcer for horse auctions at Keeneland.

“I have wanted to be a part of the Thoroughbred industry since I was 15 years old, though I could never have dreamed that involvement would come primarily as an announcer,” Hammond said. “The improbable nature of the [Special Eclipse] Award makes it even sweeter. As I look back over my 50-year career, I see the many opportunities that the Thoroughbred world has provided me. No question I consider the Career Excellence Award to be one of the most meaningful of my life.”

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Hammond was inducted into the Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2018. In 2001, he was inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame, and is a member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame. Hammond also has received the Jim McKay Award from the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, the association’s highest honor for a broadcaster.

“When Tom would slide into the host chair a couple of hours before the Kentucky Derby, and ‘that voice’ would suddenly fill the airwaves, it was a jolt of adrenaline for everyone on the telecast,” said Randy Moss, the sports commentator who worked with Hammond on dozens of racing broadcasts, including the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup. “It was like, ‘Okay, here we go!’ ”

Hammond will receive the Special Eclipse during the Eclipse Award ceremonies on Jan. 25 in South Florida.

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