Jeannine Edwards to be honored by Maryland Jockey Club
Jeannine Edwards, a longtime racing broadcast reporter who recently retired, will be given the Special Award of Merit by the Maryland Jockey Club in the lead-up to the MJC’s Preakness Stakes two weeks from now, the racing organization announced on Monday.
Edwards, whose 22-year career in broadcast reporting followed ten years of work as an exercise rider, jockey, and trainer, was part of an ESPN team that won three consecutive Eclipse Awards from 2009 to 2011. In addition to her racing work, she also covered college football and basketball before choosing to retire in January. She was also previously the in-house racing host at the MJC’s two tracks, Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, the home of the Preakness in Baltimore.
“To call this an honor would be an understatement,” Edwards said, in a release. “I’m touched, humbled, and blown away by this award. There are so many long-time, hard-working, talented professionals who have made horseracing their life’s work that I feel extremely blessed to be recognized in this way.”
The Special Award of Merit is part of a slate of media awards that the MJC distributes in the week prior to the Preakness. Last week, the MJC said that Chris Dachille, the executive sports producer at WBAL-TV in Baltimore, would be presented with the Old Hilltop Award, which is given annually “to an individual who covers racing with excellence and distinction.” Tom Law, senior writer for Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred and managing editor for ST Publishing, will receive the David F. Woods Memorial Award for his story “Under Cover,” a feature on 2017 Preakness winner Cloud Computing that appeared in Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred. In addition, the MJC named Rick Buckley for its Jerry Frutkoff Preakness Photography Award, to honor the best photograph of the Preakness from the previous year. Buckley is a freelancer and native of Baltimore.
The awards will be presented at the MJC’s Alibi Breakfast at Pimlico on May 17, two days prior to the Preakness.
