Layden wins third Eclipse Award for writing
Tim Layden, an at-large writer for NBC Sports, has won his third Eclipse Award for an article he wrote last year that was named the winner for Feature/Commentary Writing, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced on Friday, along with the five other media Eclipse Awards.
Other Eclipse media winners included Tom Law, for News/Enterprise Writing; Wendy Wooley, for Photography; NBC Sports, for both Live Television Programming and Feature Television Programming; and Horse Racing Radio Network, for its coverage of the Breeders’ Cup.
Layden, who won his first Eclipse in 1987 and his second in 2018, was given the honor after a three-judge panel selected a story titled “Beneath the Super Bowl’s Turf: The Ghosts of Hollywood Park” for the winner this year. The story resurrected memories of Hollywood Park, the glitzy racetrack that was demolished in 2014. The property was used to build SoFi Stadium, now the NFL home of the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, and the site of the 2022 Super Bowl.
“I love ideas that connect the present to the past, and I had seen the old Hollywood Park, and like many other frequent travelers, had watched the transformation during the approach to the LAX [airport], where you could look down and see it happening,” Layden said.
Law, who had previously shared an Eclipse Award for Audio/Multi-Media and Internet in 2011, was selected for a wrap-up of the Preakness Stakes entitled “Big Tally” that appeared in the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred. The Preakness was won by Early Voting, and Law’s article included race reporting as well as extensive background on the decisions by his connections that led to victory.
Wooley’s winning photograph captured a still frame of the deep-stretch hijinks of jockey Sonny Leon as he tried to muscle his mount, Rich Strike, to the wire ahead of Hot Rod Charlie in the Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs on Oct. 1. Hot Rod Charlie won, but Leon was suspended 15 days by Kentucky stewards for his contact with his rival jockey, Tyler Gaffalione, during the stretch run. The photograph appeared on the Paulick Report website.
NBC, which is a perennial Eclipse winner because of its dominant role in broadcasting racing’s major events, won for the Live Television Eclipse for its Breeders’ Cup broadcasts on Nov. 4-5 at Keeneland Racecourse. The Feature Programming Eclipse was awarded for a piece that aired on an NBC sister network, USA, on Nov. 5 that told the story of Cody’s Wish, the eventual Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner. Cody’s Wish was named after Cody Dorman, who was born with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, a genetic disorder.
HRRN, which is available over satellite radio and the internet, won for its comprehensive coverage of the Breeders’ Cup event, with a special designation for its work on the Breeders’ Cup Classic, won by Flightline. This was the third Eclipse for HRRN.
“To be honored with a third Eclipse is extremely special,” said Mike Penna, HRRN’s president and broadcast anchor. “When we launched HRRN nearly 20 years ago, our only goal was to create something that would help the sport in some way. … We are truly grateful and humbled to be recognized once again.”
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