Reed wins third Eclipse Award

It's a hat trick for writer Billy Reed, who on Wednesday was announced by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association as having won his third Eclipse Award for outstanding journalism, this time for a column on the filly Eight Belles that appeared in the May 16 issue of the weekly publication Thoroughbred Times.

Reed's story, "A Rose for Eight Belles," was cited in the news/commentary category. Reed, 65, won previous Eclipse Awards in 1979, for an article in the Louisville Courier-Journal on jockey Ron Turcotte, and in 1988, for an article on trainer D. Wayne Lukas in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The Eight Belles tragedy in the Kentucky Derby also was among the material that brought the Louisville Courier-Journal's website, courier-journal.com, the Eclipse Award in the audio and multi-media internet category.

Honorable mention in the news/commentary category went to another column on Eight Belles, "Eight Belles Breakdown: A Predictable Tragedy," written by Bill Nack, that appeared on ESPN.com on May 16.

The courier-journal.com website won its Eclipse Award for a three-part series on injuries to racehorses, "Tragedy on the Track," that ran Aug. 16-18. The investigative series incorporated audio, video, print, interactive graphics, and still photography, and dealt with genetic research and breeding, track surfaces, and medication.

The principal writers of the series were Jennie Rees, a previous Eclipse Award winner, Andrew Wolfson and Greg Hall, with videographer Scott Utterback, and graphic artist Steve Reed.

Honorable mentions in the audio and multi-media internet category went The Rail, found at The New York Times's website, nytimes.com, for its Kentucky Derby multi-media coverage, and the Louisville Courier-Journal's website courier-journal.com for its Derby week coverage.

The winners will receive their Eclipse Awards at the 38th annual Eclipse Awards dinner Jan. 26 in Miami Beach, Fla.