Rick Violette to be honored with Joe Palmer Award

Rick Violette, the late trainer and horsemen’s advocate, has been selected to receive the Joe Palmer Award for “meritorious service to racing” by the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, the organization announced on Thursday.

Violette, who died last year at the age of 65 after a long illness, will be honored along with D. Wayne Lukas, the Hall of Fame trainer; Tim Wilkin, the longtime racing reporter for the Albany Times Union; and Caton Bredar, the racing broadcaster, the NTWAB said.

Violette trained a number of top-class horses, but he was most widely known for his work on behalf of horsemen through the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. He constantly advocated for both trainers and horses while president of the NYTHA, and he played a leading role in the formation of the TAKE2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program and the Take The Lead Thoroughbred Retirement Program at the tracks operated by the New York Racing Association.

Lukas, a winner of more than $280 million in purses in his long career, will receive the Mr. Fitz Award, which is given “for typifying the spirit of racing.” Lukas is one of the most recognized faces in racing, due in large part to his domination of the top echelon of the sport in the 1980s and 1990s. He has won 14 Triple Crown races and five Eclipse Awards as Outstanding Trainer.

Wilkin will receive the Walter Haight Award for career excellence in turf writing. Wilkin covers racing daily during the Saratoga meet, and he also has several other sports beats for the Times-Union. He has twice won the Associated Press Sports Editors annual writing contest for beat reporters in the 30,000-75,000 circulation category.

Bredar will receive the Jim McKay Award for career excellence in broadcasting. Bredar has been part of the broadcast teams of nearly every network to ever cover a live horserace, ranging from horseback reporting duties to anchoring live coverage. She has 30 years’ experience covering the sport, and was part of the original broadcast team at TVG, the horseracing network.

The awards will be given during a dinner to be held during the week of the Breeders’ Cup this year, scheduled for Nov. 1-2 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.