Mooney wins second Media Eclipse

Bill Mooney, a longtime Thoroughbred racing writer and historian, has been

awarded

the 2007 Media Eclipse Award for Writing in the News/Commentary category

for his column "Final Days for a Hall of Famer," on the passing of champion Precisionist,

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced Thursday. His column

appeared in the January 2007 edition of Post Time USA. This is the second Media Eclipse Award for Mooney.

The 60-year-old native of Lexington, Kentucky, won the 1985 Media Eclipse Award for Magazine writing for

an article about Ellis Park which appeared in the Thoroughbred Record.

"I am stunned to win a second Eclipse Award," Mooney said. "These Media

Awards are so hard to win because the competition is so great and the

quality of turf writing and the talent of the reporters who cover the

sport and this industry have never been better."

On September 26, Mooney received a call from Michael Blowen, founder and

president of Old Friends, a Thoroughbred retirement facility devoted to

retired racehorses and stallions, located in Scott County, Kentucky. Blowen

told Mooney that the 26 year-old Precisionist, suffering from a form of

skin cancer, would have to be euthanized the following day.

Mooney came to Old Friends that evening and returned early the next

morning and provided in his column an emotional narrative of

Precisionist's final hours, from the injections of lethal solutions, to

Blowen holding Precisionist in his arms before the horse's last breath,

to the placement of a halter from the 1985 Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) with

Precisionist during his burial.

Precisionist earned more than $3.4 million and was named champion sprinter in

1985 after winning the Breeders' Cup Sprint. Owned by Fred Hooper, the

remarkable Florida-bred horse also captured the Woodward S. (G1), Charles H.

Strub S. (G1), Californian S. (G1), Swaps S. (G1) and San Fernando S. (G1) and

finished third in the 1986 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).

In his piece, Mooney commented that the decision to euthanize the

Thoroughbred was the correct course of action, rather than prolonging

his suffering.

"Precisionist's death had been dignified and painless," Mooney explained.

"It

had also been necessary. A series of cancerous tumors had invaded his

soft palate and nasal passages. They had effectively merged into a single huge

tumor that was inoperable.

"It was the most dignified death of a racehorse that I had ever

witnessed."

Mooney said that after he receives his Eclipse Award next month, he will

deliver it to Blowen and the Old Friends facility.

Honorable mention in the Writing -- News/Commentary category went to Bob

Ford for "Shed Row to the Winner's Circle" about jockey Calvin Borel

winning the Kentucky Derby about Street Sense, which appeared in the

Philadelphia Inquirer on May 7, 2007.

The panel of judges for the Writing -- News/Commentary category comprised Reid Cherner,

USA Today; Jim Peden, former vice president

of communications for The Jockey Club and Steve Wulf of ESPN The

Magazine.