National Turf Writers
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vtu ~ vtU/7iJ1Iifnq ~ 35th rJ)innu- ~?~ &p.MUlJ-I'nl mJ.- ~~ gUn£! ~ 70/;~ ~2,1994 JOE PALMER AWARD WALTER HAIGHT AWARD 1964 WATHEN KNEBELKAMP, 1972 JIMMY DOYLE, president, Churchill Downs Cleveland Plain Dealer 1965 JOHN D. SCHAPIRO, 1973 GEORGE RYALL (Audax Minor) president, Laurel Race Course The New Yorker 1966 MARSHALL CASSIDY, 1974 RALEIGH BURROUGHS, executive secretary, The Jockey Club Turf and Sport Digest 1967 JOHN LONGDEN, 1975 DON FAIR, jockey Daily Racing Form 1968 MARION VAN BERG, 1976 SAUL ROSEN, President trainer Daily Racing Form Bill Nack 1969 RAYMOND GUEST, 1977 RED SMITH, Sports Illustrated owner-breeder The New York Times Remembering 'Mr_ Fitz' 1970 WARNER L. JONES, JR., 1978 NELSON FISHER, Vice President breeder San Diego Union Pohla Smith SUNNY JIM FITZSIMMONS Page 11 1971 BILL SHOEMAKER, 1979 BARNEY NAGLER, Freelance ~ jockey Daily Racing Form 1972 PAUL MELLON, 1980 JOE NICHOLS, Socl'otery- Treasurer Winner of the 'Mr. Fitz' Award owner-breeder The New York Times Jhn 80h, JEFF LUKAS Page 12 , 1973 JOHN W. GALBREATH, 1981 BILL ROBERTSON, 1'0 Inn owner-breeder The Thoroughbred Record 1974 SECRETARIAT, 1982 JOE AGRELLA, Remembering Walter Triple Crown champion Chicago Sun-Times 1975 I. J. COLLINS 1983 FRED RUSSELL, WALTER HAIGHT owner-breeder Nashville Banner 1976 FRED W. HOOPER, 1984 JOE HIRSCH, owner-breeder Daily Racing Form The Walter Haight Award for Outstanding 1977 NELSON BUNKER HUNT, 1985 SAM McCRACKEN, Achievement in Turf Writing owner-breeder Boston Globe 1978 STEVE CAUTHEN, 1986 ED COMERFORD, III'CY ·anlz EDWARD L. BOWEN _ Page 18 jockey Newsday I Iii Illoroughbred 1979 LAZ BARRERA, 1987 SI BURICK, III AlII! rnia trainer Dayton Daily News Remembering Joe 1980 CHICK LANG, 1988 LEON RASMUSSEN, JOE PALMER Page 25 general manager, Pimlico Race Course; Daily Racing Form LEO O'DONNELL, 1989 WILLIAM LEGGED, steward Sports Illustrated Ililllllol1man The Joe Palmer Award for Meritorious 1981 KEENE DAINGERFIELD, 1990 KENT HOLLINGSWORTH, 1I111111ood-llorse steward The Blood-Horse Service to Racing MARION DuPONT SCOD, 1991 BOB HARDING, lilly 1'111111 1< JOE HIRSCH Page 26 owner-breeder Newark Star-Ledger IIII'IIIO()(J-Il rse 1982 FRANK E. "JIMMY" KILROE, 1992 MIKE BARRY, director of racing, Santa Anita Park Kentucky Irish American and 1983 DAVID A. "SONNY" WERBLlN, The Louisville Times owner-breeder BILLNACK, 1984 E. P TAYLOR, Sports Illustrated 1993 Eclipse Award-winning newspaper story owner-breeder 1993 JACK MANN, 1985 JOHN GAINES, New York Herald- Tribune HORSE INDUSTRY REACTING SLOWLY breeder TO RACING DEATHS 1986 JAMES E. "TED" BASS ED III, MR. FITZ AWARD chairman of board, Keeneland 1981 JACK KLUGMAN, owner breeder JENNIE REES Page 41 1987 ALFRED VANDERBILT, 1982 BILL SHOEMAKER, jockey; owner-breeder W. C. "WOODY" STEPHENS, trainer 1988 CHARLIE WHIDINGHAM, 1983 FRED W. HOOPER, owner-breeder 1993 Eclipse Award-winning magazine story trainer 1984 PENNY CHENERY, owner-breeder REMEMBERING SHAM CLAUDE R. "SHUG" McGAUGHEY, III 1989 1985 JOHN HENRY, trainer Horse of the Year (1981 & 1984) STEPHANIE DIAZ Page 49 1990 JAMES P. RYAN, 1986 ARLINGTON PARK MANAGEMENT owner-breeder 1987 LAFFITT PINCAY, jockey 1991 JOE BURNHAM, 1988 JACK VAN BERG, trainer cinematographer 1989 OGDEN PHIPPS, owner-breeder 1992 BARRY WEISBORD, 1990 ARTHUR B. HANCOCK III, ''''/11111' Horse owner, Matchmaker and owner-breeder " /"'1111 110/1'111101 American Championship Racing Series 1991 FRANCES GENTER, owner-breeder I II I 1IIIIIIWII"dWIly 1993 Henryk de Kwiatkowski, 1 1992 RON McANALLY, trainer I HIIII '111111I 1 110: :':1 ON THE COVER: Photos of Jeff Lukas and Edward L. Bowen by Z. owner-breeder 1993 ANGEL CORDERO, JR., jockey I II'! 'II, 111111/ Photo of Joe Hirsch by Ann M. Eberhardt. "MR FITZ" NEARLY A CENTURY ago - in 1885 to be exact - a smiling, handsome young lad named James E. Fitzsimmons took himself to the old track at Sheepshead Bay and launched a l8-year career which may never be surpassed in the annals of U.S. training achievement. The record, of course, will show that the man, whose problems with weight ultimately steered his career from that of a jockey to one as a trainer, saddled 148 stakes winners among his 2,266 winning races (and, Incidentally, winning purses of some $13,001,500). But what no record could. show is the personal record of this great and lovable humanitarian. His refreshing good nature and even disposition soon earned him the nickname of "Sunny Jim"; and in his late years "Mr. Fitz," as he became known by every American race-goer, was the seat of wisdom to whom all horsemen, fans and racing journalists turned for advice or a friendly word of ncouragement. Mr. Fitz, although he trained for many owners during his long career, was most closely associated with the Woodward and Phipps family. And although Ills stakes winners were many, including such names as Captain Alcock, '1 mbino, Diavolo (one of his favorites), Faireno, Dark Secret, Granville, Johnstown, Seabiscuit, Vagrancy, Busanda and Hitting Away, he will pr bably best be remembered for his successes in the classic races. He won two Triple Crowns, with Gallant Fox and Omaha, a Preakness with the I Ibulous Bold Ruler (sire of Secretariat), and both a Preakness and a Belmont with the great Nashua. ne of the many high points of Mr. Fitz's celebrated career came in the IIllmmer of 1955 when a match race was arranged between Kentucky Derby wlnn r Swaps and Nashua. After training the latter for over a month on the ill C p, tiring Saratoga track (while Swaps was working on Chicago's faster W 19h1ngton Park strip), Mr. Fitz and Eddie Arcaro journeyed west. Their IIIIIIld nce seemed unrealistic to the Swaps rooters who flocked to Chicago to wIIIl.l1 the California-bred colt repeat his Derby victory. This hardly bothered MI liz, who noted calmly, "Training in Saratoga makes a horse fit. In a III deh race the object is to run from the gate, and the fittest horse wins." Il I 1111 beat Swaps by more than six lengths. II II dly more than a furlong away from Saratoga's National Museum of 1I11,11lI, Mr. Fitz would hold daily court in the Saratoga track paddock. He III, I I /1 August afternoon, on the same bench under the same elms and one 1Ii II ill d no appointment to sign up for a bit of learning. "Son," he would say /11 IlIyOIi within earshot, "the owners of race horses are the greatest people II/I I. 'Ilh. They pay the bills with little chance of making any money." -WHITNEY TOWER Sports Illustrated and Classic, retired JEFF LUKAS WINNER OF IHE MR. Fill AWARD by Jay Privman Freelance writer from California Just what is the "spirit of horse racing"? And how does one "typify" it? For those are the qualities, however nebulous they are, that earn someone the Mr. Fitz Award. In the case of actor Jack Klugman, who was honored by the National Turf Writers Association in 1981, it was showing the world the unbridled joy of own- ing a thoroughbred, participating in the greatest game ever invented and allow- ing us to look over his shoulder and empathize with him as his horse Jaklin Klugman went through the emotional highs and lows of the Triple Crown. In the case of John Henry, who won in 1985, it was showing us the unwa- vering will of the thoroughbred, for at age nine, when most horses are collecting Social Security, John Henry earned the Horse of the Year title, the second of his glorious career. For Frances Genter, who won in 1991, it was showing us how the love of racing can keep someone young, and how the racing gods always remember to smile on those who devotedly support the game for many years. Jeff Lukas, our honoree this evening, represents all of the above qualities, and so many more. We have seen the unbridled joy of Jeff as he marched along- side his father, Wayne, to the top of the game in the 1980s, when they won nu- merous Grade I races and Eclipse Awards. The Kentucky Derby. The Preakness takes. The Breeders' Cup. Horse of the Year. It was all theirs. In more recent months, Jeff has shown us and we have been witness to the unwavering will of a young man who came so close to death, and yet fought hack with the quiet determination, the unyielding focus, of a John Henry. And w ' have seen how the racing gods smile and can turn what could have been the IllOSlhorrible of circumstances into a cause for rejoicing, reflection and appreci- nl ion. Jeff Lukas was run over by Tabasco Cat the morning of Dec. 15 in the sta- hl . area at Santa Anita, smacking the back of his head against the hard-packed dirl. He lapsed into a coma and nearly died from a combination of intracranial .'welling and pneumonia. But his doctors and nurses deftly guided Jeff through llil' 111 st harrowing moments. And once Jeff emerged from his coma, he set ,dHHlt :retting back to work, to resuming a productive life that nearly was taken .lWII. II has not been easy. You don't awake from a coma as if after a night's 11·(·p. pick up and go on your way. Jeff had to relearn daily chores that we take 1111 1',I"nnld. Then he had to reacquaint himself with his family, and then his job. I)oclors say that persons with similar injuries to Jeff's sometimes need up III t \'In y aI's to get back to the level at which they were before a serious accident 1Ii,IIIlivolves the brain.