Frank Angst
Recently The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB) announced Jan. 5, 2015 that The Blood-Horse has won the 2014 Media Eclipse Award in the Audio/Multi-Media Internet category for “Waiting, and Waiting, for Crowning Glory: A generation repeatedly denied a Triple Crown winner looks to California Chrome,” an in depth examination of the difficulties of winning Thoroughbred racing’s greatest challenge, which appeared on bloodhorse.com on May 28, 2014. Written by Frank Angst, “Waiting, and Waiting, for Crowning Glory” offered a comprehensive multi-media presentation on the various components of the “near misses” of the Triple Crown, which has not been won since Affirmed captured the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes in 1978. The article examined the improbable odds of a horse sweeping all three grade 1 races at distances of greater than 1 1/8 miles; related the stories of the most recent horses who won the first two Jewels of the Triple Crown; and recalled the “spoilers,” the horses that won the Belmont Stakes and denied the Derby and Preakness winners their ultimate goal.The last section of the piece undertook explanations for the reasons behind the Triple Crown not being achieved in 36 years, exploring the changes in breeding, training, field sizes of the Triple Crown races, and fewer starts by horses than previous generations, among other variables. “It is a tremendous honor and I can’t emphasize enough how much of a team effort it was to win this award,” said Angst, a staff writer at The Blood-Horse since 2013 who previously wrote for the Thoroughbred Times for 12 years. “After doing this story, when a horse finally wins the Triple Crown, I will be more impressed and appreciative of the enormous accomplishment it is to sweep all three races.”
Thoroughbred Times senior writer Frank Angst has covered sports for more than 20 years and has earned numerous awa
