Famend horse racing journalist and horse racer Josh Pons was among the many 19 chosen.th He’s the recipient of the Dr. Tony Ryan Guide Award offered by the Lyons Household of Castleton Lions for excellent work in thoroughbred horse racing literature printed in 2024. He accepted the winner’s $10,000 verify at a reception on November sixth at his farm in Lexington, Kentucky. The ceremony befell in a loft above a historic stud secure that when housed 19 stallions.th Champions of the century, Domino and Commando.
Pons gained “Letters from Nation Life: Adolph Pons, Man O’ Warfare, and the Institution of Maryland’s Oldest Thoroughbred Ranch.” This work seems to be again on the golden age of horse racing by a sequence of outstanding correspondence along with his grandfather, Adolphe Pons. early 20’sth Within the twentieth century, Pons senior served as private secretary to Corridor of Fame racing horse breeder August Belmont, and performed a key function within the manufacturing and eventual sale of Man O’ Warfare.
Throughout the Nice Melancholy, Pons struck out on his personal and moved from New York to Maryland, the place he acquired 100 acres of land that may turn out to be Nation Life Farm. It’s presently owned and operated by his grandsons, Josh and Mike.
Josh Pons left house within the Nineteen Seventies to pursue a profession in journalism, and the third-generation jockey finally gained the Eclipse Award twice. He returned in 1982 and continued writing whereas historical past was being made on his household’s farm. Eight years later, future Corridor of Famer Cigar noticed the sunshine of day for the primary time in Nation Life.
Ten years in the past, within the basement of a 100-year-old farmhouse, Josh found a stash of letters addressed to his grandfather. Lots of them have been written by giants of the turf. He knew instantly what he needed to do. His ensuing work is a “letter from rural life” that peeks fascinatingly by the veil of historical past. By organizing and increasing on what he discovered from this extraordinary correspondence, Josh has introduced the world of thoroughbreds previous and current to wonderful life.
The Castleton Lions ceremony honored the autobiographies of two different finalists, Arthur B. Hancock III. “Darkish Horse: A Memoir of Salvation” and John Perrotta’s worldwide thriller thriller. “Beggar’s Car” All three authors have in depth backgrounds within the Thoroughbred racing and breeding business, along with honing their artistic skills in literature, poetry, songwriting, and screenwriting.
Chief choose Kay Coit famous, “Josh Pons was already a longtime literary expertise, however Letters from the Countryside is a literary achievement on one other stage. In it, like Josh, we uncover historic gems and be a part of him in worrying about the way forward for Maryland horse racing and his beloved farm.”
Choose Cayton Breder stated Pons was “as a lot a poet as he’s a horseman, in a position to carry the previous vividly and lyrically to life by his deeply private retelling of his household’s historical past.”
The Dr. Tony Ryan Guide Award was established in 2006, with winners receiving a $10,000 verify, on par with the Pulitzer Prize and the Nationwide Guide Award on the time. The late philanthropist and founding father of Ryanair liked an excellent guide, however he was equally enthusiastic about horse racing. Realizing that book-length racing works, comparable to Laura Hillenbrand’s 2001 bestseller Seabiscuit: An American Legend, have been fully unrecognized within the business, he labored with Thoroughbred Occasions editor Mark Simon to attempt to treatment that drawback by launching a high-stakes award. Since Dr. Ryan’s loss of life in 2007, the competitors has been carried on by his son Shane.
This yr’s jury included Coite, an Eclipse Award winner and longtime editor-in-chief of The Washington Submit. Bredar is an award-winning tv broadcaster presently reporting on FanDuel TV. and Kim Wickens, who gained the Dr. Tony Ryan Guide Award for final yr’s nationwide bestseller “Lexington.”
