Racing’s Horse-of-the-Year Announcement Moves to ABC; Biggest Audience Expected

Racing’s annual horse-of-the-year award, which has been announced through a variety of formats, will be announced early next year on ABC-TV’s “Wide World of Sports.”

The groups that sponsor the award believe that the announcement of the 1989 champion has a chance of reaching the largest audience ever.

The announcement of the 1988 winner, Alysheba, was carried on national television for the first time. But the ceremony, with John Forsythe as host at Santa Anita, was during an NBC-TV college basketball game and was not shown in all markets.

Before 1988, winners had been announced on cable telecasts, at the end of the Eclipse Awards dinners, during press conferences the same week as the Eclipse dinners and via mailed news releases.