‘It Pulls You In’: Sportswriter Tom Pedulla Reflects on Career, Love of Horse Racing

Tom Pedulla is a sportswriter who has been writing about horse racing for decades. He was recently awarded the Walter Haight Award for excellence in turf writing. He will share the award with Mike Welsch of the Daily Racing Form. The winner will be announced on January 25th. For his work, he was awarded a special prize from the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters.

Tom Pedulla is a writer who wants to become a sportswriter. He started a newspaper with a friend in elementary school. His parents made sacrifices to send him to Fordham Preparatory School. Tom and Bob Ehalt had the same senior mentor. Ehal introduced Tom to horse racing. Tom bet on a horse named Sir Alfred, which was disqualified. The horse got disqualified, but it was a good introduction to the sport. Pedulla was entranced by it.

Pedulla started his career as a messenger for The Riverdale Press. He has covered six Olympics, every Super Bowl, and every World Series since 1995. His byline has been seen in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He is now a sportswriter at America’s Best Racing. The editor instilled in him the importance of telling compelling stories that draw attention to what readers care about. It is a lesson he has used in his journalism career. For example, he once wrote about ducks in a neighborhood backyard.

Tom Pedulla is a sportswriter who works for ABR. He used to work for Gannett and USA Today. The Jockey Club and NTRA started America's BestRacing in 2012. Pedulla and Bob Ehalt provide coverage of the sport's biggest days. He also worked with Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey on his autobiography. His late father helped him edit it. For Pedllus, the writing is the most important part of his career. It keeps him coming back to the keyboard day after day.