Matt Shifman, senior writer and assistant editor at Horse Racing Nation, has been named the winner of the 2021 Bill Handleman Award for outstanding coverage of last year’s TVG.Com Haskell Stakes.
First presented in 2012, the Handleman Award honors distinguished media coverage of the $1 million, Grade 1 Haskell, Monmouth Park’s showcase race, according to information provided by Monmouth Park racetrack in Oceanport.
It is presented annually prior to the Haskell.
Shifman, a retired teacher, joined Horse Racing Nation in 2011, using Monmouth Park as his home base and serving as the website’s correspondent for the track. The Metuchen resident, a graduate of Case Western Reserve who holds a master’s degree in education from Rutgers, also co-hosts the weekly video show HorseCenter.
“We’re pleased to formally recognize Matt’s long-running association with Monmouth Park and his continued exemplary coverage of the Haskell Stakes with this year’s Handleman Award,” John. F. Heims, Monmouth Park’s director of Racing and racing secretary said in the statement.
The award honors the late Bill Handleman, one of New Jersey’s preeminent sportswriters for nearly three decades for the Asbury Park Press, according to the statement. Handleman, a fixture at Monmouth Park and a passionate chronicler of the sport, died in June 2010 at age 62.
