The Meadowlands would like to
congratulate the two winners of The Gallo Blue Chip Scholarship, John
McDermott and Guadalupe Diaz.
Mr. McDermott is the son of trainer John
McDermott and he was the recipient of the $15,000 Gallo Blue Chip Scholarship,
presented and funded by the owner of Gallo Blue Chip, Martin Scharf and
administered by the Harness Horse Youth Foundation. McDermott is a
freshman in Business Administration at the University of Florida. He has
aspirations of pursuing a masters degree and spoke about his opportunities to
sit behind the extremely fast Hurrikane Kingcole, whom his father trains.
In an in house interview, the younger McDermott joked saying, " I have
seen him (Hurrikane Kingcole) give Corey Callahan trouble in the bike, so I
don't think my dad was going to let me sit behind him going
full-speed." He will head back to Gainsville, Florida for the spring
semester.
Ms. Diaz, a resident of Middletown, New York is a junior at
Stony Brook University, studying Chemical and Molecular Engineering. She
will receive a $5,000 stipend. Diaz noted that "she still has her
senior thesis to complete, but once she is done with that, things will get a
little easier at school."
The Gallo Blue Chip Sponsorship is sponsored by Martin
Scharf to honor his magnificent standardbred, Gallo Blue Chip, who retired as
the richest pacer in harness racing history.
