from the Meadowlands Media Relations Department

East Rutherford, NJ — The Meadowlands would like to congratulate the two winners of the Gallo Blue Chip Scholarship, John McDermott and Guadalupe Diaz.

Lisa photo

Presenter Martin Scharf with winners John McDermott and Guadalupe Diaz.

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 Gainesville, Fla., for the spring semester.

Diaz, a resident of Middletown, N.Y., 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 Scholarship is sponsored by Martin Scharf to honor his magnificent Standardbred, Gallo Blue Chip, who retired as the richest pacer in harness racing history.