Sports Photography
Jennifer Podis / Palm Beach Post

It was while driving back to the Post building from Gulfstream Park that Jennifer Podis learned she had captured more than an ordinary horseracing image.

"My editor [Mark Edelson] called me on the cell phone and he said, 'I think we've got a pretty good photo here. The jockey's got his tongue stuck out,'" Podis said.

"I didn't even see it. I just let the motor drive rip as they crossed the finish line.

"I don't know why that jockey did that, whether he had a bet with another jockey, or what made him stick his tongue out."

The Post routinely staffs the Breeders' Cup if it is in Florida, Podis said.

Born and raised in Hollywood, Fla., she graduated from the University of Michigan, interned at the Patriot-Ledger in Quincy, Mass., and did graduate study at Syracuse University.

"Then I began my slow journey back to the warmer clime. I made a stop for two years at the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky where I was a staff photographer. Then it was on to Miami where I free-lanced, and also worked part-time on the Electronic Picture Desk at the Miami Herald for three years.

"In 1997 I actually moved north again, but this time only as far as West Palm Beach where I am a staff photographer for the Post."