Month: May 2022

Joe Clancy to Receive Old Hilltop Award Preakness Week

Joe Clancy, editor of Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred magazine and co-owner with brother Sean of ST Publishing, Inc.–parent company of The Saratoga Special newspaper and thisishorseracing.com–has been named recipient of the 2022 Old Hilltop Award for covering Thoroughbred racing with excellence and distinction.

Clancy will be presented with the Old Hilltop May 19 at the Alibi Breakfast at Pimlico Race Couse. The Alibi Breakfast began in the 1930s on the porch of the old Pimlico Clubhouse and features a gathering of media, owners, trainers, jockeys, horsemen and fans to celebrate the Preakness and gain interesting and humorous race predictions.

Clancy grew up with horses and worked for his father, trainer Joe Clancy Sr., through high school and college. The 1987 University of Delaware graduate covered his first Preakness for Maryland's Cecil Whig newspaper in 1990 (Summer Squall) and has written about racing and other topics for The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Baltimore Sun and others. Joe lives in Fair Hill, Md., with his wife Sam. They are the parents of three sons–Ryan, Jack and Nolan.

In addition to the Old Hilltop Award, Joe has been recognized with the Maryland Jockey Club's David F. Woods Memorial Award for coverage of the Preakness in 2014, 2016 and 2020; an Eclipse Award for his coverage of the 2014 Preakness (with his brother); and the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association's Charles W. Engelhard Award for outstanding coverage of the Thoroughbred industry.

“You can't just read the list of Old Hilltop Award winners. You have to stop and think about the names–Red Smith, Joe Hirsch, Jim McKay, Billy Reed, Howard Cosell, Shirley Povich, Bill Nack and all the rest. To receive an award given to people like that is truly humbling,” Clancy said. “Anyone who does this for a living simply covers the races as they come. After a while, you look up and realize you've built a career. I'm proud of this honor, and of my work, but I don't know if I'll ever be in the same league as those people. Thank you to the Maryland Jockey Club for recognizing the work of the media, to everyone at Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred magazine, to my brother Sean and co-worker Tom Law for the inspiration (and the editing) and to the horses and horse people who let me tell their stories.”

Tickets to the Alibi Breakfast can be purchased here.

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Rich Strike’s Sister ‘A Gift’ for New Breeder Scott Miller

Scott Miller has only been involved in breeding for a few years, but he's more than happy to stick around for a while longer now that he owns a half-sister to a Kentucky Derby winner.

Miller's mare Lode Lady (Posse) is the first foal out of the Smart Strike mare Gold Strike, the dam of newly-acclaimed Derby hero Rich Strike (Keen Ice). Foaled in 2008, Lode Lady made three trips to the winner's circle at Woodbine and earned over $150,000 during her racing career before ending up with Miller eight years later.

With only two starters but no winners on her produce record so far, Lode Lady foaled an Honest Mischief filly this year at Waldorf Farm in New York. While the mare was slated to visit a regional stallion this spring, she is now bound for Kentucky to be bred to Vino Rosso, Spendthrift Farm's champion son of Curlin.

“She had her Honest Mischief foal and the next thing you know, [Waldorf Farm manager Kenny Toye] calls me and says, 'Hey, this mare's half-brother named Rich Strike is running in the Derby,'” Miller said. “I told him that at 80-1 it wasn't going to do anything, but Kenny had looked at the pedigree. He said the horse could go the distance and that he thought Rich Strike could win. Sure enough, he did. This is a dream that you would never believe could happen.”

Hailing from Hammonton, New Jersey, Miller has been involved in the equestrian world for many years, but only recently got involved in the racing industry.

“I started getting into Thoroughbreds right before COVID started,” Miller explained. “I decided I was too old for hack riding. A friend of mine called me and said she had a few Thoroughbred yearlings available. I ended up taking them from her and racing them. I really enjoyed it even though I never made a dime with them.”

It wasn't long before Miller was looking to add a few broodmares to his stable. He got in touch with breeder Jon Marshall. The Texas-based horseman was selling two mares along with their foals for a combined $40,000.

Miller decided to take only the mares, Stormy Tak (Stormy Atlantic) and Lode Lady, and let Marshall sell the foals. Stormy Tak's foal, a son of Gun Runner, went on to bring $270,000 as a yearling. Lode Lady's yearling brought only $25,000.

Lode Lady and her Honest Mischief filly with Waldorf Farm's Jerry Bilinski and Kenny Toye | photo courtesy Waldorf Farm

Miller could never have predicted that today, Lode Lady might have the more valuable pedigree of the pair, but he is grateful to Marshall for helping him get his start as a breeder.

“The day Rich Strike won the Kentucky Derby, Jon and his wife called to congratulate me,” Marshall said. “I told him that he should be sick because he gave me the mare, but he said he was happy for me. I am relatively new at this, so he has been kind of a mentor for me.”

While Miller has big plans for Lode Lady, he has no immediate intentions of putting her through a sales ring.

“It's hard to sell something when someone gives you a gift,” he explained. “I really have no money invested into this horse. Jon basically gave her to me and the only thing I have invested is the stud fees, so why would I get rid of her?”

As for the mare's Honest Mischief filly, who was foaled in February, Miller is still not sure where she could end up.

“I almost always sell the foals, but I just don't know with her,” he admitted. “I've thought about keeping her and running her myself, but we may test the waters and put her in a sale. This foal is special in my eye. She's beautiful with good size and bone.”

Dr. Jerry Bilinski, who oversees Miller's broodmare band at Waldorf Farm, can remember one similar experience with a sudden, favorable pedigree update when his stallion Cormorant was represented by 1994 GI Kentucky Derby winner Go for Gin.

“I was busy on the farm when I got a call that night that Go for Gin had won the Derby,” he recalled. “I didn't even watch the race because I was working away.”

“It's always interesting because you have the horse that wins the Derby, but then you have all these peripheral horses that suddenly become more valuable,” Bilinski said. “In this case, this mare was supposed to be bred in New York but then 48 hours later, she's on her way to Kentucky. It just shows you that lightning in one bottle can strike and when it does, it oftentimes strikes in other bottles around the horse community.”

While Miller does not typically bet, his wife did place a win bet on Rich Strike.

“Right after the race she said she wanted to go buy a handbag,” Miller recounted with a laugh.

“I'm lucky that I got these mares and got connected with the right people,” he said. “There are a lot of good people in this industry that you don't ever hear about. For Jon to give me these mares and then for this to happen, I still can't believe it.”

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2022 HOF Class Headed by Beholder, Tepin

Eight new members have been elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, including Eclipse Award winners Beholder (Henny Hughes) and Tepin (Bernstein) in the contemporary category, both chosen in their first year of eligibility. The other members of the class of 2022 are divisional stalwarts Hillsdale (Take Away) and Royal Heroine (Ire) (Lypheor {GB}) and, via the Historic Review Committee, Classic-winning trainer Oscar White.

Among the Pillars of the Turf, owner/breeding/official James Cox Brady, track announcer and official Marshall Cassidy and renowned owner/breeder James Ben Ali Haggin will also be honored.

The new inductees will be honored 10:30a.m. Friday, Aug. 5 at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion in Saratoga Springs, NY.

The ceremony will be broadcast live on the Museum website at www.racingmuseum.org. The event is open to the public and free to attend.

Beholder, a winner of three Breeders' Cup races for trainer Richard Mandella, earned four Eclipse title–2-year-old (2012), 3-year-old (2013) and Older Female (2015-16). The winner off 11 Grade Is, the Spendthrift Farm runner retired with 18 wins from 26 lifetimes starts and earnings of $6,156,600.

The Eclipse earning turf mare in 2015 and 2016, Robert Masterson's Tepin won 11 graded/group races, including winning efforts facing males in the G1 Queen Anne S. at Royal Ascot and the GI Woodbine Mile. The winner of 13 races from 23 starts, the Mark Casse trainer retired with over $4.4 million in earnings.

Indiana-bred Hillsdale enjoyed his best season at four in 1959, winning 10 of 13 starts, including the San Carlos S., San Fernanado S., Californian, Hollywood Gold Cup and American H. A winner of 16 stakes at 11 different tracks, the Martin Fallon Jr. trainee retired with in excess of $600,000 in earnings (ranking him in 13th all-time at that time).

Campaigned by Robert Sangster in the U.S., England and France, Royal Heroine won 10 (eight stakes) of 21 career starts for earnings over $1.2 million. Among her chief victories in Europe for Sir Michael Stoute are the Prix de l'Opera at the Princess Margaret S. at Royal Ascot. In the U.S., she added wins in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile, GI Hollywood Derby, and GI Matriarch S. while under the care of John Gosden.

Representing the human inductees, Oliver White, who trained exclusively for the Jeffords family, won 706 races, including 104 stakes. Included among his top runners, Horse of the Year One Count, Ch. 2-year-old and Classic winner Pavot and Ch. 3-year-old Filly Kiss Me Kate.

Chairman of NYRA for eight years during the 60s, James Cox Brady also enjoyed success as an owner, campaigning the likes of champion War Plumage and graded stakes winners Casemate, Secret Meeting, Landlocked and Artismo. From 1938 through 1970, Brady's horses won 234 races with earnings on over $2 million. He also served as a steward and vice chairman of The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Racing Association. Additionally, he was one of the original directors of NYRA and a founding director of the Monmouth Park Jockey Club.

An exercise rider of flat and steeplechasers in his youth, Marshall Cassidy is credited with devising the modern stall-style starting gate, improving the photo-finish camera system, inventing the electric timer and introducing saliva testing and pre-race veterinary exams. He also served as director of racing for NYRA from 1963 through 1968 in addition to a position as executive secretary of The Jockey Club.

Attorney and rancher James Ben Ali Haggin made his fortune investing in mining, making him one of the wealthiest individuals in the country at the time. Establishing a breeding center on Rancho del Paso near Sacramento in 1873, he was responsible for Hall of Famers Firenze and Salvator. Establishing a stable in the east in the mid 1880s and later purchasing Elmendorf Farm in Kentucky in 1897, Haggin also campaigned Classic winners Ben Ali and Tyrant. He is also credited with the purchase of Hall of Famer Miss Woodford, in addition to having bred top horses including Africander, Sir Walter, Tournament, Waterboy and Tradition.

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