Tag: People

Andy Serling spends a lot of time talking about horses but on Wednesday morning he was talking instead about the people who care for those horses.

Serling, the longtime New York Racing Association television analyst and handicapper, was being honored by the New York Race Track Chaplaincy for his continuing devotion and support of the backstretch community at the organization's 15th annual fund-raising brunch at Saratoga National Golf Club in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

“Anyone who has been around our sport knows that the backstretch community is the lifeblood of our sport,” he said. “I greatly admire all those people who dedicate their lives to the care of Thoroughbreds and I'm immensely grateful and humbled by this honor. This award, of course, is even more special to me with Marylou Whitney's name attached to it.”

As is the custom, Serling was presented with a framed racing scene created by equine artist Tom Chapman from the New York Race Track Chaplaincy.

With the blessing of her husband, John Hendrickson, this year and henceforth the honoree award will be named the Marylou Whitney Award.

Said Mr. Hendrickson, “Marylou strongly believed that members of the backstretch community should always be treated with dignity and respect and she made that her mission.”

The brunch attracted a record near-capacity crowd of supporters from all segments of the racing industry.

Previous honorees have included Anne Campbell, Edgar Prado, Michael Dubb, Fay and David Donk, Marylou Whitney and John Hendrickson, Letty and Kiaran McLaughlin, Lisa and Kenny Troutt, Debbie and Terry Finley, the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, and, last year, Irad Ortiz Jr.

The New York Race Track Chaplaincy serves the New York backstretch and farming community with children's enrichment, social service, recreational, and educational programming as well as non-denominational religious services.

Additional information about the New York Race Track Chaplaincy is available at rtcany.org.

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The Far Hills steeplechase race meeting will honor the late John Forbes, a fixture at Monmouth Park for 40 years as a trainer and a past president of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, with the first John Forbes Memorial Race during its six-race program on Saturday, Oct. 15.

The 101st Far Hills Race Meeting will offer $575,000 in purses for the six races at Moorland Farm in Far Hills, N.J., highlighted by the $250,000 Grade 1 Grand National at two miles and five furlongs over National Fences for its one-day meeting.

The John Forbes Memorial, the only flat race on the program, will be contested at two miles on the turf. It will go as the final race on the six-race card and has a purse of $100,000.

Forbes passed away at the age of 73 on Jan. 31, 2021.

“John Forbes was synonymous with Monmouth Park for 40 years in a variety of roles. He was a tireless advocate for racing, for the industry and for Monmouth Park,” said Dennis Drazin, Chairman and CEO of Darby Development LLC, the operator of Monmouth Park. “It's only fitting that he has a race named in his honor.”

Forbes won 2,174 races over a 40-year training career that started in 1972. He stopped training in 2012 to focus on horsemen's issues, becoming the president of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association when the group took over the lease for Monmouth Park from The New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority. He was the leading trainer at Monmouth Park five times and won seven training titles at the Meadowlands.

Forbes' best horse, Tale of the Cat, finished fourth in the 1997 TVG.com Haskell Stakes.

He helped launch the career of jockey Julie Krone in the 1980s and 1990s, with Krone serving as Forbes' regular rider then on the way to a Hall of Fame career.

The Far Hills Race Meeting has a 1 p.m. first post and will be simulcast nationally.

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Louis A. Cella has been elected to the board of stewards of The Jockey Club, filling the expired position of C. Steven Duncker. Stuart S. Janney III, the chairman of The Jockey Club, was reelected to the board.

Cella has been a member of The Jockey Club since 2017. That same year, he was named president of the Oaklawn Jockey Club, succeeding his late father, Charles J. Cella, and became the third generation of his family to serve on the board of directors of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America.

He serves as a director of the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau and is on the board of trustees for the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. He is also on the Equibase Management Committee.

In addition to Cella and Janney, the board of stewards consists of Barbara Banke, Dr. Larry Bramlage, William S. Farish Jr., Ian D. Highet, William M. Lear Jr., R. Alex Rankin, and Vinnie Viola.

The Jockey Club, founded in 1894 and dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred breeding and racing, is the breed registry for North American Thoroughbreds. In fulfillment of its mission, The Jockey Club, directly or through subsidiaries, provides support and leadership on a wide range of important industry initiatives, and it serves the information and technology needs of owners, breeders, media, fans and farms. It founded America's Best Racing (americasbestracing.net), the broad-based fan development initiative for Thoroughbred racing, and in partnership with the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, operates OwnerView (ownerview.com), the ownership resource. Additional information is available at jockeyclub.com.

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Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally, the dean of California conditioners and a man who is celebrating the unprecedented feat of spending his 74th summer at Del Mar this season, has been named the 18th recipient of the Laffit Pincay, Jr. Award. He'll be honored in that role at the seaside track on Saturday, Aug. 27.

The Pincay Award, named for, and presented by, the Hall of Fame rider, goes to those who have served the sport “with integrity, extraordinary dedication, determination and distinction.”

McAnally, who turned 90 last month, checks all the boxes for eligibility for the coveted award through his stellar work during a prodigious training career that began 64 years ago and continues today.

Pincay, who retired in 2003 from an extraordinary riding career that saw him win a then world record 9,530 races, takes special pleasure in giving his award to a man he rode dozens and dozens of winners for over more than three decades.

“Ron put me on horses right from the beginning,” Pincay, who first rode in California in the late '60s, said. “He rode me on a lot of his horses and there were many good ones. Whenever I rode a horse for him, I rode with a lot of confidence. I knew I was going to be on a good one.”

McAnally, who first saw Del Mar working as a hot walker for his trainer uncle, Reggie Cornell, in 1948, saddled his first winner in 1958 and has gone on to score in more than 2,500 races since earning over $126 million in purses in the process. He was the winningest trainer in Del Mar history from 1998 until 2011 and currently sits fourth on the track's leader list with 447 firsts.

(Pincay, Jr. and McAnally shared top honors as leading conditioner and jockey at Del Mar for over a decade. The rider – 19 years after his retirement – still holds the Del Mar all-time mark with 1,013 firsts.)

McAnally, who was inducted into racing's Hall of Fame in 1990, trained a bevy of top-of-the-line horses over the years, but his masterpiece always will be the amazing campaigner John Henry, the nation's Horse of the Year in both 1981 and 1984 who raced until age 9 and won 27 of 45 starts under McAnally's tutelage. Overall, the hard-charging gelding won seven Eclipse Awards, a then record $6,597,947 in purses and an exceptional 18 stakes races in Southern California.

Among McAnally's many other topflight runners were Donut King, Olympio, Super Moment, Festin, Hawkster and Candy Ride. That last-named runner captured Del Mar's $1-million Pacific Classic in 2003 for McAnally's long-time clients Sid and Jenny Craig.

“He's one of the great trainers of all time,” said his fellow Hall of Fame conditioner, Richard Mandella, who has shared backstretches with McAnally for more than four decades. “And he's shown that with his ability to do well with every different kind of horse. He's a person I've watched and learned from throughout my career. He's just a terrific horseman.”

McAnally has manned the second-floor balcony of Barn I on the Del Mar backstretch overlooking the racetrack for more than 50 years, getting an eagle-eye view of his horses training and holding court for the many who stop by to chat, schmooze or reminisce. He continues to follow that practice today.

Pincay rode for 39 seasons, including 27 summers at Del Mar, earning five Eclipse Awards as the nation's foremost rider. He also led the country in earnings on seven different occasions while compiling his exceptional win mark. Now 75-years-old, the native of Panama lives in Arcadia near Santa Anita Park and continues to maintain a close connection to the game.

The list of previous Pincay Award winners follows:

2021 – Dr. Gregory Ferraro
2019 – Julie Krone
2018 – Martine Bellocq
2017 – Mike Smith
2016 – Chris McCarron
2015 – Victor Espinoza
2014 – Art Sherman
2013 – Eddie Delahoussaye
2012 – John Harris
2011 – Jerry/Ann Moss
2010 – Oak Tree Racing Assn.
2009 – Merlin Volzke
2008 – Pete Pedersen
2007 – Elwood (Bud) Johnston
2006 – Mel/Warren Stute
2005 – Noble Threewitt
2004 – Bob Benoit

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