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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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Trainer Bonus Back for Preakness Weekend

For the sixth consecutive year, the Maryland Jockey Club will over bonus money totaling $100,000 to trainers who run at least five horses in the 15 Thoroughbred stakes that are to be carded for Preakness weekend May 20 and 21 at Pimlico Racecourse.

A total of 16 stakes–10 at the graded level–with combined purse money of $3.8 million will be offered. The trainer who accumulates the most points will earn $50,000, with $25,000 for second, $12,000 for third, $7,000 for fourth, $4,000 for fifth and $2,000 for sixth.

Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen was the leading Preakness weekend stakes trainer in 2018 and 2019, followed by Brad Cox in 2019 and Mike Maker in 2020. Asmussen edged Maker for the top spot again in 2021.

There will also be bonus money totaling $50,000 for trainers with the most points in non-stakes races during Preakness weekend. The points are accumulated in similar fashion with $25,000 going to the leader, $10,000 to second, $7,500 to third, $4,000 to fourth, $2,500 to fifth and $1,000 to sixth.

Nominations are free for all stakes, with the exception of the Preakness, and close Tuesday, May 10. To make a nomination, email stakes coordinator Marie Kizenko at marie.kizenko@marylandracing.com; call 410-542-9400 or 800-638-1859; or fax 410-542-1221.

Entries will be taken Sunday, May 15 for the entire Black-Eyed Susan Day program, with post positions drawn for all undercard stakes. The Black-Eyed Susan will be drawn Monday, May 16, when entries are taken and post positions drawn for the Preakness Day program.

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Music Fest Forces Maryland Summer Dates Switch

A two-day electronic dance music festival at Pimlico Race Course has forced a dates reshuffling of the first regularly scheduled summer race meet at the Baltimore track in 17 years.

The Aug. 6 and 7 Moonrise, which is billed as one of the premier “rave” gatherings on the East Coast, drew about 30,000 people to the Pimlico infield each summer between 2014 and 2019 with no conflicts to the horse racing schedule. That's because the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC) at that time chose to race during the summer months at Pimlico's sister track, Laurel Park.

According to an approval unanimously voted in by the Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) at its monthly meeting Tuesday, the nine race dates spanning Aug. 5-21 that were previously assigned to Pimlico will now revert to Laurel. After the seven-date Maryland State Fair meet at Timonium Aug. 26-Sept. 5, the circuit will move to Pimlico to run nine dates between Sept. 9 and 25. Then Laurel starts up again to race through the fall and winter.

In 2020, the Moonrise event was canceled because of COVID-19 restrictions. In 2021, Pimlico had to host racing from April through August because of the emergency closure at Laurel to install a new main track, but there was no conflict with the concert because it still couldn't be held under pandemic precautions.

In October of 2021, when the MRC approved a schedule of '22 race dates that included a regularly scheduled August meet at Pimlico for the first time since 2005, the status of the concert had not been known.

One of the intentions of moving the mid-summer meet from Laurel to Pimlico this year was to give Laurel's turf course a break during the hottest time of the year in Maryland.

Instead, Laurel will be running from June through August without a rest while going up against neighboring Colonial Downs in Virginia, which hosts a grass-centric summer meet spanning July 11-Sept. 7.

Moonrise will feature 50+ artists over two days, highlighted by Zedd, Rezz, Adventure Club, Excision, Chris Lake, Zeds Dead, FISHER, Moore Kismet, and Dom Dolla. Two-day general admission tickets start at $130.

Racing enthusiasts scanning the list of performers will note that one solo artist goes by the stage name “Trivecta.”

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Secret Oath Could Try Preakness After Oaks

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas indicated Secret Oath (Arrogate) may take another shot against the boys in the GI Preakness S. at Pimlico May 21 following tilt at the May 6 GI Kentucky Oaks. Secret Oath finished third in the GI Arkansas Derby in her first start against males.

“We had no intention of running in the [GI Kentucky] Derby; running a mile and a quarter, in a 20-horse field,” Lukas said. “Whether you could make a case or not that she's one of the better 3-year-olds in the country–which you can–we had no intention of that.”

He continued, “We were running in the Arkansas Derby because the race was [worth] $1.25 million. That in itself was the incentive. If she had won the Arkansas Derby, we wouldn't have run in the Kentucky Derby. We were pretty adamant that we were going to run in the [Kentucky] Oaks and have the best filly in the country.”

The second jewel in the American Triple Crown is contested over 9 1/2 furlongs.

“That's what the nomination was for,” Lukas said. “That's what we thought: If we have a big Oaks, now we cut back in distance. We go to a 14-horse field versus 20. We go on a different surface, tight turns, where speed would be good. It changes the whole game when you go to the Preakness.”

Lukas has won the Preakness on six occasions, most recently with Calumet Farm's Oxbow in 2013. The Preakness also gave Lukas his first Triple Crown victory, that coming with Codex in 1980.

“I have good luck at the Preakness,” said Lukas, who also has won the Derby and GI Belmont S. four times apiece. “I always have had.”

Secret Oath, by champion Arrogate, won the Martha Washington S. and GIII Honeybee S. this winter at Oaklawn earlier this season. She ranks with 80 points for the May 6 Oaks.

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