Maryland Horse Industry Board Presents Touch of Class Award during Grand Opening of New Equestrian Park

(From left) Ken Cox, Fuego 88, Tracey Morgan, MHIB Chair Jim Steele, Aleco Bravo-Greenberg, whose family donated the land for the Woodstock Equestrian Park, Mary Bradford, Director of Parks for Montgomery County, MHIB board member Ron MacNab. Photo by Val D’Ambrosio.

ANNAPOLIS, MD – Jim Steele, Chairman of the Maryland Horse Industry Board (MHIB), a program within the Maryland Department of Agriculture, and MHIB board member Ron MacNab, presented the agency’s April Touch of Class Award to Tracey Morgan and her pony, Fuego 88, yesterday at the Grand Opening of the Woodstock Equestrian Park in Beallsville in Montgomery County.

Two weeks ago, Morgan drove Fuego 88 to victory in the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s National Combined Driving Single Pony Championships in Southern Pines, N.C. The pair will now represent the United States in October in the World Combined Driving Championships in Pau, France.

“It is really appropriate that we present Tracey with this award at Woodstock’s Grand Opening,” said Steele. “Her farm is adjacent to Woodstock. She trains her pony over the park’s 16-miles of trails and also helped build and design many of these trails. The Woodstock facility has now produced its first national champion.”

Combined driving is an internationally recognized discipline where a single horse or pony, or pairs and four-in-hands of horses and ponies, pull a carriage and participate in three different events to prove the versatility, training and talents of both horse and driver. One of the tests is a demanding, timed course of more than 10 miles which includes water crossings, bridges and intricately designed gates.

Montgomery County Chief Executive Ike Leggett and Director of Montgomery County Parks Mary Bradford officiated at the Woodstock Grand Opening.

MHIB established the Touch of Class Awards in 2011 to honor Maryland horses and people who achieve national and international recognition. The award is made each month and is named after the Maryland-bred mare, Touch of Class, who won two show jumping gold medals at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Winners this year have included Maryland horses and people who have won national/international championships in North American Mounted Police Competition, the Hunter/Jumper Show Ring at the National Horse Show, the Modern Penthalon Event at the London Olympics, the World Mounted Games Competition in Wales, steeplechase racing, Welsh pony breeding, Tennessee Walking Horse competitions and now carriage driving.

For a complete list of previous Touch of Class recipients.

For more information, contact MHIB Executive Director Ross Peddicord at 410-841-5798 or ross.peddicord@maryland.gov.

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