Equine Journalist Joe Clancy to Receive Touch of Class Award on Thursday

Joe Clancy accepts February 2015 Touch of Class Award from MHIB Chair Jim Steele

ANNAPOLIS, MD (Feb. 25, 2015) – The Maryland Horse Industry Board (MHIB), a program within the Maryland Department of Agriculture, will present its February Touch of Class Award to Joe Clancy, editor of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Magazine and recent recipient of Thoroughbred racing’s Eclipse Award. Clancy is the author of a national, prize-winning story about the Preakness exploits of Horse of the Year California Chrome.

Clancy will be honored at the Equine Veterinary Care at Fair Hill Training Center (288 Training Center Road, Elkton) on Thursday, Feb. 26, at 8 a.m. during a breakfast gathering of the new inductees in the LEAD Maryland Fellowship program. The LEAD program, comprised of 30 emerging leaders in the state’s agriculture, natural resources and rural communities, is devoting a portion of the first day’s activities educating the new class about Maryland’s equine industry. Clancy, 49, is one of the featured speakers at the breakfast which will be followed by tours of the training center and nearby Fairwinds Farm and Stables in North East.

Clancy is a lifelong horseman who has combined his knowledge and love of horses with a journalism career spanning nearly 30 years. He also maintains the website: thisishorseracing.com and the Saratoga Special daily newspaper. He lives in Fair Hill with his wife and three children. Clancy will receive the award from Jim Steele, MHIB chair; Cricket Goodall, Executive Director of the Maryland Horse Breeders’ Association and sponsor of the morning’s breakfast; Dr. Kathleen Anderson, owner of Equine Veterinary Care; and Susan Harrison, director of the LEAD Maryland program.

“Joe Clancy is not only an excellent writer, but he is also a superb horseman and a person of high integrity. On many levels, he is a huge asset to Maryland’s horse industry,” said Steele.

Clancy is the second author who has won a national prize for writing skills to be honored by the MHIB with a Touch of Class Award. In 2013, MHIB honored Patrick Smithwick, Jr. after his book “Flying Change, A Year of Racing and Family and Steeplechasing” won the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award for the year’s best book on horse racing.

The MHIB has presented the Touch of Class Award monthly since September 2011 to honor Maryland horses and people who achieve national and international recognition. Since its inception, the Touch of Class Award has honored 68 people, 29 horses, ponies, mules and donkeys from 14 different Maryland counties and 24 different equestrian disciplines, all national and international prize winners. The award is named after Touch of Class, the Maryland-bred mare who won two show jumping gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

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

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