Joe Clancy

Fair Hill

Editor at Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred

Saratoga Special, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred & Thoroughbred Calendar from ST Publishing. All about horse racing media.

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Articles

The Hat Got Me - This is Horse Racing

2 weeks ago | thisishorseracing.com | Joe Clancy

When I heard of Christophe Clement’s passing Sunday morning, my immediate thoughts went to his wife Valerie, children Miguel and Charlotte and extended family at the barn and beyond. Then I replayed various moments from my job trying to interview him about horses and his job training horses. He once took me to his “favorite coffee shop” in Saratoga to complete a morning conversation for a stakes preview in The Saratoga Special.
Old Pimlico’s Places

3 weeks ago | thisishorseracing.com | Joe Clancy

Column from the May edition of Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred magazine. You can read the whole edition here. The gentle rise from the stable-area horsepath to the track near the quarter pole, where you can hear the infield chaos and see the first glimpse of the Preakness Day crowd in the Pimlico Race Course grandstand. In 2014, California Chrome’s 77-year-old trainer Art Sherman walked there before the Preakness, and thought about a lifetime with horses.
Work in Progress: Pennsylvania newcomers, changes lead region's 2025 stallion market

Jan 17, 2025 | midatlantictb.com | Joe Clancy

What do the owner of a structural steel company and a sales director for an international software company have in common? New Pennsylvania stallions. If you survived the boomerang effect of that Q&A, ponder the decisions of Darryl Myers (steel-company entrepreneur) and Ralph Santella (software sales guy) to dive into the breeding business as the owners of Tyson and Enticed, respectively.
Classic Shine: Brilliant Ice shines in feature as homebreds dominate Maryland's Day at the Races

Dec 17, 2024 | midatlantictb.com | Joe Clancy

Everybody starts somewhere. For Phil Bartz, his introduction to Thoroughbred racing came with a trip to the Adirondacks -- and Saratoga Race Course -- from his family's home in Buffalo, N.Y."By the time I went to kindergarten I could read," Bartz said.
Love Wins: Yearling out of How My Heart Works tops sale for second straight year

Nov 15, 2024 | midatlantictb.com | Joe Clancy

Leading the annual Sneaker Creeper footrace for children in Chestertown, Md., Allison Davis graciously paused at a chute near the finish line to let another runner pass. "Why did you let that other little girl go first?" Allison's mom Becky asked afterward. "Oh," 3-year-old Allison replied. "I wanted the other girl to go first." "But you didn't win the race," Becky said.
Full Circle: Colonial brings big impact to steeplechase schedule

Nov 15, 2024 | midatlantictb.com | Joe Clancy

When Toby Edwards went to work for Irish trainer Arthur Moore in 1985 and listened to tales of a trip to the United States with steeplechase star *L'Escargot for the 1970 Colonial Cup, the facts barely made sense . An Irish-based horse, trained by Moore's father Dan, who'd won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March, traveled to Camden, S.C. -- by way of Nova Scotia -- in November for the first running of a $100,000 steeplechase?
Sierra Leone finds signature win in Breeders’ Cup Classic

Nov 3, 2024 | thisishorseracing.com | Joe Clancy

A few days before the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga this summer, Chad Brown thought about Sierra Leone’s second in the Kentucky Derby and his third in the Belmont Stakes and looked ahead. It was the only choice, really. Narrow losses like those two – with bumps, drifts, a stumbling start, an eight-wide bid – as the favorite will make a trainer question the career choice let alone whether his horse will ever be good enough to break through on a big stage.
Franco makes most of Breeders’ Cup opportunity with unbeaten Immersive

Nov 1, 2024 | thisishorseracing.com | Joe Clancy

John Panagot wasn’t quite running around like Jim Valvano Friday afternoon at Del Mar, but Manny Franco’s agent could have used somebody to hug after the jockey delivered a victory with Immersive in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. And it had little to do with the commission check. “Somebody said something to me about the purses this weekend, and it’s like, ‘Well, if you’re able to win a Breeders Cup race, that’s extra, the purse.’ These are the horses that this is all about.
Picks & Preview for Saturday double jump meets

Nov 1, 2024 | thisishorseracing.com | Joe Clancy

The Breeders’ Cup gets all the attention in Thoroughbred racing this weekend, but the jumpers head to two meets Saturday as the autumn season meanders to a close this month. Virginia’s Montpelier Hunt Races and Georgia’s Callaway Gardens go to the post for races over hurdles and timber and even a couple on the dirt track at Montpelier. Sunday’s Pennsylvania Hunt Cup timber meet was canceled due to hard turf conditions.
Breeders’ Cup conversations

Oct 31, 2024 | thisishorseracing.com | Joe Clancy

Kentucky Derby Day . . . Belmont Stakes Day when a Triple Crown is on the line . . . and Breeders’ Cup Weekend. These are the days – other than those a self-inflicted controversy of some sort – when you feel a little less like a unicorn to be involved in Thoroughbred racing. Your neighbor knows those days, and understands them at least enough to have a conversation.