The United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA), in conjunction with the Harness Racing Hall Of Fame, announced on Tuesday, Aug. 19 the election of Dr. John Egloff, Marvin Katz and David Reid to the greatest honour in the industry, membership to the Hall Of Fame.

USHWA has also elected Derick Giwner and Ellen Taylor to the pinnacles of their professions, membership in the Communicators Hall Of Fame.

Dr. John (Tad) Egloff received an early education in the sport on several fronts – Louisiana, Texas, Kentucky, and even Australia – before filling the veterinarian slot at Lana Lobell Farms in New Jersey, where he worked with Alan Leavitt, Jim Harrison and Hal Jones, Hall Of Famers all, to produce racehorses and acquire stallions that made Lana Lobell one of the sport’s top-level operations.

Egloff then established his own Vieux Carre Farm (French for “old quarter,” reflecting his Louisiana heritage) near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, working with such prominent entities as Hanover Shoe Farms and Max C. Hempt. Vieux Carre breeds and races horses under its own name (Babe Ruthless was a U.S. Broodmare of the Year), and was the nursery of such stars as Always B Miki and Pine Chip. Egloff is a member of the PA Horse Racing Commission, vice president of the Standardbred Breeders of PA and a director of the Hambletonian Society.

Marvin Katz went to Greenwood Raceway in Toronto, Ont. with his father as a youth; later, while establishing himself in the real estate market, he purchased racehorses, some in partnership with former football teammate Sam Goldband. Some early purchases may not have been the most successful, but Katz’s luck seemed to change when in 1997 Dream Away won the Meadowlands Pace, starting nearly three decades of success. Katz isn’t all about the glory and glamour of racing, either; he is the organizer of the Breeders Crown Charity Challenge, a big success, and serves as a Director of the Hambletonian Society.

It would take paragraphs and paragraphs to list all of the good horses with whom Katz has been associated, but certainly ranking highly would be 2020 U.S. Horse of the Year Tall Dark Stranger, the great trotting female Peaceful Way and 2010 Hambletonian winner Muscle Massive. Katz, along with another longtime partner, Al Libfeld, bred Maverick, who sold for a record $1.1 million USD as a yearling in 2019.

David Reid is known best as the president of Preferred Equine Marketing, a full-service bloodstock agency and the operator of the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, with consignments to other top sales, with legends such as Niatross and Moni Maker among many horses bringing luster to their “pedigree.” Reid started Preferred with Geoff Stein in 1988, with the pair’s backgrounds and abilities complementing each other’s talents; Stein’s passing in 2012 caused pause, but it has not slowed Preferred, which services breeders and buyers, and has a Thoroughbred component as well. Preferred Equine has sold in excess of $500 million USD of horses.

Reid is currently a trustee of the Harness Racing Museum / Hall of Fame and a director of the Hambletonian Society. In 2024, Reid received the United States Trotting Association’s President’s Award. He has also been active in the Standardbred Transitional Alliance and the Harness Horse Youth Foundation.

From left to right: Egloff, Katz, Reid, Giwner and Taylor

Derick Giwner is a two-time winner of the prestigious Hervey Award for writing who serves as editor for the Daily Racing Form's DRF Harness. He started his career at Sports Eye in 1996 and established the Form's DRF Harness brand in 2012. His weekly DRF Harness Digest Newsletter is must reading for many segments of the harness community.

In addition to his 2020 and 2023 Hervey Awards, Giwner has been honoured with the Phil Pines Award and the Clyde Hirt Media Award, and he was named USHWAn of the Year in 2020. Giwner is a member of the New York City Chapter of USHWA, has served as its Chapter Director on several occasions and is chairman of USHWA's important Integrity Committee.

Tara Ellen Taylor has served for over 30 years as the Executive Director of the Harness Horse Youth Foundation, an industry organization which introduces young people to harness racing through hands-on involvement with horses, seeking to live up to the Foundation’s theme of “Kids + Horses = Magic!” Starting in 1996, she has been the person behind the efforts of several summer camps run annually by the Foundation in association with racetracks and horsemen’s groups, and is a contributor to both HHYF’s many promotional and educational pieces and several trade publications.

Recently elected to the Indiana Harness Racing Hall of Fame and a many-time award winner (including USHWA’s own prestigious Stan Bergstein Proximity Award in 2009), Taylor follows in the tradition of her mother Margot, who is an Immortal of the Hall of Fame.

Egloff, Katz, Reid, Giwner and Taylor will be honoured in two upcoming ceremonies. They will receive their first formal recognition at the U. S. Harness Writers Association’s Dan Patch Awards Banquet, to be held at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, Florida on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. The second event will, of course, be their formal introductions to their Halls at Goshen on the first Sunday of July 2026. 

They will be joined in entrance to the Hall Of Fame by Michael G. Kimelman, who was elected into the Hall through the special Veterans designation in July.

More information on these events will be available on USHWA’s website at usharnesswriters.com in the upcoming months.

(USHWA; photos of Egloff, Katz and Reid by Chris Tully; photos of Giwner and Taylor courtesy of USHWA)