Treasured publicity icon and stakes administrator Moira Fanning looked out at the capacity crowd of well-wishers at the 66th Awards Banquet of the Monticello-Goshen Chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA), presented by the New York Sire Stakes, and said, “We all know how important family is. Without my family, I am not sure I could have done anything!”
The Communicators Hall of Famer who has worked tirelessly at the Hambletonian Society and Breeders Crown for the last 35 years added, “The luckiest day of my very lucky life was the day I met Tom Fanning!”
Aside from being grateful his partnership, and the two wonderful daughters they raised, Moira Fanning also recognized the four best bosses she ever had: Marv Bachrad, Bill Fidati, Tom Charters and John Campbell. During her tenure, the prestigious Hambletonian Stakes celebrated its 100th renewal and the Breeders Crown purses nearly doubled from $4 million USD to more than $7 million USD each year.
An expert in promoting and facilitating big events, Fanning has seen the industry change, and insists that, “everyone in harness racing, all of us, must be an advocate for the sport, for the horses and for ourselves. We have to do it. No one else will do it.”
The recipient of the chapter’s highest honour, the Lifetime Achievement Award, closed with, “We have to fight for our livelihoods and never stop letting people know we exist.”
The awards banquet was held on Sunday, Dec. 7 in Campbell Hall, New York and the USHWA chapter also honoured Ralph Scunziano, the outgoing executive director of the Agriculture and New York State Horse Breeding Fund, with the Excelsior Award. Under his direction, the New York Sire Stakes program has secured a record purse structure and instituted a series of Big Apple races for freshmen worth $1 million USD.
The writers also presented Keith Hamilton with the chapter’s John Gilmour Good Guy Award for his 50 years of dedication to New York harness racing.
Dr. Janet Durso received the Amy Bull Crist Distinguished Service Award for her long-time support of racing at Goshen Historic Track.
James Crawford IV took home the Cradle of the Trotter Breeders Award.
In addition, Jessica Hallett, harness racing social media influencer and award-winning photographer, received the chapter’s Phil Pines Award.
Speaking of family, Rising Star Award winner and New York County Fair Trainer of the Year Dylan Huckabone-Miller enjoyed the company of his mother (Casey) and his grandmother (Joann), who both originally hail from the Monticello area and were on hand to support their honouree.
Aside from recognizing nationally prominent honourees, the awards banquet still maintains its ‘Borscht Belt’ roots. Since 1959, the Monticello-Goshen chapter has been rewarding the local horsemen and women that compete at Monticello Raceway as well as the hard-working staff and management that keep the races rolling. The Mighty M Award of Appreciation was bestowed upon Barb Merton and Liz Stubits for their 30-plus years of dedication to Monticello Raceway and benevolence for those in need at the track’s close-knit racing community.
Brenna Gill was named Caretaker of the Year.
These folks, and others from around the region, received their awards along with their peers for the 60-plus divisional equine honours bestowed upon the hard-working owners, trainers and caretakers that call New York State and the Sullivan County oval home.
Jason Bartlett, who is enjoying a career year, received a fistful of accolades for his driving prowess and accomplishments, along with Jared Bako, who was named the New York Sire Stakes and USTA District 8 Trainer of the Year.
Awards for all three divisions of the New York program, including the Sire Stakes, Excelsior Series and the County Fairs were presented to both horses and their connections. The NYSS and USTA District 8 Horse of the Year Award was given to Super Chapter. Mark Loewe accepted on behalf of breeder and co-owner Hanover Shoe Farms.
The Hambletonian Society was the dinner sponsor.
With revenue from their loyal advertisers in the 84-page souvenir journal, the Monticello-Goshen Chapter of USHWA was able to donate $7,500 USD each to the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame as well as Goshen Historic Track in 2025. These two distinct, separate entities share the same hallowed ground and a singleness of purpose to preserve, protect and promote harness racing. The practice of raising money and donating funds to Historic Track and the Hall of Fame began in the mid-1970s with Monticello Raceway publicity guru John Manzi and has continued ever since. In just the last 25 years, the local Monticello-Goshen chapter has donated well over $160,000 USD to these important industry preservationists.
Award winner profiles by the Monticello-Goshen Chapter are available below.
Fanning receives Monticello-Goshen’s highest honour
Moira Fanning, a world-renowned administrator and publicist for the Hambletonian Society and Breeders Crown, is the recipient of the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) Monticello-Goshen Chapter’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Raised in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Fanning was bitten by the horse bug at an early age. The former Moira Sullivan went from giving riding lessons at a local farm to working with Standardbreds. Her duties took her from the East Coast to California, and along the way has been a caretaker for U.S. Hall of Famers Howard Beissinger and Billy Haughton. Eventually, she found her way to the “front side” of Brandywine Raceway, working publicity for the late Marv Bachrad.
In 1987, Tom Charters, who was tasked with developing the fledgling Breeders Crown series, hired Fanning and she has been with the Hambletonian Society ever since.
“Moira deserves every honour that comes her way,” stated Hall of Famer John Campbell, who has been the president of the firm since 2017. “She has been involved in so many aspects of Hambletonian Society dealings these last 38 years and has been an integral part of not only our organization, but also all of harness racing, and not only here in North America, but worldwide.”
Campbell continued, “On a personal note, being able to work alongside Moira these last eight years has not only been so enjoyable, but a tremendous education for me. Her passion and commitment for all things harness racing is unparalleled.”
After nearly 40 years with the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown, Fanning recently announced her retirement as the stakes administration organization’s Chief Operating Officer. She had earned her most recent title from the ground up, providing publicity and event planning for decades to both the time-honoured Hambletonian Day events and the prestigious Breeders Crown.
When asked about her biggest takeaway from those foundational years in the organization, through the present day, Fanning was pragmatic about her experience, saying, “While everyone dreams of working big events, with the top horses, drivers and trainers, it has been commonplace for the industry to focus on the past. However, I would suggest that the sport turn their collective attention to the future.”
Elected to the U.S. Communicators Hall of Fame in 2011, Fanning is an oft-sought expert of the big races of our sport. Shunning attention and deflecting fame to others, her humble nature and sense of humour has assembled Fanning a ‘who’s-who’ list of friends and admirers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Because she is such a big fan of harness racing, Fanning considers travelling to Paris for the Prix d’Amerique and Stockholm for the Elitloppet as some of her most cherished memories. But Fanning’s love of travelling really started as a caretaker.
“We moved around once a month on the Grand Circuit and I really enjoyed exploring new towns and meeting new people along the way,” she noted.
Her plans for retirement may include some travel, but will be sure to focus on spending more time with her one-year-old grandson. Although Fanning was quick to add, “I look forward to staying involved with harness racing and attending races as a fan.”
She will be in good company because wherever Fanning travels she is always greeted cheerfully by throngs of her own fans.
Huckabone-Miller is Monticello-Goshen’s Rising Star
While the much-heralded success of so-called ‘trainer/drivers’ harkens back to an era when U.S. Hall of Famers like Billy Haughton and Stanley Dancer drove their own charges in stakes and overnight races, Dylan Huckabone-Miller could be considered a throwback to the sport’s heyday.
Born in Harris, New York, just 25 years ago, long after catch-drivers took over the teamster duties for big stables, Huckabone-Miller has quietly compiled a record that is catching people’s attention.
The youngster began driving in 2018 and has earned $1.38 million with 217 trips to the winner’s circle. With Vernon Downs as his home base, the energetic horseman picked up 67 of those victories this year, with a UDRS of .249. While in the midst of a career year with more than $475,000 in purse earnings, he caught the attention of another very successful trainer/driver, Ake Svanstedt.
Huckabone-Miller recalled how he got hooked up with arguably one of the most powerful trotting stables in North America, saying, “The [New York] Sire Stakes came to town and [Ake] had three in that day. There were not a lot of drivers available. Sarah [Svanstedt] drove one, Dan Daley drove one and I got to drive Read The Room. He ended up finishing a very good third. The following week was the final at Batavia and he left me up!”
Sitting behind trotters is nothing new for Huckabone-Miller. He was just eight years old when he jogged his first horse on a farm track and then started working in his father’s barn at Vernon at age 11. Six formative years later, he was poised and ready to hear the starter say ‘go.’
“I had a bunch of years spent training up until then, so I felt comfortable once I got behind the starting gate and it just took off from there,” stated Huckabone-Miller.
He finished the Vernon season as the fifth leading driver, not far behind such seasoned veterans as Leon Bailey and Chris Long. But his success did not stop there.Huckabone-Miller was the leading trainer on the New York County Fair circuit with 21 wins in 78 starts and earnings into the six-figures.
So how does a 20-something take a trailer-load full of horses on the road and come out on top?
“I took over trainer duties this year and we had a good group to bring to the fairs. It worked out good,” he said.
When asked how he handled the logistics and the pressure of driving and training a stable full of horses, the modest young man noted, “Everything went pretty smoothly. Luckily, I still had my dad [Claude Huckabone III] in my corner to help guide me through everything. It was a work in progress, but it worked out just fine in the end.”
Just fine indeed, their stable’s two-year-old trotting filly Sevenboysalooking won the county fair final at Goshen with Jordan Stratton aboard. The daughter of Chapter Seven picked up an additional five county fair victories with his dad, Claude III, in her sulky.
Huckabone-Miller was quick to credit Stratton as always being available to give him advice, now, and while he was just learning about the sport. He also noted that his grandfather, Claude Huckabone Jr., had a big influence on his horsemanship skills.
Overall, Huckabone-Miller finished the season with 53 training wins in 321 starts for a UTRS of .305. Coupled with 46 places and 59 shows, his charges earned $352,994, in just his first full year of competition.
So what does the future hold for the young horseman from upstate New York?
“I really enjoy both training and driving, so we will see wherever this takes me," he said. "It’s hard to focus-in on just one. But I would like to evolve as both a trainer and a driver going forward.”
Hamilton is Monticello-Goshen’s Good Guy
After 50 years of serving the industry in the State of New York, Keith Hamilton has made a host of friends and acquaintances along the way.
When the starting car at Goshen Historic Track stops alongside the outside fence, just past the finish wire at the National Historic Landmark, one may think that a celebrity was looking out the back window.
Throngs of fans, friends and well-wishers make their way alongside the white Cadillac with the funny roof to say hello to their old friend Keith. In fact, Hamilton has made so many contacts in the sport of harness racing that at the Cradle of the Trotter he barely has time to keep up with the judges changes and ‘personnel’ switches.
At Goshen, nearly every race has a new group of excitement-seeking riders in the back of the starting car. Each race brings a new set of fans, each waiting their turn for a glimpse into the thundering hooves and crowd cheering start of a New York-sired race on Fourth of July weekend.
As each group of enthusiasts, young and old squeeze into the starting car, Hamilton takes it all in stride. Along with his wheel-man Bob Ashelman, many exclaim that this is the most exciting thing they have ever done.
But this is not the only venue that the official starting judge plies his trade. For 50 years Hamilton has started races at nearly every county fair and pari-mutuel track in the Empire State.
First licensed in 1975, Hamilton also serves as a backup Associate Judge when the need arises. And at 74 years old, it doesn’t look like he is slowing down any time soon.
“There are not as many fairs as there once was, but the program itself still has plenty of support from the participants. And I enjoy doing it,” noted Hamilton.
And while he doesn’t log the 50,000 miles per year that he once put in as a USTA Tattoo Technician, when the car door opens it’s like Old Home Week wherever he goes.
At one time, Hamilton was responsible for all of New York, as well as the New England district, where he was responsible for the identification of close to 2,000 horses per year. In fact, he was so well known in the Empire State that all the breeding farms in New York State had his phone number on speed dial.
Born in Schenectady, New York, Hamilton has been around trotters and pacers all his life. His father, Richard Hamilton, was a USTA district representative for upstate New York, a job that had him checking breeding records, overseeing the county fair circuit and administering the driver/trainer test.
After earning a degree in Engineering from Buffalo State, the young Hamilton noticed that many mechanical firms were downsizing due to the energy crisis. Concerned that he may need to switch gears, Hamilton took his father’s advice and answered the call for an opening at the USTA for an identification technician in 1974.
The affable Hamilton has never looked back, logging well over two million miles conducting business for the USTA. The transition to cryogenics (freeze branding) was nearly 30 years ago, but now much of that has now been replaced by the microchip.
With his evolution from identification to race officiating, Hamilton has seen firsthand the grass roots nature of our sport on its foundational level.
“I enjoy all the fairs equally; I don’t really have a favourite. But what is interesting is watching the progression of maturity and ability of the young horses as the season progresses,” stated Hamilton. “We see in the drivers too!”
When asked what he thinks the future holds for harness racing, Hamilton was quick to opine: “As the track ownership, the fans and the betting public get older, I hope that the sport continues to promote itself as a viable entertainment venue for the next generation.”
Married to his wife Patricia for nearly 50 years, they share three grown children in Lindsay, Justin and Amber.
Still residing in Schenectady, he is often called into duty as a backup at Saratoga. While he talks about retiring, the New York circuit is a better place because of Hamilton’s involvement. Already the Monticello-Goshen Chapter's Excelsior Award winner in 2016, the chapter hopes to bring him back in less than a decade for its highest honour.
Merton and Stubits keep the wheels turning at Monticello
For over 30 years, the presence of “The Twins” Barb Merton and Liz Stubits has made a difference on the backstretch of Monticello Raceway, and they are still going strong.
Born into a family of horses and harness racing, their father, John Stubits, has been an active trainer/driver for decades and operates L&B Tack Shop at Monticello Raceway. Growing up, they would spend weekends and summers at the track with their father. After graduating from Canandaigua High School in 1995, they became more involved and began spending more time in the barn area. As fate would have it, there were a pair of brothers who also happened to be on the backstretch at the same time: Greg (Barb) and Mike Merton (Liz). As it turned out, both men would become their lifelong partners.
For years, Liz and Barb, collectively known as the ‘Stubits Girls’ have been a tremendous asset to the Monticello Raceway publicity department. On holidays and special occasions such as Halloween, Fourth of July and Christmas, the girls always have their horses decked out in festival-themed and colour-coordinated equipment.
In September, when local horseman Jim Taggart Jr. was battling with health issues, Barb and Liz stepped up to the plate and coordinated the logistics and the fundraising of a highly successful golf outing on his behalf. The event raised significant much-needed funds for a fellow horseman in need.
While they have always worked directly with harness horses, both girls are avid animal lovers as well. Liz still has her all-time favourite horse, the 28-year-old Fox Valley Kincade, for Barb, it's Swancredit. They have cared for these Standardbreds for their entire lives and are a part of the family.
Both gals have also worked in the Mighty M paddock helping the race days run smoothly for decades, in a variety of capacities, including, but not limited to, catch paddocks, saddle numbers cleaning and distribution, equipment card completion and driver and trainer colours washing.
The girls also still play highly competitive softball for L&B Tack, a team that has captured several local championships and has been in existence, albeit with a variety of lineups, for several decades. They are most proud of the team’s 79-0 record, a benchmark that will probably stand forever.
When longtime Monticello Raceway track photographer Geri Schwartz suddenly passed away, there was immediate concern on how to fill the void. Barb and Liz recalled a conversation when Geri told her friends, “If anything ever happened to her, she was concerned that they would never be able to fill the position of track photographer.”
It was at that moment that they knew they had an obligation to fulfill their friend’s final wishes.
“We were never interested in [the job] at all. The only way we learned was by filling in for her when she threw us to the wolves,” stated Liz.
Taking a chance on them and letting them figure it out for themselves, Schwartz gave them tips and encouragement.
“It was easier said than done. It’s not as easy as it looks to just take pictures,” noted Liz. “There was a big learning curve and still, to this day, we keep learning tricks of the trade.
“Barb does most of the picture taking; I do the setting up,” continued Liz. “Sometimes we have to juggle things when we have horses racing. We would not have been able to do the job without the help of our children, Joey and Melanie. They have been here for us, when we have to paddock horses or have appointments.”
“For Monticello Raceway not to have a photographer is just not right,” added Barb.
“We have met some great people while taking pictures and have had great interactions with some of the fans and we have become very friendly with a host of them; they bring us goodies and hand warmers!” said Liz.
“Monticello Raceway is a better place because of Barb and Liz,” said Eric Warner, Monticello Raceway's Race Secretary. “They are always thinking of the horsemen and are the first ones to step up to the plate if someone is in need.”
Super Chapter voted U.S. Trotting District 8 Horse of the Year
World champion three-year-old trotting colt Super Chapter is the the United States Trotting Association’s District 8 Horse of the Year.
Trained by Marcus Melander for owners Jeff Snyder and Arthur Pronti and owner/breeder Hanover Shoe Farms, the son of Chapter Seven-Lifetime Pursuit earned nine wins in 14 starts while banking $1.7 million in purses.
Super Chapter's early season victories included the Yonkers Trot and divisions of the Empire Breeders Classic and Stanley Dancer Memorial. Later, he won an elimination of the Hambletonian and was second in the Grade 1 stakes final at The Meadowlands. He followed that effort with a world record 1:50f performance for three-year-old trotters in the Earl Beal Jr. Memorial at Pocono Downs with primary driver Dexter Dunn in the sulky.
A strong contender for Dan Patch divisional honours, Super Chapter danced every dance, and was third by a half-length in the Kentucky Futurity (trotting in 1:49.2), finished a close second in the Breeders Crown and capped his season with a decisive, six-length victory in the Matron Stakes.
Once again this year, the Monticello-Goshen Chapter has been given the opportunity to include the New York Sire Stakes (NYSS) and USTA’s District 8 Awards, which are in addition to the year-end awards for horses and horsepeople from the local tracks.
U.S. Trotting District 8 and the 2025 NYSS human awards go to: Driver of the Year, Jason Bartlett; Trainer of the Year, Jared Bako; Owner of the Year, Purple Haze Stables; Breeder of the Year, Winbak Farm; in addition to Excelsior Trainer, George Ducharme; County Fair Trainer, Dylan Huckabone-Miller, and County Fair Driver, Kyle Cummings.
U.S. Trotting District 8 and the 2025 NYSS champion horse awards go to: Horse of the Year, Super Chapter; Fragment (Two-Year-Old Colt Pace), Liberty Style (Two-Year-Old Filly Pace), AI (Two-Year-Old Colt Trot), Sharp Seven (Two-Year-Old Filly Trot), Dandy Ideal (Three-Year-Old Colt Pace), The Last Martini (Three-Year-Old Filly Pace), Happy Jack B (Three-Year-Old Colt Trot), My Debt Collector (Three-Year-Old Filly Trot).
NY Excelsior Series 2025 champions: Southwind Iron (Two-Year-Old Colt Pace), Two Twenty Swift (Two-Year-Old Filly Pace), Rubens (Two-Year-Old Colt Trot), Elqueen (Two-Year-Old Filly Trot), Ima Perfect Choice (Three-Year-Old Colt Pace), Time To Strike (Three-Year-Old Filly Pace), Mane Man Charlie (Three-Year-Old Colt Trot), EL Nightwish (Three-Year-Old Filly Trot).
NY County Fair 2025 champions: Brave Warrior (Two-Year-Old Colt Pace), Wheres My Sneakers (Two-Year-Old Filly Pace), Highway Six (Two-Year-Old Colt Trot), Sevenboysalooking (Two-Year-Old Filly Trot), Southwind Rodan (Three-Year-Old Colt Pace), Bobby McGee (Three-Year-Old Filly Pace), Devious Paul (Three-Year-Old Colt Trot), Per Se (Three-Year-Old Filly Trot).
(With files from USHWA; photo of the Fanning family, from left to right, Tom, Moira, Veronica and Caroline)