News

Harrisburg, PA – The United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA), in conjunction with the Harness Racing Hall of Fame, is pleased to announce the election of Dr. John Egloff, Marvin Katz, and David Reid to the greatest honor in the industry, membership to the Hall of Fame.

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

Dr. John (Tad) Egloff. Chris Tully photo.

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 (N.J.), 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.

Dr. Egloff then established his own Vieux Carre Farms (French for “old quarter,” reflecting his Louisiana heritage) near Gettysburg, Pa., 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 Broodmare of the Year) and was the nursery of such stars as Always B Miki and Pine Chip. Dr. Egloff is a member of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission, vice president of the Standardbred Breeders of Pennsylvania, and a director of the Hambletonian Society.

Marvin Katz went to Greenwood Raceway in Toronto 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.)

Marvin Katz. Chris Tully photo.

It would take paragraphs and paragraphs to list all of the good horses associated with Katz, but certainly ranking highly would be 2020 Horse of the Year Tall Dark Stranger, the great trotting females Ariana G and 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 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 of horses.

David Reid. Chris Tully photo.

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

Egloff, Katz, and Reid will be joined in entrance to the Hall of Fame by Michael G. Kimelman, who was elected to the Hall of Fame through the special Veterans designation in July.

COMMUNICATORS HALL OF FAME

Derick Giwner, a two-time Hervey Award winner for news/commentary writing, 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 Racing Digest is must reading for many segments of the harness community.

Derick Giwner. Courtesy of USHWA.

In addition to his 2019 and 2023 Hervey Awards, Giwner has been honored with the Phil Pines Award and the Clyde Hirt Media Award, and he was named USHWAn of the Year in 2019. Derick 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 she is a contributor to both HHYF’s many promotional and educational pieces and several trade publications. 

Ellen Taylor. Courtesy of USHWA.

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 2008), Ellen follows in the tradition of her mother Margot, who is an Immortal of the Hall of Fame.

Egloff, Katz, Reid, Kimelman, Giwner, and Taylor will be honored 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 Rosen Shingle Creek resort in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. The second event will, of course, be their formal inductions to their Halls in Goshen, N.Y., on the first Sunday of July 2026. More information on these events will be available on USHWA’s website (www.usharnesswriters.com) in the upcoming months.

The United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) is the leading group of communicators about the Standardbred horse. USHWA conducts the official annual balloting for the sport’s most prestigious honors: Induction to the Hall of Fame and Communicators Hall of Fame, along with the selection of the Horse of the Year, Trotter and Pacer of the Year, and the leading divisional horses of each season.

Each year USHWA hosts the Dan Patch Awards Banquet, honoring the best and brightest performers in North American harness racing. This banquet is the Association’s principal source of funding, and with generous financial support from the harness racing and breeding industry, USHWA is able to host the banquet at a world-class facility in a world-class manner.

 - United States Harness Writers Association