Janney named Eclipse Award of Merit winner

Stuart S. Janney III, the longtime owner and breeder who is the chairman of The Jockey Club, has been selected to receive the Eclipse Award of Merit, considered one of the highest honors in racing, according to the administrators of the awards.

Janney has been The Jockey Club chairman since 2015, and under his leadership the organization has moved aggressively to support efforts to root out illegal drug use in the sport and press for federal legislation creating a national regulator for racing. Both of those efforts bore fruit under his leadership, with the federal indictments of 30 individuals connected to racing in 2020 and, shortly thereafter, the creation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.

“I am honored to have been chosen for the Eclipse Award of Merit and sincerely thank those who selected me," Janney said in a release. “This sport, and its future, have always been my top priority, and I am appreciative of the support of so many who have joined us on the journey to improve Thoroughbred racing and breeding for generations to come.”

Janney’s parent and grandparents were both prominent owners and breeders in Maryland, and he “was raised with a deep appreciation of the sport,” the release noted. His parents, Stuart and Barbara, bred and raced the ill-fated Ruffian.

Janney began breeding and racing under his own name in the early 1990s. Among the top-class horses he has bred or owned are Coronado’s Quest, the winner of the 1998 Haskell and Travers Stakes, plus Grade 1 winners Air Support, Celestial City, Data Link, Hymn Book, Ironicus, Norumbega, and On Leave. He also co-owned and co-bred Orb, winner of the 2013 Kentucky Derby, with his cousin Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps, who preceded him as chairman of The Jockey Club.

Like the Phipps family, Janney’s horses have been principally trained by Claude R. “Shug” McGaughey.

“I’ve trained horses for Stuart since 1988, and he has been an excellent client for me, always putting the welfare of his horses and the people who work with them first,” said McGaughey, in the release. “Stuart has my admiration for taking on the tough and unpopular issues that we, as a sport, must face. I know it hasn’t always been easy for him, but time and again I’ve seen him guided only by his principles: Do the right thing for the horse.”

Janney was a board member at Keeneland from 1998 to 2015, and he remains a board member of the New York Racing Association, the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, Equibase Company, and Bloodhorse LLC. He was influential in the 2008 creation of The Jockey Club’s Thoroughbred Safety Committee, which has annually issued recommendations to the industry on best practices, and he acted as its chair until 2016.

“Stuart Janney’s career has been that of dedication and service to both the horse and the entirety of the Thoroughbred racing industry,” said Tom Rooney, the president and chief executive officer of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. “The Eclipse Award of Merit is in appreciation for all his efforts. Stuart’s leadership, commitment, and passion for this industry is unquestionable and I thank him for all his work.”

Janney will be presented with the award at the Eclipse Awards ceremony on Jan. 25 in South Florida.

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