Phipps honored with Jockey Club Medal

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps, who resigned as Jockey Club chairman after 32 years in the position Saturday, was awarded with the Jockey Club Medal at the conclusion of the organization’s Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing on Sunday.

The award was both rare and unusual. The Jockey Club Medal, which honors “exceptional contributions to the Thoroughbred breeding and racing industries,” has only been awarded 16 times since it was first given in 1984, and it has been awarded only twice in the past eight years. The medal is not supposed to be awarded to Jockey Club members, but the organization made an exception for Phipps, who has been one of the most highly influential members of the U.S. Thoroughbred industry for the past 40 years.

Phipps, 74, acknowledged the award with a nod to the round table audience.

“He’s not much for fanfare, not much for seeking the public spotlight,” said Stuart Janney III, who was elected chairman of the organization at the same Saturday meeting where Phipps’s resignation became effective. “It’s hard to think of a way that the Jockey Club or the industry could possibly honor him.”

Phipps, an heir to an already-established racing family, presided over the Jockey Club during a three-decade expansion that transformed the formerly staid company into a technological leader in the racing industry. The organization has branched out into several for-profit companies while also playing a leading role in a number of high-profile industry initiatives, including national marketing and promotional efforts for the sport.

Phipps has suffered from a variety of health problems over the past several years, and he walks with a cane. His dry sense of humor remains intact. When asking the round table audience to take their seats after the conference’s standard intermission and not receiving an instant response, Phipps shrugged.

“I’m not in charge anymore,” he said.