Fanning receives Distinguished Service Award from HTA

Moira Fanning, director of publicity for the Hambletonian Society and its 130 stakes races, and one of the best known women in world harness racing, has won Harness Tracks of America’s Distinguished Service Award for 2009.

Once a groom for Hall of Fame trainers Howard Beissinger and Bill Haughton, and now a key figure in presentation of the world renowned Hambletonian and its Breeders Crown Classics, Fanning has been the strong right arm of Hambletonian president Tom Charters for 22 years and a major executive in her own right in the sport.

Although she rose in the ranks through publicity and a emarkable record of responsive service, she also has handled track accounting and virtually all other duties trackside.

Popular and known wherever harness horses race, Moira is married to trainer Tom Fanning and has two daughters, Veronica, 16, and Caroline 13.

“For someone like me,” Fanning says, “the Breeders Crown is like sitting on the bench at the Super Bowl or having stage access to a Springsteen concert.” She calls racing “the community and the culture I love. I get to meet the best of the best...the best days, the best horses, the best drivers.”

Harness racing, in return, gets the best of all possible executives -- warm, caring, involved, supremely knowledgeable. Harness Tracks of America and its 36 member organizations have benefited from her huge experience and racing wisdom, and HTA executive VP Stan Bergstein calls Fanning’s award “one of the most appropriate this association has ever awarded.” It will be presented at the Racing Congress Night of Stars at Bellagio in Las Vegas Wednesday night, Feb. 4. (HTA)

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