National Steeplechase Association president Guy Torsilieri announced March 15 that Don Clippinger, an Eclipse Award-winning writer with wide experience in the racing industry, has been hired as the organization’s communications consultant.
Clippinger, who retired as editorial director of Thoroughbred Times Co. at the end of 2009, began his new duties in February.
“We are pleased that Don Clippinger has joined the National Steeplechase Association team,” Torsilieri said in a release. “In addition to his widely respected work in the Thoroughbred industry, he has thorough knowledge of steeplechase racing and its participants. I feel confident that he will be able to use his considerable communications skills to advance our goals and to provide unprecedented assistance to our race meets.”
Clippinger said he was gratified to have the opportunity to work again with the National Steeplechase Association staff, its horsemen, and its race meets.
“My horse-racing roots are in steeplechasing,” he said in a statement. “The first horse race I ever attended was the Radnor Hunt Races in the late 1970s. “Many of my early lessons in racing were at the elbow of steeplechase horsemen such as Jonathan Sheppard, Dr. John Fisher, Bruce Miller, Burley Cocks, and Morris Dixon, and their high standards always have been my yardstick for how racing should be conducted.”
Clippinger subsequently was the racing writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and editor of The Thoroughbred Record. He and his wife, Audrey Korotkin, provided public relations services to the National Steeplechase Association from 1990 through 1994.
In 1996, Clippinger won the Eclipse Award for magazine writing for an article in the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred. His diverse background also includes a stint as public relations and marketing director of The Red Mile Standardbred track in Lexington.
With Curtis L. Barrett, Ph.D., he is the co-author of Winners! The Story of Alcohol and Drug-Abuse Programs in the Horse Racing Industry. He is a founding director and treasurer of the Winners Federation, a non-profit organization of racing and health professionals dedicated to combating addictions in the horse racing environment. He and his wife reside in Tyrone, Pa.