For Riverdee Stable, A Year To Fondly Remember
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By Leonard Shapiro
hat a difference a year made in the lives of Sean Clancy, his wife Annie and their teenage son, Miles.
On August 6, 2022, Sean answered his phone in Saratoga, N.Y., where he spends two summer months every year writing about the epicenter of American horse racing. Sadly, a far bigger personal story was going on back home that day: the barn on their farm near Middleburg was on fire, and burned to the ground. The good news on that call was that Annie and Miles, as well as the horses, a goat and a cat who lived in the barn had all been unharmed Fast forward to August 23, 2023, this time with wonderful news, for sure. That fiery agony was followed a dozen months later by the thrill of victory for Sean, a former steeplechase jockey himself. His horse, Awakened, won the first stakes race of his career in the Grade 1, $150,000 Jonathan Sheppard Handicap, a 2 3/8-mile hurdle test at Saratoga. It also was the first Grade 1 victory for Sean’s Riverdee Stable, the exclamation point on an outstanding 2023 season. Riverdee led the National Steeplechase Association (NSA) in wins (11), was second in earnings with $409,450 (the best finish by a Virginia owner since 2014) and had three stakes wins.
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Five months later came some more thrilling news. In the first week of 2024, Sean learned that he had won a prestigious media Eclipse award, the second of his career, for a brilliant news story he’d written about the Test Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 5. It was an account of a tragic race that ended with a fatal accident to Maple Leaf Mel. The story appeared on August 6, 2023, exactly a year to the day of the barn fire. And oh yes, Awakened also was nominated for an Eclipse award in the steeplechase category. “The fire was the most disruptive thing Annie and I ever had to deal with,” Sean said. “We were very, very lucky. She and Miles were safe, we didn’t lose any horses. But it was so upsetting. And then what happened this year was the exact opposite. “You’re probably not getting through life without some sort of tragedy or hard times, but you have to keep going, you have to try to move forward and not dwell on the negative. It’s a great lesson.” Sean has moved forward over the years on countless fronts. His father, Joe Clancy Sr., was a respected trainer of jumpers and flat racing Thoroughbreds and the family lived near the stable area of Delaware Park. “I could hear the races being called from my bedroom window,” Sean recalled. Sean raced ponies as a youngster and rode the NSA circuit for Hall of Fame trainer, Jack Fisher, from 1994 until 2000. Sean retired from riding that year, after earning champion jockey honors in ’98.
MIDDLEBURG SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE| Winter 2024
