Joseph B. Hickey Jr.

Joseph B. Hickey Jr., retired racing official, Turf writer, and historian, who was closely linked to champions Kelso and Northern Dancer, two of the most celebrated Thoroughbred racehorses of the 20th century, died on Tuesday, April 30, at 6:40 a.m. He was 86. Son of the late Joseph “Burke” and Julia “Louise” Nee Hickey, he was born in Norfolk, VA, and raised in Baltimore, where he graduated from Polytechnic Institute. He served as a Navy ordnance disarmament specialist in World War II and as an infantryman in blockaded Berlin during the Korean War. Between his service tours, he pursued a family interest in horses, studying equine conformation and pedigrees under his mentor, noted horseman Humphrey S. Finney, who encouraged him to pursue his talent for writing. In 1962, while associate editor of Turf and Sport Digest, he was appointed assistant director of racing for the Maryland Jockey Club, America’s oldest sporting organization, and parent of Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. Mr. Hickey assumed new duties at Pimlico when the public relations director walked off the job during the 1965 Preakness Day program. In the course of researching Maryland Jockey Club history, he discovered the “lost” 1890 running of the Preakness, held that year at Morris Park, in New York. Two other serendipitous events at Pimlico in 1964 shaped the course of his life: he was introduced to his future bride, Arlene Langkam at the races, and met E. P. Taylor, Canadian financier and breeder/owner of Northern Dancer, 1964 Kentucky Derby and Preakness champion. In 1968, Allaire C. du Pont, whose champion Kelso retired as the world’s leading money-winning race horse with an unprecedented five straight Horse of the Year titles, asked Mr. Hickey to join her and Taylor, owner of immensely successful Windfields Farm in Ontario, in directing the proposed “new capital of the classic thoroughbred” venture in Cecil County, MD, at Chesapeake City. Sited at the crossroads community of St. Augustine, the enterprise became an immediate success when the young stallion Northern Dancer was moved from Taylor’s Canadian base to his Maryland farm which was to grow to 2,850 acres while scores of new horse farms sprouted up around Windfields and Kelso’s base at Mrs. du Pont's Woodstock Farm. As point man for Windfields in Maryland, Mr. Hickey was instrumental in the acquisition and subsequent syndication of 20 stallions, most of whom were classic winners in Europe. Champion The Minstrel was syndicated for $9-million, Assert, $25-million, El Gran Senor, $41-million. Northern Dancer, perhaps the most successful commercial stallion success in history, reigned as leading sire in America, Canada, England, and Ireland while commanding record stud fees. His fame was such that People magazine said that Northern Dancer was the only celebrity that could earn a million dollars before breakfast. Halo, purchased by Windfields as a stallion prospect for $1-million, was sold ten years later for $36-million. Twice leading sire in America, he sired Kentucky Derby winners Sunny’s Halo and Sunday Silence. Canadian champion Deputy Minister also became a leading sire after beginning his stud career at Windfields Farm,, MD. As Administrative and General Manager of Windfields’ Maryland operations, Mr. Hickey oversaw the preparation and sale of 438 thoroughbred yearlings for $95,271,700 -- a phenomenal 20-year average of $212,515. In 1984, Governor Harry R. Hughes appointed Mr. Hickey to the Maryland Racing Commission. His term of office was notable for a zealous but politically unpopular and thus inevitably unsuccessful fight to stem the proliferation of race-day medication which he was convinced would weaken the breed. As an avocation, Mr. Hickey continued to write throughout his career, including a 27-year term as a breeding columnist for The Morning Telegraph and Daily Racing Form and was racing columnist for The Maryland Horse for a number of years. His reporting and essays appeared from time to time in The Blood-Horse over a 50-year span. Mr. Hickey retired to Reverie, his waterfront home on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, busying himself in genealogy and writing a 358-page family memoir. Active in veteran’s causes, he was a devoted Catholic churchman. Commissioned a Eucharistic Minister at midnight Mass, Christmas, 1976, he served daily Mass into his 80s, and was proud to have served Mass before Michaelangelo’s masterpiece Pieta in Rome’s St. Peter’s Basilica. Arlene, his wife of 25 years, died September 22, 1992. Mr. Hickey is survived by three sons, all of Easton — Joseph B. Hickey III; Sean Earl Hickey and his wife, Julie Marie, their daughters, Jessica and Emily; Ryan Padraic Hickey and his wife, Julie Ann, and their daughters, Megan and Madeline. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, May 10, 2013, at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, 1210 South Washington Street, Easton, MD. Friends may call from 5-8 p.m. on Thursday, May 9, 2013, at Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home, 200 South Harrison Street, Easton, MD, where a rosary will be recited at 7:45 p.m. Burial will follow at Oxford Cemetery in Oxford, MD. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Talbot Hospice Foundation, 586 Cynwood Drive, Easton, MD 21601 or to Sts. Peter and Paul Church Family Life Center Building Fund, 7906 Ocean Gateway, Easton, MD 21601.

Joseph B. Hickey Jr.

September 16, 1926 - April 30, 2013