Meet the Staff

mobile phone: 732-614-3124

Sue Finley grew up in Weston, Connecticut, the daughter of a high school French and Spanish teacher and a homemaker–both of whom loved horse racing. She spent her childhood driving back and forth to Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga with her family. A cum laude graduate of New York University with Bachelor's Degrees in French and Journalism, she began an internship in the NYRA press department while still a senior at NYU and accepted a full-time position at the track in her final term. She worked for NYRA for eight years, where she made the early morning line and was in charge of promoting the sport through television. In 1991, she went to work as a researcher on ABC's Wide World of Sports, where she covered horse racing as well as amateur sports, spending six weeks at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba. In 1993, she was part of the team that took over the production of the Thoroughbred Daily News, and oversaw its move to Red Bank, NJ, becoming its co-publisher. For 12 years, she was the First Vice President of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, a national organization dedicated to the humane retirement of former racehorses, and served three years on the board of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. She currently serves on the board of directors of HERF, a 501(c)3 which provides surgery and recovery for injured racehorses whose owners cannot afford it; and the advisory board of the Belmont Child Care Association. A native New Englander and lifelong Boston Red Sox fan, she lives a stone's throw from the TDN's Red Bank, N.J.  offices and has two children, a financial advisor and an interior designer. Finley won the 2024 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Multimedia Production with her story, “After Saving Two Horses From a Kill Pen, Stewart Aims to do More to End Slaughter.“

mobile phone: 732-320-0975

Gary King is a native of Ireland, and grew up near the renowned Curragh racecourse. Gary graduated with a Bachelor of Business Studies from Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), and then completed the Godolphin Flying Start management trainee program. He joined the TDN in 2010 and is currently Senior Vice President. He's responsible for all international editorial and commercial activity. Gary co-founded The Thoroughbred Report AusNZ in August 2018. The company is based in Sydney, Australia, and operates in partnership with the world-renowned TDN brand. Gary resides in New Jersey travels to all the major bloodstock sales and races around the world.

A lifelong resident of Monmouth County, NJ, Jessica graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the College of St. Elizabeth in Convent Station, NJ. A love of writing and of horses led her to the publicity department of Monmouth Park racetrack where she spent two summers before joining the TDN staff in 1995.

Away from the office, she enjoys distance running and world travel, with Tibet and Romania among her favorite destinations.

Born and raised in suburban Chicago, Alan joined the TDN staff in September 1998. After receiving an advanced degree in German from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, he held various jobs outside the industry before pursuing his “dream job” in horse racing. A fan of the game ever since cashing a $17.80 show ticket on Tolomeo in the 1983 Budweiser (Arlington) Million, Alan would frequently attend morning workouts and rarely missed a weekend at the races. A resident of the Jersey Shore since 2005, Alan is the proud “Papa” to two beautiful girls, Dad to a driven 16-year-old boy (gulp), Pop to 16-month old Gabe and is a dime on the dollar to be found tweeting about racing from all parts of the world at ungodly hours. Chicago Cubs and U of I fans cordially invited.

Steve Sherack joined TDN's editorial staff in May 2003, just a year after graduating from St. John's University with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism. The native New Yorker caught the racing bug at an early age following frequent trips to Belmont Park and Aqueduct, and family vacations to Saratoga Racecourse. Steve began his career in the industry as a handicapper and editor at American Turf Magazine. A sports fanatic, he rarely misses a season without catching a road game of his beloved New York Mets or a trip to the World's Most Famous Arena to root on the Red Storm in the Big East Tournament. Steve resides in nearby Sea Bright, just furlongs away from the 'Shore's Greatest Stretch,' Monmouth Park.

Christina has traveled all over the world to cover many of horse racing's most prestigious races and auctions. A racing enthusiast from a young age, the native of Montreal, Canada has parlayed this knowledge into a successful career in multi-media which has spanned over two decades. Throughout her career, she has served in various prominent roles, including on-air host, TV handicapper, and paddock reporter for several racetracks and live events, including the prestigious Championship Meet at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Florida. Additionally, she has been associated with networks such as HRTV, FanDuel (formerly TVG), Fox, The Travel Channel and XBTV. Christina, who directed The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association's Owner's Concierge for two years, also contributed to other equine-focused media, writing articles and reporting on significant events in racing and sales as well as issues pertaining to equine aftercare.

In 2025, Christina was named the Bill Handleman Award winner, recognizing her outstanding coverage of the 2024 Haskell Invitational Stakes at Monmouth Park. Christina earned an Eclipse Award Honorable Mention for her 2025 Multi-Media feature “Tenacious Emma-Jayne Wilson Poised for Next Comeback.” She also joined forces with her lifelong idol, D. Wayne Lukas, to co-author the only authorized published material by the Hall of Fame trainer, Sermon on the Mount.

Christina has served as a member of the Thoroughbred Daily News team for over two decades and currently serves as Senior Editor in addition to overseeing the development of the company's new trainees.

Heather's love of horses, Thoroughbreds especially, originated from summers spent visiting her grandfather in Ohio, who bred American Quarter Horses. During college at the University of Wyoming, she completed an internship at Peterson and Smith Equine Reproduction Center in Summerfield, FL. This fueled her decision to enter the Thoroughbred industry after obtaining her degree. She graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Animal Science in late 2009 and participated in the Kentucky Equine Management Internship (KEMI) in Lexington, KY from January to June 2010 for the breeding and foaling season. Heather joined the TDN in December 2013.

Heather spends her free time studying pedigrees, and enjoying the great outdoors with her husband and young daughter, as well as herding her two cats, Stella and Pixel. In 2017, she marked racehorse ownership off her bucket list and was a co-owner of a winning Florida-bred filly.

Patrycja Szpyra is the proud child of Polish immigrants to America. She's lived in several different places before settling in the Lexington area including the country of Greece and the states of New York, Colorado, and North Carolina. With no family in racing, she put her foot in the industry door through her early, and continued, work with Pocket Aces Racing LLC as well as her experiences at Denali Stud. Occasionally, she can be found at the farm taking pictures and bemoaning her insistence at getting up so early to do so. She currently has one fur child, a husky/pitt-bull mix named Sierra, locally famous for her not-brilliant life choices but loved all the same.

Once forced to take time off, Patrycja can be found at home being a homebody. She's a manipulative fiction novelist under a penname in her downtime, travels when she can, and does the occasional digital artwork piece when she really has too much time on her hands.

A native of Charlottesville, Virginia, Stefanie always had a passion for writing and, after years of begging her parents, began riding at the age of 10. She went on to represent Christopher Newport University as a five-year member of the IHSA Equestrian Team and graduated in 2013 with a Bachelor's Degree in English with a Writing Concentration. Now based along the coast in Virginia Beach, VA with her two cats, Stefanie continues to ride, enjoys spending time with her family, long walks on the beach (long walks anywhere really), naps and also considers herself an amateur meteorologist.  She joined the TDN in March 2022.

J.N. Campbell is a race writing member of National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB), where he is currently serving a two-year term as Vice President. A caster of ballots for the Eclipse Awards, NTRA, Jockey of the Week, and the National Racing Hall of Fame, he also serves as the media lead for the Organization of Racing Investigators. Campbell has contributed pieces to a number of racing websites and print publications. He first fell for horse racing at Keeneland while receiving an M.A. in History from the University of Kentucky. Based in the heart of racing's Southwest Circuit, he joined the TDN staff as a writer in late November of 2022.

Although she grew up in the dairy industry, Jill was hooked on horses instead of cows from the start. Never without Quarter Horses and backyard ponies during her childhood, she found herself intrigued by racing and repeatedly checking out The Black Stallion books from the library. Once in college, Jill officially gravitated to Thoroughbreds thanks to Cigar and quickly upended her life to pursue the passion. A week after graduating from Arizona State University with a business degree, she moved to Kentucky, where she had the privilege of working in various facets of the industry for many years. She's committed to being a lifelong student of the game with a particular love for pedigrees and the breeding side. Jill currently lives in California, where she's been with TDN since 2018.

It was with great sadness that the TDN family announced the passing Friday, Nov. 1, 2019 of Ben Massam, the TDN's News and Features editor, after a year-long battle with cancer. He was 31 years old.

Massam is survived by his parents, Brad and Barbara.

Massam joined the TDN team in 2014 as an assistant editor, and was promoted to News and Features editor in 2017, where he was responsible for overseeing the TDN's editorial content and managing the contributions from freelance writers.

Read more about Ben here. 

T.D. Thornton has been a correspondent for TDN since 2014. He grew up around horses at Rockingham Park, where his father trained Thoroughbreds. After majoring in journalism at the University of New Hampshire, he wrote for a number of publications, including The Racing Times and The Boston Globe. He announced the races at Suffolk Downs for parts of three decades, and his award-winning 2007 book, Not by a Long Shot–A Season at a Hard-Luck Horse Track, is based on a journal he kept during his time there. Thornton is also the author of My Adventures With Your Money–George Graham Rice and the Golden Age of the Con Artist, a 2015 biography about a racetrack tipster who became America's most brilliant swindler.

Bill Finley is a 1983 graduate of Tufts University in Boston, where he spent his college years going to races at Suffolk Downs and working as a vendor at Fenway Park. He began his career as a chart-caller for the Daily Racing Form at the Northampton Fair before being hired as a writer for the Form. He covered racing for the New York Post and New York Daily News before joining the TDN. Along with legendary racecaller Dave Johnson, Finley is also the co-host of Down the Stretch, a weekly horse racing radio podcast on Sirius-XM on Saturday mornings. He has won two Eclipse Awards; one for Outstanding Radio Production with Down the Stretch in 2005, and the second for his article in the TDN, “Do We Need a Sturdier Racehorse,” in 2010.

Neither nature nor nurture can obviously account for Chris McGrath's interest in the Thoroughbred, which continues to puzzle and dismay his ageing parents. Wherever things went wrong, genetically it must trace somewhere beyond the number of generations typically accommodated by a catalog page. (But then that's often true of horses, too.) Though born and raised in England, his page is chiefly Irish and German. Nonetheless his principal allegiance nowadays is to Italy: he has been going to one particular valley there, at least once a year, for more than half his life. Here he tunes out with a good hike, a good book, and a beer of whatever standard comes to hand. A graduate of Oxford University, Chris was supposed to become a lawyer but was instead seduced by the penury and insecurity of life as a sportswriter. During his time on The Independent, in particular, he covered many international events beyond the Turf. But while he still enjoys some other sports, notably the soccer purveyed with varying degrees of competence by Torino FC, he has become increasingly specialised with time. Chris has been named the UK's Racing Writer of the Year three times, most recently in 2017; and his social history of the Thoroughbred, Mr Darley's Arabian, was shortlisted in 2016 for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year. McGrath won the 2024 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Feature Story for “Lunching With Legends at Lil's.”

Having started out on a local newspaper in her hometown of Windsor, Emma eventually found a way to turn her lifelong passion for horses into her job. Over the last few decades she has worked in horseracing as deputy editor of Pacemaker magazine, deputy editor and racing editor of Horse & Hound, bloodstock editor of Thoroughbred Owner Breeder and associate editor of Bloodstock Notebook. A Newmarket resident since 2003, she also completed a stint for Darley at Dalham Hall Stud for three years before setting up Collings Berry Media. She joined the TDN team in 2015 and is married to Newmarket trainer John Berry, who is also a TDN contributor. A small owner-breeder with interests in three broodmares, her dream is to breed and race a top stayer.

Emma is a member of the BHA's Flat Pattern Committee, a trustee of the British European Breeders' Fund, and a British Horseracing Hall of Fame panellist.

Based in Dublin, Ireland, Brian Sheerin joined the TDN Europe team in May 2022. He had spent the previous six years working for the Racing Post in Ireland, where he mainly covered feature and news angles and reported at some of the biggest National Hunt and Flat meetings in Britain and Ireland. He was also nominated for the HWPA Emerging Talent Award in 2021. Brian's family are not involved in racing but he cut his teeth in the industry during school and university holidays by working for local National Hunt trainer in County Westmeath, Martin Lynch. Prior to joining the Racing Post, he held freelance roles with the Racing TV editorial team, The Irish Field newspaper and spent two years working with Boylesports as a studio broadcaster.

Adam first enjoyed a day at the races aged 11 and has been hooked on the sport ever since. Born and bred in York, he was in the lucky position to have top-class racing on his doorstep and fondly remembers his teenage years when the likes of Sea The Stars and Frankel were among the big names to strut their stuff on his beloved Knavesmire.

After studying Journalism at Northumbria University, Adam has been fortunate enough to make a career out of his teenage hobby for the last eight years. He spent much of that time working for Timeform – and latterly Sporting Life as well – where he celebrated his proudest achievement to date when nominated for the HWPA Racing Writer of the Year Award in 2022.

Adam joined the TDN Europe team in January 2024 and is now based in Leeds where he lives with his wife, Angel, and two house rabbits, Heidi and Kendal. A frustrated supporter of Leeds United FC – and an even more frustrated golfer – Adam is a keen photographer and loves to document his trips to racecourses around the world with his camera in tow.

Newmarket native Sean Cronin has been with TDN since the fax and email days of 1997.

Also of Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, his first racing memory was Red Rum's defeat of Crisp in the 1973 Grand National.

Previously with Martin Pearce's World Racing Network, he is a supporter of West Ham United and Limerick hurling. Father of five, grandfather of four.

Tom Frary was born and grew up in Norwich, England, near Newmarket. After getting a Bachelors Degree, with honors, in Politics at Leeds University, he started working for Martin Pearce's World Racing Network in 1999 after winning the Martin Wills Memorial Trust Racing Writing Awards. His love of racing goes back to his early childhood, with visits to Newmarket and the coast's Great Yarmouth sowing the seeds. He now runs Cafe Racing (which supplies the TDN with its European information, and more) alongside Sean Cronin. He is married to Louise, with identical twin boys Dylan and Jude who were born in 2013 and two horses, a thoroughbred gelding named Buddy (known as Swains Bridge when in training a long time ago with Luca Cumani) and a piebald mare Dolly. Other than remaining a horseracing obsessive, he also enjoys hacking on the horses and cycling when he can get the time. A Norwich City supporter, he was a follower of the late Henry Cecil's horses with his favourite being the fillies Bosra Sham and Catchascatchcan.

Sara Gordon, a native of Woodbine, Maryland, is a lifelong equestrian, but her passion for the Thoroughbred industry blossomed while working for Jane Allen's Warwick Equine Services LLC at Hickory Ridge Farms. Combining her passion for writing and horses, she attended Virginia Tech and received a Bachelor of Arts in multimedia journalism with a minor in equine science. Following her graduation in May of 2019, she was hired by the Maryland Horse Breeders Association as their Communications Manager, where she spent three years overseeing the association's various social media accounts and websites, along with writing and photographing for the association's publication, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred magazine. A highlight of her time with the MHBA was covering Maryland-bred Knicks Go's outstanding career, which earned him the title of Horse of the Year and older dirt male at the 2021 Eclipse Awards. Gordon is based in Lexington, Kentucky.

Alycia has been with the TDN since 1993, starting as a member of the editorial staff before taking charge of the advertising division in 1996. A native New Yorker, she graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Radio, Television and Film before earning her Masters in Screenwriting from New York University.

After a short stint as an intern at Thoroughbred Racing Communications, she joined the TDN and has been a staple ever since. Her role includes creating and managing TDN advertising and working daily with farms and agencies on developing marketing ads.

Lia has been a member of the TDN advertising staff for over two decades, starting shortly after she received her B.A. from Monmouth University where she studied both Graphic Design and Marketing. She later received her M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications from West Virginia University. Lia lives on the Jersey shore with her husband Tim and their daughter Charlotte. She enjoys drinking coffee (hot or cold), leading her daughter's Girl Scout troop and keeping her small flock of backyard chickens.

Amanda Crelin was born and raised in Monmouth County, New Jersey. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design in May 2010 from Arcadia University, where the institution's top-ranked study abroad program provided her with extensive international travel opportunities, including a full semester of study at Australian National University in Canberra. Travel remains one of her greatest passions.
Raised in a family of horse racing enthusiasts, Amanda has attended races at Monmouth Park for as long as she can remember. She joined The Thoroughbred Daily News in April 2011. A detail-oriented perfectionist, Amanda takes pride in collaborating closely with clients to bring their advertising visions to life.

A Jersey Shore native and lifelong horse lover, it was only a matter of time before Amie discovered Monmouth Park and became fascinated with the world of Thoroughbred horse racing. She graduated from Georgian Court University in 2015 with a B.F.A in Graphic Design and Multimedia Studies and is thrilled to have found a position that combines her passion for design and horses. In her free time, she enjoys exploring the outdoors, reading, working out, and spending time with her husband, two daughters, and their dogs Butters and Pixie.

Liz was born and raised in Chicago but now calls Kentucky home. Her life-long love of horses lead her to the “Horse Capitol of the World” where she likes to spend her time volunteering for the Kentucky Horse Park's Mounted Police unit and the United States Eventing Association. She graduated with a degree in Multimedia and Graphic Design and went on to freelance, specializing in branding and social media. Liz loves hanging out with her husband, son and their two Boston Terriers, exploring the outdoors. She is thrilled to be working for the TDN as an Advertising Assistant, where she can combine her passion for horses and graphic design!

Justin has been involved in Thoroughbred advertising since 2007, joining the TDN in April of 2025. Raised in Ocala, transplanted to Lexington, and now living in Cache Valley, Utah, he has a passion for graphic design, video editing, and travel. In his spare time he and his wife raise 4 children, 4 dogs, a bunny, and a hamster… as well as several stray cats. Apart from co-running “the zoo”, he is a self-taught at-home chef that enjoys perfecting recipes from various global influences.

Alayna Cullen is from Co. Kildare in Ireland. She grew up surrounded by horses and attributes her passion for horse racing to her grandparents and aunts who own Middlelane Farm, a successful breeding farm. Having completed a degree in Equine Science from the University College Dublin, Alayna was accepted onto the prestigious Godolphin Flying Start program where she spent two years traversing the world, learning all she could about the horse racing industry. Upon graduation from the course, in 2017, Alayna joined the TDN team and is based in Europe for us.

Aside from horse racing, Alayna is mad about dogs and good coffee. Although moving some 20 miles away from the family home to start Godolphin Flying Start was a bit tramautic for Alayna, she has now settled into life just outside Newmarket with her husband Ross, their daughter, and their working cocker spaniel Maisie.

Sarah grew up in Howell, NJ and graduated from Rutgers University. After a seven-year stint in the world of finance, her lifelong love of Thoroughbreds led her to the TDN in 2007.

Since 2003, Sarah has honed her skills as an equine photographer and worked side by side with the top shooters in the sport. Her award-winning photography is displayed in galleries and has been printed internationally in countless books and publications.

As a volunteer, Sarah has documented over 5,000 horses in need at rescues and auctions, as well as in emergency horse aid efforts. Her Horses and Hope Calendar Project raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for equine charities and aided horses in need nationwide.

An avid equestrian since childhood, Sarah currently hits the trails and local schooling shows with her Thoroughbred, Wizard (Jockey Club name Doctor's Secret). When not riding or shooting at the racetrack, you can find her photographing local and national rock and roll acts, including her husband Jonathan's bands.

Based in Lexington, Katie oversees the TDN's growing video and multimedia department and has earned four Eclipse Award Honorable Mentions.

Vicki Forbes is a native of Frostburg, Maryland. She got her start in racing freelance riding at farms in the Baltimore area. She galloped horses at Pimlico for trainer Frank Bonsal before marrying trainer John Forbes and taking almost two decades off to raise a family. Acting on a tip from bloodstock agent Eddie Rosen, the Thoroughbred Daily News lured her out of retirement in 1997 for what they claimed would be a temporary project…and never let her go. She has risen to the position of Director of Customer Services, where she serves as the TDN's primary (and invaluable) interface with clients.

Forbes has three children, including son John T. Forbes, the Director of Operations at Monmouth Park; four grandchildren; and a rescue dog from Puerto Rico named Birdie.

Ray Villa is a 1994 graduate of Maryland's Salisbury University. The son of two immigrants who fled Castro's Cuba during the revolution, he grew up in West Long Branch, New Jersey. Prior to joining the TDN, he was a co-owner of LaunchFax, one of the country's largest fax broadcast providers whose clients included the TDN. Villa came aboard as the TDN's IT Director, but has since broadened his responsibilities to include the oversight of all financial matters. Fluent in Spanish, he lives in Middletown, New Jersey, with his wife, Claudia, a former German national youth table tennis champion, their two children, and three rescue dogs.