Ellen Taylor selected as the 2025 Lady Pace Honoree

Ellen Taylor, the long-time executive director of the Harness Horse Youth Foundation, will be saluted as the 2025 Lady Pace honoree by the Delaware County Fair.

A native of Hamilton County, IN, Taylor was introduced to harness racing at an early age by her parents Richard and Margot, both of whom all inductees into the Indiana Standardbred Hall of Fame.

She began working with the Harness Horse Youth Foundation (HHYF) as camp coordinator at the age of 16.  In 1990, Taylor stepped seamlessly into the role of executive director. Each summer, HHYF travels the Midwest and East coast introducing and educating thousands of young people to harness racing. As a result, she was the HTA’s Special Achievement Medal recipient in 2002 and was honored again with the Stan Bergstein Proximity Award in 2009.

Taylor has been cited by numerous organizations for her dedication to the sport, including the United States Trotting Association’s President’s Award (2015) and the U.S. Harness Writers Association’s Alan Prince Member of the Year Award (2015).

She was inducted into the Indiana Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2024 and will be enshrined into the Communicators Hall of Fame in Goshen, NY next summer.

Taylor resides in Anderson, IN with her longtime significant other, Robert “Hollywood” Heyden.

Taylor will be honored after the Ohio Breeders Championship for three-year-old filly pacers in a winner’s circle ceremony on Jug Day (Thursday, Sept. 18).

by Jay Wolf, for the Little Brown Jug