A native of upstate New York, home to Saratoga Race Course, Phil Janack is in his 25th year covering thoroughbred racing, and third as a member of the Preakness publicity team. He began at the Amsterdam Recorder in 1989, before moving on to stops at daily newspapers in Troy and Schenectady, winning state APSE awards for both event coverage and blogging along the way. He has also worked on the publicity team for the Belmont Stakes, served as a New York correspondent for the Thoroughbred Times and at Saratoga for the Blood-Horse, and spent six years as an on-air racing analyst for YNN, a 24-hour Time Warner Cable television news outlet based in Albany. Phil has also covered several Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup events, including his first Preakness in 2003.