Harness Racing Update is proud to announce that Debbie Little has been named its associate editor.

Little has written HRU’s weekly Meadowlands Matters column since November 2020. She will continue in that role as she adds editing duties.

She is the 2022 USHWAn of the Year and was the 2020/2021 John Hervey Award winner for feature writing.

Born Deborah Ann DeBiase, she was introduced to harness racing at an early age when she and her father would watch New York City Off-Track Betting’s “Racing from Yonkers” show.

The Yonkers native saw her first harness race – not surprisingly – at Yonkers Raceway, when her parents took her to the Westchester County Fair.

Perhaps it was just a logical progression that her first job in the industry was in the publicity department at Yonkers in 1987, sending out entries and results. She would later do the same job at The Meadowlands.

It was during this time that she met then-New York Post writer and handicapper Dave Little, and the two married in the winner’s circle at Yonkers Raceway in September of 1989.

Debbie’s big break would come one year later when the Post was looking for racing staff. She was hired as a handicapper, harness writer and racing clerk in October of 1993 and spent almost 27 years at the tabloid.

Among a long list of other harness racing credits, Debbie has served as a national officer of the United States Harness Writers Association for 10 years, including two years as president. She is currently the president of USHWA’s New York City chapter. This year is Little’s 24th as an USHWA director. That number ties her for fourth among active directors for her service on the board.

She is also co-chair of the Clyde Hirt Journalism Workshop and is responsible for getting the students their writing assignments and coordinating all activities.