by Nicole Kraft, USTA Communications Director

Columbus, OH — Kimberly Rinker, 46, has joined the editorial staff of Hoof Beats.

Rinker grew up in Springfield, Ohio, and received a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from The Ohio State University. An avid animal lover, she began riding hunter-jumpers and following horse racing — both Standardbred and Thoroughbred at a young age. Her other passion was music — as she played violin and piano in several orchestras until college.

Rinker’s first job in harness racing was as a USTA intern in 1981, and then as Scioto Downs’ assistant PR Director in 1982. She lived and worked in Switzerland in 1983, and then moved to Chicago in 1984, where she served as the publicity director at Maywood Park from 1985-1988, and editor of Illinois Standardbred from 1988-1993. She also served on the publicity staffs of Sportsman’s and Balmoral parks.

She is a USTA licensed trainer-driver and represented the United States in the 1995 International Drivers Championship in Moscow, Russia. Over the years she has maintained a small stable in Chicago, and also raced at Pompano for several winters in the mid-1990s.

Rinker’s features have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Hoof Beats, Horsemen & Fair World, the Northwest Indiana Hammond Times Newspaper, Sports Eye, Police Magazine, Prepared Foods, Produce Business, Inside Lincoln Park, Illinois Racing News & the Pompano Pelican. She is also the author of the books An Adventure Guide to Switzerland and Immigration From the Dominican Republic.

Her duties at Hoof Beats will include writing, editing, assigning stories and working on the magazine’s Web site.