from the Wisconsin Harness Horse Association

Madison, WI — The Wisconsin Harness Horse Association held their annual meetings and banquet in conjunction with the USTA District 4B membership meeting on Saturday (Jan. 28) at the Howard Johnson Hotel in Madison, Wis.

The morning kicked off with Dr. Sam Morello speaking to the group about breathing and potential airway issues in race horses. The enthusiastic crowd kept the seminar going for two hours with additional follow-up questions and referrals possible.

The WHHA business meeting was highlighted with their annual board of directors election. There was three spots open on this year’s board due to the retirement of Jay DeLong (six years), Nichole Glynn (three years) and Susan Schroeder (26 years) who was the longest running director in WHHA history.

With a ballot of five to be voted on, the WHHA welcomes Nellie Augsburger-Suppanz, Danny Carey and Benjamin DeLong to the board. Amber Sawyer and Amy Wetzel also were on the ballot.

USTA District 4 Chairman Gabe Wand and Director Robert Yohn discussed rule change proposals with the crowd of 53 members and friends. Click here to see the rule change proposals in question.

The members voted to accept Rule Change Proposals 1, 3 (as amended), 5, 6, 13, 14, 16, 30, and 32. Racing Under Saddle proposals 19-28 were tabled.

Wand highlighted the upcoming USTA elections and urged everyone to participate in the first ever presidential debate on the Mike & Mike Show as well as live stream of the USTA board meeting in February.

Wisconsin native Dave Magee was the keynote speaker both in the afternoon and during the nightly banquet. He told many stories of his Wisconsin ties and answered a flurry of questions ranging from favorite horses, to times his family had beaten him. Magee discussed the transition of going from race bike to the judge’s stand and the challenges he was presented with.

Susan Schroeder summed up Dave always being a class act by stating, “You’ve driven some of the greatest horses there ever were…for me you drove some rats, but you never made me feel like they were rats…you get off and you’d have something nice to say.”

With that, Dave received a standing ovation.

The WHHA honored their 2016 season champions in their usual entertaining fashion. The top champions were:

Trotter of the Year–New Achiever, owned/trained/driven by Orval Bronkhorst
Pacer of the Year–Yankee Time, owned by Robert Larkey, trained by Bob Wand, driven by Gabe Wand
Driver of the Year–Gabe Wand, setting the all-time driving record
Service Awards-Mickey Barnes, Wayne Moldenhauer, Kay Walker, Jeanne Wendricks
James Laird Memorial Award for Excellence–Gabriel and Robert Wand
Horseperson of the Year–Rick Davis
Wisconsin Harness Racing Hall of Fame–Dean T. Magee

The night concluded with a fundraising auction raising more than $5,000 for the WHHA operating expenses and purses.