by Gerry Connors, for the United States Harness Writers Association

Harrisburg PA — Long-time horse racing publicist Steven Wolf has been elected president of the United States Harness Writers Association.

Wolf, a resident of Coral Springs, Fla., has been writing and covering harness racing for more than 30 years. He is currently the president of StableTracker.com, a horse racing financial accounting software system based in Ft. Lauderdale, and he is the former Senior Director of Racing Operations at the Isle Casino Pompano Park.

Elected as 1st vice-president was Christopher Tully of Goshen, N.Y. He is the current president of the Monticello-Goshen Chapter of USHWA and was the former General Manager of Historic Racetrack in Goshen.

Tim Bojarski was elected as 2nd vice-president after a special second runoff election. Bojarski is president of the Upstate New York Chapter of USHWA, has been a freelance writer for Hoof Beats magazine for 12 years and has worked for 34 years for Goodyear in several departments.

Outgoing USHWA president Jason Settlemoir was elected as chairman of the board. Settlemoir is the vice president of racing & simulcasting at Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs, both in N.Y. He was presented with a gold lifetime membership pin by senior past president Bill Brown.

Re-elected to their long-time positions on the executive board were Bill Brown, executive secretary, and Alan Prince, executive treasurer. Also re-elected were Judy Davis-Wilson as treasurer and Jerry Connors as secretary.

USHWA recently concluded its annual meetings in Orlando, Fla., with the weekend highlighted by the Dan Patch Awards banquet, which honored the late great Stan Bergstein, and which drew a group of 325 attendees that loudly cheered their awardees and favorites, including 2011 North American Harness Horse of the Year San Pail. Check out USHWA’s website (www.ushwa.org) for detailed coverage of the banquet.

The major item under the focus of the harness writers, especially their directors, was a document that was two years in the making, suggesting comprehensive changes in the Association’s by-laws, removing redundancies and anachronisms, and specifying procedures that would enable USHWA to move ahead in the coming years. After much discussion, a few deletions, and more than a few rewordings, the document was passed as the basis of the governance of USHWA. (Leon Zimmerman, head of the by-law revision committee, was named USHWA’s member of the year for his dedicated efforts.)

There was also a detailed presentation by USHWAn Barry Lefkowitz about how USHWA could upgrade its banking procedures to modern standards so that it could be in line for maximum insurance coverage and a lower price. Lefkowitz’s insurance committee report was one of over a dozen given by the sub-groupings within the organization. One of the more pleasant presentations came from Jessica Schroeder’s new membership committee, which showed that USHWA’s membership actually gained in 2011-12, the first plus in many years, primarily because of a membership recruitment brochure put together by her group.

The Association selected two longtime Meadowlands Racetrack standouts, statistician/writer Bob “Hollywood” Heyden and announcer/TV production chief Sam McKee, as the ballot candidates for this summer’s consideration for the Communicators Corner of the Hall of Fame.