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Goshen, NY – Harness racing driver Wally Hennessey has not seen snow in 37 years. But when the Monticello-Goshen Chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) held its 63rd annual banquet on Sunday (Dec. 11) in the Catskill Mountains, over six inches of the wintery white stuff had blanketed the area to welcome the arrival of their Lifetime Achievement Award honoree.
“Horsemen are a hearty bunch,” decreed the winner of 11,454 harness races. “We wouldn’t let a little bad weather stop us from racing, so we certainly aren’t going to let it stop us from celebrating all of our hard work!”
So, as the story goes, one hundred and fifty equine enthusiasts got into their four-wheel drive pickup trucks and SUVs, braved the elements, and arrived at the Wallkill Golf Club to help one of harness racing’s most admired ambassadors, Wally Hennessey, receive an honor from the chapter that first nominated him for the Hall of Fame back in 2006.
“It was John Manzi that first got the ball rolling on my behalf, and I am very grateful to the Monticello-Goshen chapter for their continued confidence,” noted the 66-years-young reinsman. Once known as the ‘King of the New York Sire Stakes,’ Hennessey shows no signs of aging, or slowing down. Saturday (Dec. 10) he won five of eight Florida Breeders Stakes at Sunshine Meadows in Delray Beach. Later that afternoon he hopped on a place and flew into the Albany/Saratoga area where he was greeted with a winter storm the following day.
A native of Prince Edward Island, Canada, Hennessey moved to Florida in the mid-1980s and has been a staple at Pompano Park ever since. The winner of over $76 million in career earnings, Gabe Prewitt noted that, “Wally was always available to us at ‘the Pomp.’ He would greet guests, show groups around the backstretch, and bring people out to the track. He truly was our Hall of Fame Ambassador in South Florida.”
Prewitt, the chapter’s John Gilmour Good Guy Award recipient, recalled the day that he and Wally traded jobs: “Wally wanted to call a race, and to this day it is the most-watched replay in the history of Pompano. Wally did a great job at the mic, however, when I drove in the announcer’s race—I did not have as much success.”
Brigadier General of the ‘Send It In’ Army, Prewitt is a popular attraction wherever he goes. The director of racing for the Caesar’s Entertainment properties, Prewitt is as much at home in the announcer’s booth as he is providing color commentary, giving picks, or conducting interviews on television.
Another highlight of the evening was the rousing applause received by Rising Star award winner Braxten Boyd. A talented reinsman from Michigan, ‘Triple-B’ has gone from $300,000 to $3.8 million in seasonal earnings in just three short years. Humbled by the experience, the luxuriously thatched 22-year-old was grateful for all the support that he has received in his rise to prominence.
“I truly appreciate all of the trainers and owners that have given me a chance to drive their horses, but I have to credit my dad (Brett Boyd) for making me jog and train all those crazy runaways. That’s really what taught me how to handle horses out on the racetrack,” stated Boyd.
Dr. Steve Dey III, the chapter’s Cradle of the Trotter Breeders Award winner, braved the snow-covered highways to travel from his Heritage Hill farm in Allentown, NJ to accept his award. Eddie Lohmeyer and Dr. Patti Hogan also made the trek to show their support for the breeder of this year’s Little Brown Jug winner Bythemissal.
“We are fortunate that the Garden State continues to support harness racing and breeding,” noted Dey. “Our ‘big track’ at the Meadowlands will continue to be a proving ground for some of the sport’s best young equine athletes.”
Aside from hosting nationally prominent honorees, the awards banquet still maintains its ‘Borscht Belt’ roots. Since 1959 the Monticello-Goshen chapter has been rewarding the local horsemen and women that compete at the ‘Mighty M,’ as well as the hard-working staff and management that keep the races rolling.
Anthony Bruno, the VP of Operations at the new Resorts World Newburgh facility, received the John Manzi Leadership Award for his 20 years with the organization. Dr. Gary Smith and his wife Tracey were presented with the Mighty M Award of Appreciation for their decades of service to the backstretch and their tireless efforts in the facilitation of race-day Lasix administration.
Another Monticello ‘lifer’ to be honored was long-time presiding judge Lance Ditewig, who called the grandstand’s crow’s nest home for nearly three decades. He won the chapter’s Excelsior Award for his 32 years of officiating service to New York harness racing.
But none of the aforementioned group could match the longevity of Denise DeSimone. The Monticello-native first started assisting the track’s racing secretaries when Richard Nixon was president and has been there ever since. Recognized for her fifty years of service, the ‘voice’ of the race office was jokingly provided with a few ‘paper’ eligibilities for old-time’s sake.
James Doherty Jr. was the trainer of record for the 2022 Monticello Raceway Horse of the Year Machlicious, and his partner Jennifer Mitchell was presented with the Caretaker of the Year Award. Scott Keppler was this year’s Amateur Driver of the Year and received his award along with his peers for the forty-five-plus divisional equine honors bestowed upon the hard-working trainers and caretakers that call the Sullivan County oval home.
With revenue from their loyal advertisers in the 72-page souvenir journal, the Monticello-Goshen Chapter of USHWA is able to raise enough funds to donate thousands of dollars every year to the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame, as well as Goshen Historic Track. These two distinct, separate entities share the same hallowed ground and a singleness of purpose to preserve, protect and promote harness racing.
The practice of raising money and donating funds to Historic Track and the Hall of Fame began in the mid-1970s with Monticello Raceway publicity icon John Manzi and has continued ever since. In just the last 25 years, the local Monticello-Goshen chapter has donated well over $150,000 to these important industry preservationists.
by Chris Tully, for the Monticello-Goshen Chapter of USHWA
