Lefkowitz is USHWAn of the Year

HARRISBURG PA – Barry Lefkowitz, past president of the U.S. Harness Writers Association (USHWA) and its present Chair of the Board, with a strong history of service to the Association, especially in the financial realm, and still working hard on future improvements, has been selected as the USHWA’s Member of the Year (also known as “USHWAn of the Year”) through a poll of former award winners.

Lefkowitz was first exposed to harness racing at Monticello Raceway at age nine, and it was a “Catskills Connection” that helped establish him in the sport: Andy Furman got him to write for local papers in the Brooklyn area, and Communicators Hall Of Famer Allen Finkelson facilitated his first racetrack hiring in the sport, at Jackson Raceway in outstate Michigan. Barry has also worked for Scioto Downs, Windsor Raceway, Batavia Downs (as general manager), and perhaps most notably at Roosevelt Raceway, where he oversaw the massive effort to stage the prestigious Roosevelt International Trot, “down to dealing with Customs and having the track cleared when the quarantined foreign horses worked out.”

After graduating Kingsborough Community College and attending Brooklyn College before entering racing, Lefkowitz eventually turned to the insurance business as his profession, and is still successful in that endeavor. His strong sense of finances, of streamlining expenses and “reaching out” to produce additional funds, is what he thinks has been his major contribution to USHWA, as the Association’s finances have enjoyed an unprecedented boom period. He helped initiate these actions when Association treasurer; Barry is one of only a few persons to hold five different officer positions in USHWA. He has been a member of USHWA for 30 years, and has served as Director for 17 of those years; besides his Board participation, he has represented the New York City, Ohio, Western New York, and Delaware Valley chapters as their director.

A major project Lefkowitz has taken charge of is nearing completion: the compilation of all the annual divisional racehorse winners and Trotter/Pacer/Horse of the Year, along with their trainers and drivers, back to the first elections in 1947. A labor of over two years, the assembled data will be used to blend the champions of yesteryear with the stars of today.

Barry Lefkowitz will be honored at USHWA’s Dan Patch Awards Banquet, presented by Caesars Entertainment, to be held Sunday, February 23, 2025 at the Rosen Centre in Orlando FL. Sponsorship information for the Banquet can be obtained from Shawn Wiles at swiles@rwcatskills.com; advertising in the souvenir Journal can be arranged through Kim Rinker at trotrink@aol.com. More information about the Banquet, including tickets and associated USHWA meetings that weekend will soon be available at www.usharnesswriters.com; this site already has a link for room reservations within its story of Caesars Entertainment presenting the Dan Patch Awards Banquet.

The United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) is the leading group of communicators about the Standardbred horse. USHWA conducts the official annual balloting for the sport’s most prestigious honors: induction to the Hall of Fame and Communicators Hall of Fame, along with the selection of the Horse of the Year, Trotter and Pacer of the Year, and the leading divisional horses of each season. Each year USHWA hosts the Dan Patch Awards Banquet, honoring the best and brightest performers in North American harness racing. This banquet is the Association’s principal source of funding, and with generous financial support from the harness racing and breeding industry, USHWA is able to host the banquet at a world-class facility in a world-class manner.

From the United States Harness Writers Association