USHWA elects Libfeld, Svanstedt and Williams to Harness Racing Hall of Fame

Harrisburg, PA. The United States Harness Writers Association has elected owner-breeder Al Libfeld, trainer Åke Svanstedt and USTA president Russell Williams to the Harness Racing Hall of Fame, the sport’s highest honour, in an announcement Thursday (Aug. 6).

USHWA also voted the late Barry Lefkowitz and longtime industry writer Kim Rinker into the Communicators Hall of Fame, the equivalent recognition for those who cover the sport rather than compete in it.

Libfeld sits seventh among both owners and breeders on the all-time Breeders Crown money list, with 11 Crown victories to his name. A Hambletonian and four Hambletonian Oaks wins round out a résumé that traces back to Dream Away’s 1997 Meadowlands Pace triumph, the win that pulled Libfeld seriously into ownership. Almost 30 years on, he hasn’t stepped back from that level, and picked up the 2018 Stan Bergstein Proximity Award along the way.

Svanstedt arrives already a Hall of Famer at home. He was a five-time Swedish Trainer of the Year before shifting his operation to North America in 2014, and the move barely slowed him. Sebastian K S was travelling at Hall of Fame pace almost from the moment he landed, and Svanstedt’s stable has been a fixture at the top of American trotting ever since.

Williams brings the deepest roots of the three. His grandfather Lawrence Sheppard founded Hanover Shoe Farms, and Williams has carried the name through decades of his own service: a University of Richmond law graduate, a longtime USTA director, and the association’s president since 2017. He picked up the Bergstein Proximity Award himself in 2014.

All three will be formally inducted alongside Carter Duer, elected earlier this year through the Hall’s Veterans category, at a ceremony in Goshen, New York on Sunday, July 4, 2027. An earlier recognition comes at USHWA’s Dan Patch Awards banquet in Orlando that February.

by Harnesslink Media