Elliot named Good Guy, Carr voted Unsung Hero

Trainer Steve Elliott has been voted the William Haughton Memorial Good Guy Award, and USTA data guru David Carr has been voted the LeeAnne Pooler Memorial Unsung Hero Award, in recent balloting conducted among the directors of the U.S. Harness Writers Association.

In addition, the directors selected the three finalists for this year’s prestigious Proximity Award: Chris McErlean, longtime Meadowlands executive now working for Penn National Gaming; Ebby Gerry Jr., president of the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame; and The Horseman And Fair World magazine, a primary weekly source of news for the industry.

Elliott is primarily in the spotlight in 2007 for his handling of Donato Hanover, the 3-year-old superstar trotter that he has kept in top fettle for two seasons, but his report card this year also contains the names of 3-year-old pacing filly speed demon Southwind Tempo, and a possible successor to Tempo, the undefeated 2-year-old pacing filly Lady Annie.

Especially with Donato, Elliott has been in the glare of the media spotlight–probably a place where he would admit he’s not at his most comfortable. But he has handled media inquiries with respect and thoughtfulness, realizing that the promotion of a top horse is as strong a lure as harness racing has to the “outside world,” and thus has emulated the late Bill Haughton, whose horsemanship may have been equaled only by his graciousness in the spotlight.

Like the late LeeAnne Pooler, Carr is an outwardly quiet individual, but there are waves of information and creativity inside him, which he uses to share all manner of significant and interesting harness racing facts and figures as head of the Research and Statistics section of the U.S. Trotting Association–a department he himself created almost 25 years ago. Callers and e-mailers to the USTA always find a receptive ear from David–and a quick mind that grasps just what they need, and often can even make a few suggestions that might make their particular data search even more significant and meaningful.

McErlean, Gerry, and The Horseman now go on to a final vote for this year’s winner by the entire membership of USHWA. The winner of that contest, along with Elliott, Carr, and other human and equine champions, will be honored at USHWA’s annual Awards Banquet, to be held Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008, at Dover Downs in Dover, Del. Information on tickets, and advertising in the souvenir Journal, for the dinner will be forthcoming shortly. (USHWA)

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