The Hall Of Fame Screening Committee of the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA), after meeting with a select group of Harness Racing Museum trustees over the Fourth Of July weekend, has announced that Carter Duer has been elected to the U.S. Harness Racing Hall of Fame. 

The direct election in the Veterans designation is provided for in the USHWA bylaws, allowing for one longtime distinguished contributor to the sport who has cut back on current direct activity being put straight in by the Committee, selecting from nominations made by chapters of USHWA.

Carter Duer, as have so many Hall of Famers, grew up in the sport, assisting his father and grandfather with their Delmarva-based stable, which raced along the East Coast. Duer decided that working with the horses would be his career and moved to Lexington, Kentucky to work with Castleton Farm.

Duer’s talents quickly became apparent, as he then was sent to Florida to establish a new wing of Castleton. He later returned to Kentucky to manage the central operation for several years and then moved to Kentuckiana Farms, where he worked successfully with Tom Crouch and further built his own resume of excellence in breeding (especially stallion management) and preparation of yearlings.

Duer went on to establish his own Peninsula Farms in central Kentucky, which had a major hand in the development of such stars as Valley Victory, Jennas Beach Boy and Captain Corey. He became a leading innovator, using new methodologies to improve on conventional methods of developing yearlings.

As a “veteran,” Duer, at 87 years old, has reduced his involvement in the sport, although he still assesses consignments and also mentors younger breeders.

Duer will be feted for his Hall Of Fame selection on two occasions: the first comes in February 2027, at the Dan Patch Awards Banquet hosted by USHWA, to be held at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, Florida. The second will be during his Hall induction, in July 2027, at the annual Hall Of Fame Dinner in Goshen, New York.

At Goshen, the Screening Committee and Hall Of Fame trustees also discussed the Hall Of Fame candidates nominated by the USHWA chapters, and the Screening Committee has decided to advance the following three people to the summer balloting of USHWAns and Hall Of Famers:

• Al Libfeld, who first owned horses with his building company partner Marvin Katz and later would join his partner as a major owner and breeder in North American Standardbred racing, with a long list of champion horses on the racetrack and in the breeding shed. Libfeld and Katz also established the annual Breeders Crown Charity Challenge. Libfeld ranks seventh in the Breeders Crown all-time earnings category among owners and sixth among breeders.
• Åke Svanstedt, a member of the Swedish Hall of Fame for his many years of excellence racing trotters on the continent, who decided to transfer his operations to North America in 2014, hit the ground “running” with champion Sebastian K S and has become a fixture at every level of racing trotters throughout the U.S. and Canada.
• Russell Williams, grandson of the legendary Lawrence Sheppard of Hanover Shoe Farms, who has made a sizable contribution to the sport in management at Hanover and at the Standardbred Horse Sales Company, as President of the United States Trotting Association, and with his own modest but significant racing/breeding operation.

This trio will be joined on the ballots by Communicators Hall Of Fame nominees Kim Rinker and the late Barry Lefkowitz, selected by USHWA’s directors and voted on by the Association’s members. A candidate must receive 75 per cent of the yes-no ballots cast to earn election into the Hall. Results will be announced later in the summer.  Electees would be honoured in Florida and at Goshen, as Duer will be.  

(United States Harness Writers Association)