Callie Davies-Gooch, whose harness racing involvement spans over 50 years in a variety of areas, has been named to the U.S. Hall of Fame Screening Committee. The announcement was made by United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) President Barry Lefkowitz on Monday, Feb. 5.
The Screening Committee takes the Hall Of Fame nominations from USHWA Chapters, discusses them with a panel of representatives from the Hall Of Fame, and then decides who will go on the summer ballot for Hall of Fame election. They also select a Veteran to go into the Hall of Fame.
Although coming from a farming family in California, it wasn’t until Davies-Gooch accompanied her mother to Phoenix Trotting Park in the mid-1960s at the age of 14 that she caught the harness racing bug. After Phoenix, the family returned to California to race at Hollywood Park, Santa Anita and Bay Meadows.
She married Brent Davies, who, along with her mother, Jackie, operated a successful stable on the Ontario Jockey Club circuit for many years.
Then, in 1972, Davies-Gooch moved from the backstretch to the racing administration, first with the Canadian Trotting Association (now Standardbred Canada) as a field representative inputting race results and other administration duties. After a stint with Times: In Harness, a leading harness racing publication, as marketing manager, she took a long-lasting job with the Hambletonian Society as staking manager.
Part of her duties with the Hambletonian Society was travelling to various host tracks for the Breeders Crown (and of course, the Hambletonian), not only being the “advance person” at these facilities, but also helping facilitate the events on race days, ensuring everything would run smoothly.
In addition to her work with the Hambletonian Society, Davies-Gooch was and still is involved in volunteering her time to many harness racing endeavours, including a 14-year stint as president of the Harness Horse Youth Foundation. She currently underwrites the January Davies Humanitarian Award, which is given annually at the USHWA Dan Patch Awards Banquet.
“Callie’s well-rounded experience in the sport will certainly be an asset to the Hall of Fame Screening Committee,” commented Lefkowitz in making the appointment and announcement.
Davies-Gooch, a member Director of the New Jersey chapter of USHWA, joins returning committee members Steve Wolf, Gordon Waterstone, Leon Zimmerman and Thomas Hicks.
USHWA is the leading group of communicators about the Standardbred horse. USHWA conducts the official annual balloting for the sport's most prestigious honours: induction to the U.S. Hall of Fame and Communicators Hall of Fame, along with the selection of the U.S. Horse of the Year, Trotter and Pacer of the Year, and the leading divisional horses of each season.
(With files from United States Harness Writers Association)