Walzak No Longer With OHHA

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Published: January 30, 2009 10:38 am EST

Ontario Harness Horse Association officials confirmed with Trot Insider this morning that John Walzak is no longer the association's chief operations officer

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Walzak's resignation from OHHA was accepted by officials.

Trot Insider contacted Walzak this morning, who respectfully declined to comment on the situation.

Trot Insider will have more information on Walzak's departure as it becomes available.

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Apparently, Walzak, Whelan, his wife, Colleen Belore, The Magic Man, and Darryl MacArthur all attended the HTA conference in Las Vegas.

It's great to see the Whelan-Walzak era finally over. His defenders fail to realize we are in the midst of one of the worst recesions in modern times that could last a long time. Businesses and financial institutions are failing left and right. Calling a boycott and over a nothing issue when horsepeople have to put food on the table and the racing game is in such a freefall is utter stupidity. Hopefully, Billy O'Donnell can clean the mess these two created and focus on big issues of being a partner in helping this game grow again.

Interesting to note that both Jim Whelan, his wife and John Walzak are in Las Vegas at the HTA conference... who's expenses are they on?

john i wish you all the best with your future endeavers ,i dont blame you at all for the happinings now at woodbine ,the only ones to blame are the horsepeople themselves .had they stuck together as a group instead of a bunch of spoiled kids they wouldnt be in the position they are right now .all they did by entering when there association asked them not to until a fair deal for THEM was reached ,was to shoot themselves in the foot which they will realize when weg decides to kick somebbody out just because they want to ,they have already shown that .thats ok they will come whining ,and ohha wont be able to help ,all because of a mixture of stupidity and greed ,my god do they think that ohha took there stance for there own good?what we have is a bunch of narrow minded people in this business,and i say they deserve whatever weg decides to do with them.again all the best john ,horsepeople dont deserve somebody like you.

Maybe now that the personal battle with WEG and OHHA,will be finished,get back to the table and iron out a fair agreement with the truth put up front leading the way.

With Mr. Walzak out of the OHHA, perhaps negotiations with WEG will resume and the horsepeople of Ontario and OHHA can get back on track. I'm sure that Mr. Walzak's intentions were to always benefit the OHHA but his tactics were often too abrasive when negotiating with other parts of the industry. I think, at one time, he was an effective leader along with Mr. Whalen and served the organization well. However, they both may have overstepped their boundaries on occasion and their combined, perceived power became detrimental to the membership on several issues.
I wish both Mr. Whalen and Mr. Walzak well in their future endeavours and hope that the executive of OHHA can re-establish their good relationship with WEG and other track officials so that the sport/industry of racing can grow and become healthy once again.

In reply to by Lynne Magee (not verified)

Unfortunately, Lynne, OHHA deals with other tracks besides WEG. I live in Windsor, where harness racing is teetering on the edge. The best intentions of OHHA have been unable to help us down here, because the ORC is unable or unwilling to convince the track owner that the horses were the reason for the slot parlour, not vice versa. It's pretty lame to blame John and Jim for the inaction of the ORC (the government) in helping our industry, province-wide, not just with WEG. At least WEG wants to race.

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