December 20, 2024 – by Jay Burns, for New England Chapter USHWA

AUBURN, ME – The New England Chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association is proud to announce the 2024 inductees to the New England Harness Writers Hall of Fame. 

The esteemed group includes Walter Case Jr. and Kevin Switzer Sr., as well as posthumous honorees Mike Andrew and Bill Varney.  The four individuals will be formally recognized at the Maine Harness Horsemen’s Association annual banquet on December 28 in Auburn, ME.

Michael Andrew (1938–2022)

Michael Andrew was a man of extraordinary talents and contributions across education, agriculture, and harness racing. Born in Gorham, Maine, he grew up on the family farm where he could hear, and was called to racing by, the race calls at nearby Gorham Raceway.

Andrew’s love for harness racing was evident in his work as a breeder and owner, where he built a stable of Maine Sire Stakes champions, focused on trotters. With a keen knowledge of Standardbred breeding and bloodlines, he was often consulted for his expertise, including for the U.S. Trotting Association and Hoof Beats for the educational series “Breeding Basics.”

Andrew’s horses, many initially trained and developed by Gordon Corey, have competed and excelled at the highest levels, including million-dollar winner Likeabatoutahell, a winner of the Joseph Ricci Memorial at Scarborough Downs in 2008; Obrigado, a world champion who was named a Dan Patch Award winner as the best older male trotter of 2016 by the U.S. Harness Writers Association; and Rebuff, a Breeders Crown and Kentucky Futurity winner.

From 2000 to 2023, Andrew was the breeder of 159 standardbreds that raced successfully across North America. He owned the successful Maine trotting stallion Boy Band, identifying the horse as a promising sire and purchasing him in Lexington, Ky., in 2001 for $145,000 despite the trotter having failed to race with no earnings in three starts. Andrew also served as president of the Maine Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association and was a commissioner on the Maine State Harness Racing Commission.

Andrew held degrees from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from Harvard University, and he served for 43 years at the University of New Hampshire, where he was named Distinguished Professor and developed an innovative five-year teaching internship program.

Beyond racing, Andrew was a skilled blacksmith, an award-winning Hampshire sheep breeder, and founder of the Downeast Polo Club. Known for his love of art, poetry, and music, he balanced elegance and humility, moving seamlessly between formal events and farm work. His profound influence spanned education, where he mentored countless professionals, and harness racing, where his vision and expertise elevated Maine’s profile in the sport.

Andrew’s legacy is defined by his character, accomplishments, and dedication to family, friends, and his community. He will be remembered as an exceptional breeder, educator, and family man, leaving a profound impact across his many worlds.

Walter Case Jr.

When driver Walter Case Jr. and pacer Hotrod Falcon rocketed past the quarter pole in 26.3 during a New England–record mile at Scarborough Downs in 1993, track announcer Lloyd Johnson called out, “You’ve never seen it here before!”

”You’ve never seen it” captures the unique place that Walter Case has achieved in harness racing. With more than 11,490 career wins, he ranks 12th all-time with an astonishing career UDR of .364.

Born and raised in Lewiston, Case once said that as soon as he sat behind a horse at the age of 10, “it was what I wanted to do. Other kids were playing baseball and basketball, I wanted to be out on the racetrack sitting behind a racehorse. I just thought that was the ultimate thing.” He began driving in 1977, winning no races in 16 starts. The next year he won 16, then 113, and 192 in the next, his UDR jumping from .236 to .329.

A true phenom, he was the youngest driver to hit most driving milestones, including the youngest, at age 30, to win 5,000 races, in 1992.

As Case quickly achieved driving success, he advanced from Maine to New York and to New Jersey’s Garden State Park and the Meadowlands, and then Chicago. He drove many top horses of his time including Cambest, Gallo Blue Chip, and Anniecrombie, driving the great mare to a mile of 1:55.4 at Sportsman’s Park in 1987, at the time the fastest mile by a filly or mare over a five-eighths track in racing history. In 1993, he drove Captain Pantastic to a huge upset ($182 to win) over Little Brown Jug winner Life Sign at Freehold Raceway in the James B. Dancer Memorial.

Earning multiple Harness Tracks of American Driver of the Year honors, Case made history in 1998 by becoming the first driver to achieve 1,000 wins in a single year, setting a record with 1,077 wins with a gaudy UDR of .506. That year, Case won an astonishing 36 percent of the time while hitting the board at a 67 percent clip. In 2000 at Northfield Park, he became the first driver to win 10 races (out of 13), and was the leading driver nationally in 2002.

“His mind and hands can measure the courage and speed of a horse and extract the right combination of both to finish a nose ahead of the pack at the end of a mile,” wrote Anthony Aliberti in the Lewiston Journal in 1984, the year Case received the Peter Haughton Award as the best young driver in the sport. Case was always a consummate scholar of racing, seeking an edge by studying the program and reviewing replays to learn about all the horses in a race.

Case’s capacity to coax speed from horses was so remarkable that his 1:52.4 Scarborough Downs track-record performance with Hotrod Falcon in 1993 endured for a quarter century.

Kevin Switzer Sr.

In the late summer of 1984, an unheralded young horseman named Kevin Switzer arrived in Maine from Jamesburg, N.J., with two cheap horses, Pine Jet and Just For Practice. Having grown up on a thoroughbred farm, Switzer had worked in home construction. But he longed to get back in the racing business, and trekking to Maine put Switzer on the path to success.

From auspicious and humble beginnings, Switzer seized opportunities along the way to develop into a consummate harness racing professional, excelling in all facets of the sport: as a driver, a trainer who excels with both colts and older horses, and a breeder.

His first big splash was in 1989, making the most of a catch drive in a leg of the North American Pacing Series at Lewiston Raceway when driver Jack Moiseyev was unable to drive. Switzer sent the longshot Out To Score to the lead, scoring the win in a startling time of 1:55.1 — a state record. “I wanted that record,” he said afterward. “I was rocking, hollering, and screaming in the lane to keep him alive.”

Then there was his success with the notorious My Bill Troy, an unruly Maine colt by the great My Bill Forwood that other trainers refused to work with. Seizing the opportunity, Switzer used patience and DIY creativity, including a specially designed race bike to protect him from the colt’s kicks, to create a blazing fast competitor. Cementing Switzer’s training reputation, My Bill Troy won eight of 10 races as a two-year-old in 1990 and was undefeated (16 for 16) as a 3-year-old in 1991.

A perennial leading trainer in Maine in the 1990s, capturing Trainer of the Year honors at Scarborough Downs, he established in 2000 KDK Standardbreds, an initialism that stands for Kevin, Denise (McNitt, his wife, who is a veterinarian), and his son Kevin Jr. Since then, the success of the owner-trainer-breeder operation has been wide-reaching, with horses competing and thriving in Maine, at Plainridge Park, and throughout the Northeast. In 2010, the open mare Shady Sabrina paced the Scarborough oval in 1:53.1, still among the top 25 fastest miles paced in Maine.

KDK Standardbreds has produced many talented homebreds. Perhaps the best was Apple Bottom Jeans, a top stakes filly in Delaware who became a top open mare along the East Coast with earnings of over $1 million, a mark of 1:50.1, and 32 wins from 104 starts from 2015 to 2020. Success has continued into today: As recently as November, KDK Standardbreds’ homebred Heinikin Bythebay captured the open pace at Plainridge, and now has 31 career wins from just 79 starts and lifetime earnings of nearly $600,000.

In his career, Switzer has 1,261 training wins from 5,494 starts, for a UTR of .353 and $7.4 million in earnings. Now retired as a driver, he won 3,446 races from 21,431 starts for a UDR of .268 and earnings of $9.2 million.

The secret of his success? “I just love horses,” he once said.

Bill Varney (1941–2024)

William “Bill” Varney was a lifelong advocate for harness racing and an accomplished Standardbred breeder who left an indelible mark on the sport.

As a little boy growing up during World War II, he lived with his grandparents in Pembroke, Maine, while his father was in the U.S. Navy. After chores were done at his grandparents’ general store and feed business, Varney and his grandfather, Leavitt Hatch, headed to the local harness track in West Pembroke to work with Hatch’s stable. Thus began Varney’s deep love for harness racing and a deep respect for the sport’s family roots in Maine.

Varney became one of the most prominent breeders in the industry with a substantial operation based at his Bangor farm that has produced more than 100 Standardbreds under the “Pembroke” name. Developed by the driving and training team of Heath Campbell and Valerie Grondin, Varney’s Pembroke horses have been dominant performers in the Maine Sire Stakes year after year and gone on to become backbone overnight performers in Maine and across North America. Three times, Varney’s horses won the prestigious Joseph Ricci Memorial Invitational at Scarborough Downs, twice with Star’s Photo and a third time with his homebred Pembroke Prayer, whose 1:57.3 win equaled the all-age track record at Scarborough Downs.

Beyond breeding, Varney played an influential role in the governance and promotion of harness racing. As a commissioner on the Maine State Harness Racing Commission, he worked tirelessly to enhance the industry in Maine, advocating for better support for breeders and trainers. His commitment to the sport extended to ensuring the humane treatment of retired racehorses. Varney’s passion for harness racing was matched by his generosity, as he supported countless stakeholders in the industry, helping them achieve success and sustain the legacy of the sport.

Outside of harness racing, Varney was a remarkable entrepreneur with a career spanning multiple industries. “I’ve always thought of myself as a starter and motivator,” he once said. He built a diverse business portfolio that included Varney Auto Supply, a chain of auto parts stores; car dealerships; and Varney Insurance, which grew into a prominent firm with locations across Maine, New York, and New Jersey.

His ventures also included real estate development and Premium Choice Broadband, a company providing fiber internet to rural communities. Known for his work ethic, integrity, and commitment to his family, Varney exemplified the values of hard work and resilience, making a lasting impact in both his professional endeavors and the harness racing community.