By DRF.com
SARATOGA, N.Y. (Feb. 28, 2023) — First-time eligible Thoroughbred champions Arrogate, California Chrome, Lady Eli, and Songbird are among six new names that will appear on the ballot for the first time for possible election into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, it was announced on Tuesday.
Trainer John Sadler along with retired trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, though previously eligible, are also newcomers to the Hall of Fame ballot.
The aforementioned quartet of horses join previously nominated racehorses Blind Luck, Game On Dude, Havre de Grace, Kona Gold, and Rags to Riches on the ballot.
Sadler and McLaughlin join previously nominated trainers Christophe Clement, Graham Motion, Doug O’Neill, and John Shirreffs for consideration.
Corey Nakatani, who has been on the ballot the last several years, is the only jockey who appears on the ballot this year.
Hall of Fame voters may select as many candidates as they deem worthy of induction. To gain election, each candidate must receive 50 percent plus one vote from the voting electorate, which numbers approximately 150. In order to appear on the ballot, the finalists were required to receive two-thirds support from the 15-member nominating committee.
Ballots were scheduled to be mailed this week. The results will be announced on April 25. That announcement will also include this year’s selections by the Museum’s Historic Review and Pillars of the Turf committees. The induction ceremony will be held on Aug. 4 at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. at 10:30 a.m.
To be eligible for consideration, a trainer must have been licensed for 25 years, while a jockey must be licensed for 20 years. Thoroughbreds must have been retired for five calendar years to be nominated. All contemporary candidates must have been active within the past 25 years. Candidates not active within the past 25 years are eligible through the Historic Review process.
Arrogate, the champion 3-year-old of 2016 trained by Bob Baffert for Juddmonte, had a record of 7-1-1 from 11 starts but retired as North America’s all-time leader in purse money won ($17,422,600). He won four Grade 1 or Group 1 races, including the Travers, Breeders’ Cup Classic, Pegasus World Cup, and Dubai World Cup.
California Chrome, a seven-time Grade 1 winner, was Horse of the Year in 2014 and 2016. As a 3-year-old, he won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Santa Anita Derby, and Hollywood Derby, the latter on turf. At 5, he went 7 for 8, including Grade 1 victories in the Dubai World Cup, Pacific Classic, and Awesome Again.
Overall, the California-bred son of Lucky Pulpit owned by Perry Martin and Steve Coburn and trained by Art Sherman, won 16 of 27 starts and earned $14.7 million.
Lady Eli, a daughter of Divine Park owned by Sheep Pond Partners and trained by Chad Brown, won 10 of 14 starts including five Grade 1 stakes. She was the champion female turf horse of 2017. She overcame a severe case of laminitis in the middle of her 3-year-old campaign that forced her to miss 13 months of racing, but returned to record Grade 1 wins in the Flower Bowl, Gamely, and Diana.
Songbird, a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro trained by Jerry Hollendorfer for Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farm, won 13 of 15 starts – including nine Grade 1 stakes – with her two losses coming by a nose to Beholder in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Distaff and a neck to Forever Unbridled in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign in 2017.
Songbird was the champion 2-year-old filly of 2015 and champion 3-year-old filly of 2016. Her Grade 1 victories include the Del Mar Debutante, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Santa Anita Oaks, Coaching Club American Oaks, Alabama, Ogden Phipps, and Delaware Handicap.
Blind Luck won Grade 1 stakes at ages 2, 3, and 4 and was the champion 3-year-old filly of 2010, the year she won the Kentucky Oaks and Alabama. She was purchased privately after her career debut and was trained and owned in part by Hollendorfer. She won 12 races from 22 starts and earned more than $3.2 million.
Game On Dude, a son of Awesome Again trained by Bob Baffert for all but the first three starts of his career, won 16 races from 34 starts and earned more than $6.4 million. A 14-time graded stakes winner, his eight Grade 1 wins include three runnings of the Santa Anita Handicap – the only horse to do that – and two runnings of the Hollywood Gold Cup.
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Kona Gold was the champion sprinter of 2000, the year in which he won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, a race in which he participated five straight years. He set track records at Churchill Downs (six furlongs) and Santa Anita (5 1/2 furlongs) during a career in which he won 14 races, including 10 graded stakes, from 30 starts. Kona Gold, a son of Java Gold, was trained and co-owned by Bruce Headley and earned $2.98 million.
Rags to Riches was the champion 3-year-old filly of 2007, the year she won the Belmont Stakes, beating subsequent Hall of Famer Curlin by a head. In doing so, she became the first filly in 102 years to win the Belmont. Her five wins from seven starts included Grade 1 successes in the Las Virgenes, Santa Anita Oaks, and Kentucky Oaks. She earned $1.34 million for owners Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Susan Magnier, and was trained by Todd Pletcher.
Havre de Grace, also campaigned by Porter and trained by Tony Dutrow and then Larry Jones, was the Horse of the Year in 2011, a year in which she beat males in the Grade 1 Woodward. She also won the Apple Blossom and Beldame that year. She retired with nine wins from 16 starts and earnings of $2.5 million.
Sadler, who campaigned Flightline to an undefeated career (6 for 6) and Horse of the Year honors in 2022, appears on the ballot for the first time. He has won 2,278 races and has purse earnings of more than $145 million in a career that began in 1978. Sadler, 66, has won 188 graded stakes, including the Breeders’ Cup Classic with Eclipse Award winner Accelerate and Flightline. He has trained 10 horses that have earned $1 million, including Stellar Wind, the champion older dirt female of 2015.
McLaughlin, who retired from training in 2021, won 1,809 races and had purse earnings of $130 million. His three champions are 2006 Horse of the Year Invasor, Lahudood (2007 female turf champion), and Questing (2012 champion 3-year-old filly). He won the 2006 Belmont Stakes with Jazil and was a three-time leading trainer in Dubai.
McLaughlin, a longtime assistant to D. Wayne Lukas, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998. He now serves as jockey agent for Luis Saez.
Clement has won 2,334 races (through Feb. 25) – including 262 graded stakes – with $159 million in purse earnings in a career that began in 1991. He trained three-time Eclipse Award winner Gio Ponti, 2014 Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist, along with Grade 1 winners Gufo, Winchester, Forbidden Apple, and Discreet Marq. He won his first Breeders Cup race in 2021 with Pizza Bianca (Juvenile Fillies Turf).
Motion, has won 2,638 races – including 192 graded stakes – and has purse earnings of $143 million in a career that began in 1993. He won the Kentucky Derby and Dubai World Cup with Animal Kingdom and trained multiple Eclipse Award winner Main Sequence. Other notable horses include Breeders’ Cup winners Better Talk Now, Shared Account, and Sharing, and graded stakes winners Miss Temple City, Film Maker, and Mean Mary.
O’Neill, has won 2,762 races – including 138 graded stakes – and has earnings of more than $153 million in a career that began in 1988. He is a two-time winner of the Kentucky Derby with I’ll Have Another and Nyquist and has trained five Eclipse Award winners, including those two along with Maryfield, Stevie Wonderboy, and Thor’s Echo.
Perhaps O’Neill is most closely associated with fan favorite and Hall of Famer Lava Man, with whom he won nine graded stakes, including three editions of the Hollywood Gold Cup and two runnings of the Santa Anita Handicap.
Shirreffs has won 565 races, including 107 graded stakes with purse earnings of $53.9 million. He started training full-time in 1994 and is best known as the trainer of Hall of Famer Zenyatta, the 2010 Horse of the Year and three-time champion older dirt female. Zenyatta won her first 19 starts, including 13 Grade 1 stakes.
Shirreffs won the 2005 Kentucky Derby with Giacomo. Other notable runners he has trained are Life Is Sweet, Tiago, Express Train, Manistique, Hollywood Story, and Gormley.
Nakatani won 3,909 races and his mounts earned $234 million in purse money in a career that ran from 1988-2018. He won 341 graded stakes, including 10 Breeders’ Cup races, and won 10 individual meet riding titles at Southern California tracks.
He won five Grade 1 races aboard Cal-bred Lava Man and won graded races on champions Serena’s Song, My Miss Aurelia, Shared Belief, Sweet Catomine, and Cal-bred Thor’s Echo.
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