By Bloodhorse.com
SARATOGA, N.Y. (Mar. 2, 2015) — The 10 finalists on this year’s National Museum of Racing’s 2015 Hall of Fame ballot are jockeys Chris Antley, Victor Espinoza, Corey Nakatani, and Craig Perret; Thoroughbreds Black Tie Affair, Kona Gold, California-bred Lava Man, and Xtra Heat; and trainers King Leatherbury and David Whiteley.
Four jockeys, four Thoroughbreds, and two trainers comprise the 10 finalists on the ballot, as selected by the Museum’s Hall of Fame nominating committee.
Espinoza, Nakatani, Black Tie Affair, Lava Man, Leatherbury, and Whiteley are first-time finalists. Hall of Fame voters may select as many candidates as they believe are worthy of induction to the Hall of Fame. The four candidates with the highest vote totals will be elected.
The voting results on contemporary candidates will be announced Monday, April 20. The induction ceremony will be at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Friday, Aug. 7, at 10:30 a.m. The ceremony is free and open to the public.
The finalists were selected by the Hall of Fame’s 14-member nominating committee from a total of 68 initial candidates suggested by turf journalists, Thoroughbred industry participants, and racing fans. To be eligible, trainers must have been active for 25 years, while jockeys must have been active for 20 years. Thoroughbreds are required to be retired for five calendar years before becoming eligible. All candidates must have been active within the past 25 years.
The 20- and 25-year requirements for jockeys and trainers, respectively, may be waived, but a five-year waiting period is then observed before they become eligible. Candidates not active within the past 25 years are eligible through the Historic Review process.
Antley won 3,480 races and had purse earnings of $92,261,894 in a career that spanned from 1983 until his death in 2000 at the age of 34. He won 127 graded stakes races and 293 overall stakes. The leading North American rider by wins in 1985 with 469, Antley was a two-time Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner, taking the Run for the Roses with Strike the Gold in 1991 and Charismatic in 1999. He also won the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) with Charismatic. He ranked in the top 10 nationally in wins each year from 1984 through 1987.
Other grade I victories for Antley included the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Woodward, Santa Anita Handicap, Hollywood Derby, Alabama, Wood Memorial, Manhattan Handicap, Carter Handicap, Blue Grass, and Coaching Club American Oaks, among others. On Oct. 31, 1987, Antley won nine races when he had four victories at Aqueduct Racetrack and five at the Meadowlands. He also had a streak of 64 consecutive days with at least one win in 1989.
Espinoza, 42, began his career in 1993 and has won 3,188 races through Feb. 24. He ranks 19th all time in earnings with $171,130,260. A two-time winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, Espinoza has won 209 graded stakes and 412 overall stakes. He has ranked in the top 10 nationally in earnings six times since 2000, including a peak position of No. 3 in 2004 and 2006. Espinoza won 19 graded stakes in 2014, including nine grade I’s. He won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Santa Anita Derby (gr. I), Hollywood Derby (gr. I) and San Felipe (gr. II) with Horse of the Year California Chrome. His other grade I wins in 2014 included the 14 Hands Winery Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and Starlet with champion Take Charge Brandi and the FrontRunner and Del Mar Futurity with champion American Pharoah.
In 2002, Espinoza won the first two legs of the Triple Crown with War Emblem. Other grade I wins for Espinoza include the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (at odds of 55-1 with Spain in 2000) and multiple runnings of the Santa Anita Derby, Hollywood Derby, Eddie Read, Del Mar Oaks, Bing Crosby, Pat O’Brien Handicap, Del Mar Debutante, Del Mar Futurity and Norfolk, among others.
At Del Mar, Hollywood Park and Santa Anita Park, Espinoza has won two riding titles at each track. He won a Del Mar record seven races Sept. 4, 2006.
Nakatani, 44, has won 3,766 races and ranks 11th all time in earnings with $224,484,846 through Feb. 24. He began his career in 1988 and has won 332 graded stakes and 599 overall stakes. A winner of 10 Breeders’ Cup races—including three consecutive editions of the Sprint (gr. I) from 1996 through 1998—Nakatani ranks seventh all-time in stakes wins at Santa Anita with 131 and ninth in overall wins there with 1,031. During the 2006-07 Santa Anita meet, Nakatani won 19 stakes, tying the record of Hall of Famer Laffit Pincay, Jr. He has ranked in the top 10 nationally in earnings nine times in his career.
Nakatani has won multiple runnings of the Santa Anita Handicap, Hollywood Derby, Hollywood Gold Cup, Hollywood Turf Cup, Kentucky Oaks, Eddie Read, and Del Mar Oaks. Nakatani won five grade I races aboard Lava Man and has multiple stakes wins with champions Shared Belief and Sweet Catomine. He has won four riding titles at Oak Tree, three at Del Mar, two at Santa Anita and one at Hollywood Park.
Perret, 64, won 4,415 races and had purse earnings of $113,837,299 in a career that spanned from 1967 through 2005. He was North America’s leading apprentice jockey in earnings in 1967 and won the Eclipse Award for outstanding jockey in 1990. In 1987, Perret rode Bet Twice to a 14-length victory in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I), denying the Triple Crown hopes of Alysheba. During his Eclipse Award year of 1990, Perret won the Kentucky Derby with Unbridled and grade I’s with Housebuster, Safely Kept, Rhythm, and With Approval.
Along with four Breeders’ Cup victories, Perret also won multiple runnings of the Haskell Invitational (gr. I), Travers (gr. I), Queen’s Plate, and Carter Handicap (gr. I). He won the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 1988.
Black Tie Affair (Miswaki—Hat Tab Girl, by Al Hattab) was bred in Ireland by American businessman Stephen D. Peskoff. Initially owned by Edward P. Swyer, Black Tie Affair was sold as a 3-year-old to Jeffrey Sullivan for $125,000. He was trained by Walter Reese at age 2 and Ernie T. Poulos for the remainder of his career.
The Eclipse Award winner for Horse of the Year and champion older male in 1991, Black Tie Affair posted a career record of 18-9-6 from 45 starts with earnings of $3,370,694. Black Tie Affair won a total of 12 stakes races, including 11 graded events. In 1991, he closed his career with six consecutive wins (all in graded races), including a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) in which he defeated Twilight Agenda, Unbridled, Strike the Gold, and Summer Squall.
Black Tie Affair won graded stakes at ages 3, 4, and 5 and won races at nine different tracks in his career.
Kona Gold (Java Gold—Double Sunrise, by Slew o’ Gold) was bred in Kentucky by Carlos Perez at Twilite Farm and sold for $35,000 at Keeneland to a partnership that included trainer Bruce Headley, Irwin and Andrew Molasky, and Michael Singh’s High Tech Stable.
The Eclipse Award winner for champion sprinter and runner-up for Horse of the Year as a 6-year-old in 2000, Kona Gold posted a career record of 14-7-2 from 30 starts with earnings of $2,293,384. During his championship year, Kona Gold won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I), and four other stakes races. In winning the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, Kona Gold broke the Churchill Downs and Breeders’ Cup record for six furlongs with a time of 1:07.77.
A five-time Breeders’ Cup Sprint participant, Kona Gold won 10 graded stakes, including two grade Is.
Lava Man (Slew City Slew—L’il Ms. Leonard, by Nostalgia’s Star) was bred in California by Lonnie Arterburn, Eve Kuhlmann and Kim Kuhlmann. Arterburn trained Lava Man until he was claimed during his 3-year-old season for $50,000 by trainer Doug O’Neill for STD Racing Stable and partner Jason Wood.
A winner of seven grade I races—more than any other California-bred in history—Lava Man posted a career record of 17-8-5 from 47 starts with earnings of $5,268,706. Among California-bred horses, only Hall of Famers Tiznow and Best Pal have higher career earnings. Lava Man won three consecutive editions of the Hollywood Gold Cup (gr. I) (2005 through 2007), matching a feat Hall of Famer Native Diver accomplished from 1965 through 1967. Lava Man also won back-to-back runnings of the Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I) in 2006 and 2007.
In his first Hollywood Gold Cup victory, Lava Man won by a record eight lengths and earned a 120 Beyer Speed Figure. With his victory in the Whittingham (gr. IT) in 2006, Lava Man became the first horse since Vanlandingham 21 years earlier to win a grade I on both dirt and turf in the same year. Lava Man was also the first horse to win the Hollywood Gold Cup, Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I) and Pacific Classic (gr. I) in the same year (a feat since equaled by Game On Dude).
Xtra Heat (Dixieland Heat—Begin, by Hatchet Man) was bred in Kentucky by Pope McLean’s Crestwood Farm and sold as a 2-year-old for $5,000 at Maryland’s Timonium sale to trainer John Salzman, Sr. and partners Ken Taylor and Harry Deitchman.
The Eclipse Award winner for champion 3-year-old filly in 2001, Xtra Heat compiled a career record of 26-5-2 from 35 starts and earnings of $2,389,635. Xtra Heat won a total of 25 stakes races, 10 of which were graded events, including the grade I Prioress (setting a stakes record of 1:08.26). She registered two six-race win streaks and she finished second against males in the 2001 Penske Auto Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Leatherbury, 81, won his first race at Florida’s Sunshine Park in 1959 and currently ranks fourth all-time with 6,449 wins. He has won 52 training titles in Maryland (26 each at Pimlico and Laurel) and four at Delaware Park and has career purse earnings of $62,792,375. Leatherbury led all North American trainers in wins in 1977 and 1978 and won 300 or more races each year from 1975 through 1978. He ranked in the top three in North American wins each year from 1975 through 1980 and has finished in the top 10 nationally in wins 18 times and in earnings four times. Leatherbury has won 23 graded stakes races and 153 overall stakes.
In 1987, Leatherbury won the grade I Hempstead Handicap with Catatonic and in 1994 he won the grade I Philip H. Iselin Handicap with Taking Risks. Leatherbury also bred, owns and trains Ben’s Cat, a winner of $2.3 million. Ben’s Cat has won 22 stakes to date, including four graded events. Other top winners trained by Leatherbury include Ah Day (winner of 10 stakes) and Thirty Eight Paces (winner of six stakes). Leatherbury’s graded wins include multiple editions of the Parx Dash, Turf Monster Handicap, Laurel Turf Cup, and John B. Campbell Handicap.
Whiteley, 70, the son of Hall of Fame trainer Frank Whiteley Jr., trained the champions Revidere, Waya, and Just A Game and won 678 races in a career that spanned from 1970 through 1995. He won 33% of his starts (678-for-2,068) and had purse earnings of $11,837,823. Whiteley won 45 graded stakes races and 62 overall stakes. He won the 1979 Belmont Stakes with Coastal, thwarting the Triple Crown hopes of Spectacular Bid.
With Revidere (1976 champion 3-year-old filly), Whiteley won the Coaching Club American Oaks, Ruffian Handicap, Monmouth Oaks, Cotillion Handicap and Gazelle Handicap. Whiteley won the Flower Bowl, Diana Handicap, Man o’ War, Aqueduct Turf Classic, Santa Ana Handicap, Edgemere Handicap, Top Flight Handicap, Saratoga Cup and Beldame with Waya (1979 champion older female). With Just A Game (1980 champion female turf horse), Whiteley won the Diana, Flower Bowl, Matchmaker, Orchid Handicap, New York Handicap, Suwannee River Handicap and La Prevoyante Handicap. Other notables trained by Whiteley included Highland Blade, Tiller, French Colonial, Instrument Landing, and Bailjumper.
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