The National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame announced April 25 that jockey Alex Solis, trainer Gary Jones, and champion racehorses Ashado and Curlin will be inducted this year in the contemporary category.
The four will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Friday, Aug. 8 at 10:30 a.m. at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Solis, 50, who has 4,986 victories through April 24, ranks 10th all time in purse earnings with $234,994,221 and 29th in wins through April 24. In a career that began in 1982, Solis, a native of Panama City, Panama, has won 321 graded stakes and 634 overall stakes. He has won three Breeders' Cup races, including the 2003 Classic (gr. I) with Pleasantly Perfect. Solis won the 1986 Preakness Stakes (gr. I), as well as seven other graded stakes, with champion Snow Chief.
The winner of 18 riding titles on the Southern California circuit, Solis won the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 1997.
Jones won 1,465 races and had purse earnings of $52,672,611 in a career that spanned from 1975 to 1996. Since Equibase began keeping detailed statistics in 1976, he won 102 graded stakes and 223 overall stakes. Jones trained 104 individual stakes winners, including Turkoman, the 1986 champion older male. Jones trained Turkoman to victories in the Marlboro Cup (gr. I), Oaklawn Handicap (gr. II), and Widener Handicap (gr. I). In the 1990s, he conditioned Hall of Famer Best Pal to wins in the Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I), Oaklawn Handicap, Hollywood Gold Cup (gr. I) and Charles H. Strub (gr. I). Jones also trained Kostroma to a world turf record of 1:43.92 in the 1 1/8-mile Las Palmas Handicap in 1991.
Ashado (Saint Ballado—Goulash, by Mari's Book), bred in Kentucky and owned by Starlight Stables, Paul Saylor, and Johns Martin, won 12 of her 21 career starts and $3,931,440 in purses. She was named champion 3-year-old filly of 2004 and champion older female of 2005.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Ashado won the 2003 Spinaway (gr. I), Schuylerville (gr. II), and Demoiselle (gr. II) at 2. At 3, she won the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I), Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I), Coaching Club American Oaks (gr. I), Fair Grounds Oaks (gr. II), and Cotillion Handicap (gr. II). In her final season, at age 4 in 2005, Ashado won three more grade I races: the Go for Wand Handicap, Ogden Phipps Handicap, and Beldame.
Curlin (Smart Strike—Sherriff's Deputy, by Deputy Minister), bred in Kentucky and owned by Jess Jackson's Stonestreet Stables after a private sale early in his 3-year-old season, won 11 of 16 career starts and has the highest purse earnings in North American history at $10,501,800, surpassing the previous mark set by Cigar.
Trained for the majority of his career by Steve Asmussen, Curlin won the Breeders' Cup Classic, Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. I), Preakness, Arkansas Derby (gr. II) and Rebel (gr. III) at 3 in 2007 to be named Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male. At 4, he was again Horse of the Year and added champion older male honors. Curlin won the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I), Stephen Foster (gr. I), Woodward (gr. I) and his second Jockey Club Gold Cup in 2008. Overall, he won nine graded/group stakes, including seven grade/group I events.
The contemporary electees were chosen from a nationwide voting panel comprised of 185 racing writers, broadcasters, industry officials and historians from a group of nine finalists selected by the Hall of Fame's nominating committee.
Results of the Hall of Fame's Historic Review process, which examines candidates who have not been active within the past 25 years, will be announced in May. Results of the Pillars of the Turf election process, which honors individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to Thoroughbred racing in a leadership or pioneering capacity at the highest national level, will be announced in June.
Two-time Horse of the Year Curlin
Coglianese Photos