Jockeys Calvin Borel, Garrett Gomez, and John Velazquez and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer are first-time finalists for election to the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame. Joining them on the 2011 Hall of Fame ballot are previous finalists: jockey Alex Solis, trainers Gary Jones and Robert Wheeler, and racehorses Open Mind, Safely Kept, and Sky Beauty.
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 finalists were selected by the Hall of Fame’s 16-member nominating committee from a total of 80 candidates suggested throughout the year by Turf journalists, Thoroughbred industry participants, and racing fans. To be eligible, trainers must have been active for 25 years, and jockeys must have been active for 20 years. Racehorses must have been retired for five years. All candidates must have been active within the past 25 years. A separate Historic Review Committee is assigned to consider candidates whose careers were completed more than 25 years ago.
The results of the voting on contemporary candidates will be announced May 13. The induction ceremony will be held at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Friday, Aug. 12, at 10:30 a.m. The ceremony is free and open to the public.
Calvin Borel has won the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) in three of the past four years with Street Sense (in 2007), Mine That Bird (2009), and Super Saver (2010). His three victories in the Run for the Roses are surpassed only by Hall of Famers Eddie Arcaro and Bill Hartack, with five each, and Hall of Famer Bill Shoemaker, who has four Derby wins.
Borel, one of only two riders with more than 1,000 wins at Churchill Downs (Hall of Famer Pat Day is the other), won the grade I Preakness, Woodward, Haskell, Mother Goose, and Kentucky Oaks and other stakes with 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. Borel also won the grade I Travers, Alabama, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Sword Dancer, and Stephen Foster. Through 2010 Borel had 4,815 career wins and purse earnings of $113,444,328. He won the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 2010.
Garrett Gomez won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in 2007 and 2008, and led all North American riders in earnings from 2006 through 2009. He won a record 76 stakes in 2007 and has 12 Breeders’ Cup wins to his credit, including the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) with champion Blame . Gomez posted eight grade I wins in 2010 and 11 in 2009. Among Gomez’s major victories are wins in the grade I Pacific Classic, Travers, Santa Anita Derby, Whitney, Stephen Foster, Kentucky Oaks, and Jockey Club Gold Cup. Through 2010 Gomez had 3,435 career wins and purse earnings of $193,907,844.
John Velazquez won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in 2004 and 2005 and led all North American riders in earnings during those years. He led all New York jockeys in wins from 2001 through 2004 and set a record with 65 wins at Saratoga in 2004. Velazquez has won 21 riding titles at New York Racing Association tracks and has eight Breeders’ Cup wins. He won 12 grade I races in 2010 and posted 43 grade I wins from 2006 through 2010. Velazquez won the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) in 2007 with Rags to Riches and his other major victories include triumphs in the grade I Travers, Alabama, Champagne, Personal Ensign, Whitney, King’s Bishop, Hollywood Derby, and Kentucky Oaks. Through 2010, Velazquez had won 4,483 races and ranked fourth all time in purse earnings with $241,248,072.
Jerry Hollendorfer has been the dominant trainer in Northern California since the mid-1980s. He won the training championship at every major Bay Area meeting from 1986 through 2008, recording 37 straight titles at Bay Meadows and 32 consecutive crowns at Golden Gate Fields.
In 2010, Hollendorfer won five grade I races: the Kentucky Oaks, Alabama, and Las Virgenes with champion Blind Luck; the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile with Dakota Phone; and the Gamely with Tuscan Evening. Hollendorfer ranked fourth in earnings in 2010, with $9,307,328, and third in wins, with 286. He was fifth in earnings in 2009 ($7,309,169) and seventh in 2008 ($8,637,578). He was also third in wins in both 2009 (273) and 2008 (282).
Hollendorfer won a career-high 308 races in 2004 to finish third in the trainer standings. He has been in the top 10 in wins for 24 consecutive years (1987 through 2010) and has been in the top 10 in earnings 12 times. Through 2010 Hollendorfer ranked fourth in all-time victories (5,863) and eighth all-time in earnings ($119,141,280) among North American trainers.
Alex Solis, the 1997 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award winner, has won three Breeders’ Cup races, including the 2003 Classic with Pleasantly Perfect. He has also won the Preakness and multiple editions of the Santa Anita Derby and Florida Derby (gr. I). Other major victories for Solis include the grade I Hollywood Derby, Malibu Stakes, Del Mar Futurity, Pacific Classic, Wood Memorial, Santa Anita Handicap, and the group I Dubai World Cup. Through 2010 Solis had won 4,828 races and had purse earnings of $221,907,872.
Gary Jones, who trained from 1974 through 1996, saddled the winners of 1,465 races from 7,900 starts (18.5%). He won 102 graded stakes and 233 overall stakes with purse earnings of $52,672,611. Jones won 15 meeting titles on the Southern California circuit. He twice won the Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I) and was the conditioner of 1986 champion older male Turkoman. In 1991, Jones won the Pacific Classic and the Swaps (gr. II) with future Hall of Famer Best Pal, as well as the Yellow Ribbon (gr. I) and two other stakes with Kostroma. Best Pal’s four stakes wins in 1992 included the grade I Strub, Santa Anita Handicap, and Oaklawn Handicap, while Kostrama added the Beverly D (gr. I) and several other graded stakes. In 1993, Jones won the Hollywood Gold Cup (gr. I) with Best Pal among the trainer’s 23 stakes wins for the year.
Robert Wheeler, whose career spanned from 1938 through 1992, won 1,336 races and trained for prominent owners such as C.V. Whitney, J. Rukin Jelks, Greentree Stable, and Nelson Bunker Hunt. He conditioned 56 stakes winners, including 1982 champion older female Track Robbery. The majority of his career predates the grading of races, but from 1976 on he won 18 of the 69 (26%) graded stakes his horses ran in and 44 of his 175 (25%) overall stakes attempts.
In 1959 and 1960, Wheeler’s West Coast-based division included Tompion, winner of the Santa Anita Derby, Blue Grass Stakes, and Malibu, and the distaff pair of Bug Brush and Silver Spoon. Bug Brush won six stakes at four and set a world record for 1 1/8 miles the day she beat males Hillsdale and Terrang in the San Antonio Stakes. Silver Spoon won 10 stakes in two years, including the trainer’s first of consecutive runnings of the Santa Anita Derby, in which she defeated Preakness winner Royal Orbit. Wheeler also sent out five winners of the Hollywood Juvenile Championship, which prior to the Breeders’ Cup era was one of the nation’s top races for 2-year-olds. From 1959 through 1969, Wheeler was on the leaders list of the top 30 North American trainers seven times in terms of earnings.
Open Mind was the champion 2-year-old filly of 1988 when she won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I). She won 12 of her 19 career starts, including the New York Filly Triple Crown (the grade I Acorn, Mother Goose and Coaching Club American Oaks) as well as the grade I Kentucky Oaks and Alabama Stakes at age 3. Open Mind posted a 10-race win streak, which included seven grade I events. She was champion 3-year-old filly and finished her career with nine graded wins among her 11 stakes victories.
Safely Kept raced four years, winning 24 of her 31 starts and accumulated earnings of $2,194,206. She won four of her five starts as a 2-year-old in 1988 and then took eight of her nine races at 3 to earn the Eclipse Award as outstanding sprinter. At 4, Safely Kept won eight of 10 races, with seven of those victories in stakes, including the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I). She concluded her career with five wins in seven starts as a 5-year-old, including her third victory in both the Genuine Risk Handicap (gr. II) and the Garden State Stakes Handicap (gr. III).
Sky Beauty won 15 of her 21 starts and had purse earnings of $1,336,000 in her four-year career. She posted a five-race win streak at age 3, which included the New York Filly Triple Crown and the Alabama. At 4, Sky Beauty posted another five-race win streak, including a 10-length romp in the grade I Go for Wand. She had a brief campaign at 5, adding her second victory in the grade III Vagrancy. Nine of Sky Beauty’s 15 wins were in grade I races.
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