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Sporting Greatness

Eight were inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame on Monday, including recently retired Funny Cide jockey Jose Santos, who got three standing ovations during the ceremony (DRF), and Boston-connected Triple Tiara winner Mom’s Command (Herald). With 11 victories in 16 starts, the champion filly’s place in the Hall of Fame is well deserved, but Bill Finley raises a good question about future equine honorees in his ESPN column:

Do the stars of the modern era, a period in racing’s history where the majority of top horses have had very limited campaigns — deserve to be enshrined alongside the true greats and warriors of the game?

It hardly matters. Hall of Fame rules stipulate one horse, one human inductee from each category every year. So, what will future voters do with Horse of the Year Invasor, one of the best racehorses in recent years, retired with an injury after only seven starts outside Uruguay? Or Rags to Riches, who will skip the Alabama to start in the Ruffian or Gazelle this September and then run in the Breeders’ Cup (DRF)? She’ll almost certainly enter the Hall of Fame on the basis of her historic Belmont win, even if her career ends after two more starts.

Posted in HOF/Awards, The Sport on August 7, 2007

HOF Ballot Changes Needed

Lowell Sun racing correspondent Paul Daley pens an open letter to the Racing Hall of Fame Nominating Committee, calling for changes to the Hall’s balloting procedures in this week’s Sun column, reprinted with permission here.

Dear Edward L. Bowen, Chairman, and Nominating Committee members,

I sent my ballot on Tuesday via email regarding my votes for induction into the Class of 2006, to be held on Monday, August 7 at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs.

I take this vote very seriously and feel compelled to strenuously lobby for a procedural change for next year’s balloting.

As I see it, the Racing Hall of Fame should be for inclusion rather than exclusionary. As in the Baseball Hall of Fame, there is every reason to include all qualified candidates, human and equine, which fit the highest standards of racing, and then let the voters choose a specified number of candidates, regardless of category, on his or her individual ballot. Then, if any candidate receives 75 percent of the votes cast, induction would be warranted. If no candidate received the requisite number of votes, so be it.

This year, the flaws in the current system are readily apparent, especially in the Contemporary Male and Contemporary Female categories.

First, let’s look at the Contemporary Females. Mom’s Command is not even listed as one of the three finalists, yet won the New York Filly Triple Crown and then the Alabama Stakes in 1985, as nominee Sky Beauty did in 1993. However, Mom’s Command also defeated every horse who ever beat her. None of the other nominees can make that claim. Yet, she was removed from the ballot this year.

I feel strongly that we must reward outstanding qualified candidates before time passes them by and they fade from the memories of the voters, keeping in mind that candidates such as Cigar, Azeri, Secretariat, Bob Baffert, and John Velazquez, for example, will always be first-ballot inductees when eligible. In the system I propose, there will always be room for both types of candidates.

How else will youngsters develop an appreciation of the sport if they can’t read about them on the walls of the Hall of Fame, in its library, or through interactive videos? As Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally said directly after his Bayakoa won the 1990 Breeders’ Cup Distaff following the tragic breakdown of Go for Wand, “They [horses] give their lives for our enjoyment.”

So, I am voting for Jockey Eddie Maple and trainer Robert Wheeler, both eminently qualified, before they fade from voters’ consciousness. Others, like Alex Solis, Shane Sellers, Velazquez, and Edgar Prado, as jockeys, will have numerous chances for induction when their time comes in the future. The same can be said for Roger Attfield, Baffert, Wally Dollase, and Neil Howard as trainers. But the time for Maple, Wheeler, and perhaps Mel Stute is now.

In a similar sentiment, I will not vote for any candidate in the Contemporary Female category this year because Mom’s Command, who wove her magic in 1984-85, has been taken off the ballot. I admit that this is not totally fair on my part, either, because Inside Information, Silverbulletday, and Sky Beauty are all very worthy fillies. However, I have no other way of taking a stand on the issue other than with this correspondence and knowing that mares such as Azeri and Beautiful Pleasure will soon join the list of eligibles.

Lastly, it’s truly a shame that only one of Best Pal, Manila, and Silver Charm, barring ties, will be inducted this year into the Hall of Fame in the Contemporary Male category. Each of them is deserving of induction in the Class of 2006 and will get my yes vote. One only hopes that their time does not pass when the likes of Point Given, Tiznow, and Mineshaft become eligible in the ensuing years.

Respectfully submitted,
Paul R. Daley
Lowell Sun Newspaper

Posted in HOF/Awards on April 15, 2006

And the Winners Are …

Everyone you expected. There were few surprises at last night’s Eclipse awards … Saint Liam took Horse of the Year in a landslide, Afleet Alex was named three-year-old champion, and Lost in the Fog won champion sprinter easily.
Jay Hovdey catalogs the hits and misses. Among the latter: Michael Gill’s “Nixonesque” acceptance speech upon winning the owner’s Eclipse.
Bill Handleman found the whole ceremony a joke: “This year you didn’t have to be a hardcore cynic to enjoy the Eclipse Awards … such was the power of the message. Evidently it no longer matters how openly you violate the spirit of racing, not to mention the rules of the game. If you win enough, you will be rewarded. And at the end of the year, those who do the voting for the awards will disgrace themselves by honoring some of the game’s worst offenders.”

Posted in HOF/Awards on January 24, 2006

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