JC / Railbird - HOF/Awards

HOF/Awards Archive

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

West: No Vote for HOTY

“No vote” is what Gary West will write next to Horse of the Year on his Eclipse ballot:

The Horse of the Year, like Caesar’s wife, must be above suspicion. But Saint Liam, because he’s trained by Dutrow, simply isn’t…. For the sport’s highest honor, I simply will not vote for any horse whose trainer has been suspended or fined for a serious medication or ethical violation during the season. From here, Saint Liam’s victories in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the Woodward, the Stephen Foster and the Donn Handicap look just like so many Sosa home runs.

As for voting another horse HOTY: “A Horse of the Year for 2005 would be like a Most Valuable Player for the Houston Texans. The options are worse than few; they’re embarrassing.”
Related: Paul Daley reports that the owners of Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Silver Train, another Richard Dutrow trainee, have sent Eclipse voters a gift:

What emerged from the box was a beautifully embroidered
baseball cap of the finest quality. On the back of the black cap, stitched
in white lettering was Breeders’ Cup Sprint Champ. The green and red jockey
silks and cap on the side were immediately recognized as those belonging to
Buckram Oak Farm. The front was equally impressive, with Silver stitched in,
guess what color, with a silver express train atop. The red embroidery in
the word train connoted, to me, the imperative to STOP and vote for this
worthy candidate, Silver Train, for Sprint Champion of 2005.

Daley plans to vote for Lost in the Fog, but the hat’s arrival has caused some unease. “Why do I feel like a hooker?” he wonders.
Neither West nor Daley would have a problem if they followed the lead of San Diego Union-Tribune sports columnist Tim Sullivan, who’s opted out of all awards voting and polling, reasoning that:

Just as Church and State should be separate entities, so should Journalists and Jocks. Voting on awards or rankings is a privilege and, to some extent, a power base, but it also involves inherent conflicts of interest and, in the steroids era, an uncomfortable reliance on circumstantial evidence.

Maybe I’m taking myself too sanctimoniously here, but this is a headache I no longer need. I shouldn’t be casting ballots that can trigger contractual bonuses or endorsement opportunities for athletes I might have occasion to interview. Neither should I accept the responsibility of deciding whether Mark McGwire is still entitled to the presumption of innocence following his clumsy evasions before Congress….

Better to recuse oneself than to render a judgment based on unsubstantiated suspicion.

Posted in HOF/Awards on December 16, 2005

Tainted Liam

The rush to annoint Saint Liam as Horse of the Year after his Breeders’ Cup Classic win last Saturday could prove premature, writes Gary West:

Yes, Saint Liam won the country’s richest race, the Breeders’ Cup Classic; and, yes, in 2005 he constructed an admirable edifice of accomplishment that included three other major stakes wins. He’s the champion older horse; give him that.

But at least for the moment, there are two reasons not to hand over the sport’s highest honor to Saint Liam. The obvious reason is Afleet Alex. The other is Saint Liam’s trainer, [Richard] Dutrow.

This past summer, Dutrow paid a $5,000 fine and served a 60-day suspension — he originally had been suspended 120 days — for a variety of offenses, including two medication violations. As a result, his winning the Classic with Saint Liam was, for some, an unsatisfying outcome.

In getting to the winner’s circle, Dutrow had stepped on and over the rules of racing.

Yes, he had paid his fine and served his suspension, but the sight of him there left traditionalists feeling uneasy.

And should Saint Liam become Horse of the Year, well, that would be the ultimate raspberry.

If you find that an unreasonable attitude, try for a moment to imagine how you’re going to feel when Barry Bonds hits No. 756 over the horizon.

Expect debate over the propriety of naming Saint Liam the 2005 Horse of the Year (and possibly Silver Train as sprint champion) to intensify in the next six weeks, given the cloud of suspicion that hangs over Dutrow.

Posted in HOF/Awards on November 4, 2005

← Before After →

← Home