Hall of Fame

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Co-owner and co-breeder Steve Coburn was a quotable presence during California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit)'s fine career and delivered again Friday when the California-bred was inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame. Champions California Chrome, Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) and Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro), all in their first year of eligibility, joined jockey Corey Nakatani in the contemporary class of 2023. Fernando Toro was selected by the Historic Review Committee. Three people--the late John Hanes II, the late Leonard Jerome and Stella F. Thayer--were inducted as...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - At the very least, Aug. 4 will always be a mighty important day in jockey Corey Nakatani's life. For good and bad reasons, but memorable nonetheless. Exactly, five years after he earned his final victory then suffered career-ending injuries in a spill at Del Mar, Nakatani will be inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame on Friday morning at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion. The event, which is open to the public, begins at 10:30 a.m. Nakatani, 52, is a member of the Class...

Bjorn Nielsen's star stayer Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) has become the third horse chosen by a public vote to be inducted into the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame. This year, the public were invited to choose from a shortlist of five Long Distance legends shortlisted by the Hall of Fame's eight-strong independent judging panel and consisting of Ardross (GB), Le Moss (GB), Persian Punch (GB) and Yeats (Ire). More than 3,000 people voted online via the Hall of Fame website as well as through a special...

How to ride your way into the Hall of Fame? Impossible question. Nobody could reduce such a journey, the decades of endeavor and experience, to a single explanation, a single concept. In the case of Chris McCarron, however, you can actually reduce the answer to a single word, simply by asking a different question. That question is: why did you make seven trips to Washington to lobby for the HISA bill? And the single word, answering both questions? Cooperation. That's what he always sought from his mounts; and that's also...

Beloved Hall of Famer Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}) produced her last foal, a filly by War Front, on June 9 at Lane's End Farm. According to Zenyatta.com, the champion's co-owner Ann Holbrook (Moss), as well as Lane's End managers Todd Claunch and Jenn Laidlaw, were present for the successful foaling of the newborn, who sports a prominent blaze quite reminiscent of her dam's recognizable markings. The post also stated that this will be Zenyatta's last foal as the 19-year-old mare enters into retirement. The winner of 19 of 20 starts...

Hall of Fame basketball coach Denny Crum, who made a splash when purchasing a horse at the 2021 Keeneland November sale for $825,000, passed away Tuesday at the age of 86. Crum led Louisville to national championships in men's basketball in 1980 and 1986. His purchase, a colt named Strava (Into Mischief), went on to win two races for Crum, his partners, Siena Farm LLC and WinStar Farm, and trainer Dallas Stewart. "He's had horses off and on," Stewart said when asked about Crum's purchase of Strava. "He's got a...

Sir Michael Stoute has described himself as "very grateful" at being inducted into the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame where he will join fellow legendary trainers Vincent O'Brien and Henry Cecil. The 77-year-old has saddled more than 4,000 winners, with his six Derby winners at Epsom including Shergar in 1981 and Desert Crown last year. Derby-winning champion Sea The Stars will also be inducted along with Stoute at next weekend's Qipco Guineas meeting at Newmarket. Stoute said, "I am very flattered and most grateful to have been inducted...

Eight new members have been elected this year to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame class of 2023. Jockeys Corey Nakatani and Fernando Toro, via the Historic Review Committee, join racehorses Arrogate (Unbridled's Song), California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit), and Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro) each in their first year of eligibility. Pillars of the Turf selections this year are John W. Hanes II, Leonard W. Jerome, and Stella F. Thayer. The late Arrogate, whose bankroll of $17,422,600 still ranks him as North America's wealthiest racehorse of all time, won...

It's been a memorable few months for trainer-turned-jockey-agent Kiaran McLaughlin, who joined in as guest on this week's TDN Writers' Room. He's been nominated to the Hall of Fame for the first time and, as the agent for Luis Saez, has his client lined up with many of the top horses in the sport.

Xtra Heat (Dixieland Heat--Begin, by Hatchet Man), winner of 25 black-type races in an overachieving career that saw her named the Eclipse Award-winning 3-year-old filly of 2001, passed away last December at the age of 24, according to a release from Woodford Thoroughbreds. Bred in Kentucky by Pope McLean, Sr., Pope McLean, Jr., Marc McLean and P. Feringa, the diminutive Xtra Heat sold for less than five figures as a weanling, yearling and 2-year-old, but won her first six races before tasting defeat for the first time in the 2000...

A four-time Eclipse Award winner and a member of racing's Hall of Fame since 2017, Venezuelan native Javier Castellano has won the 2023 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award via a nationwide vote of his fellow riders. Castellano, 45, will be honored in a Runhappy Winner's Circle ceremony at Santa Anita this spring. Married to his wife, Abby, Castellano, who immigrated to the United States in June of 1997, has three children, Kayla, Sienna and Brady and is the son-in-law of Terry Meyocks, National Director of the Jockeys' Guild. Presented annually...

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced that Jose Arias, Dennis Decauwer, Jim Goodman, and Bill Shurman have been voted by their peers for induction into the NTRA National Horseplayers Championship's Hall of Fame. The handicappers represent the ninth class of NHC Hall of Fame inductees and will be recognized during the NHC Champions Dinner Sunday, Mar. 12, 2023 at the conclusion of the NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) at the Horseshoe Las Vegas. For more information on the latest inductees, click here.