Hall of Fame

Have you lost all editorial accuracy in comparing the violations of trainers such as Jason Servis, Marcus Vitali, Wayne Potts, with Bob Baffert? Until Medina Spirit had the very unfortunate appearance of a skin disease requiring application of an ointment containing a one half strength variant of bethamethasone, Bob Baffert was a celebrated top trainer, who had become one of the faces of the sport. The sad oversight that led the vet to prescribe Otomax for Medina Spirit without noticing the presence of beta valerate, causing a minute overage positive...

Daily Racing Form national correspondent Jay Privman and the late turf writers Walter Haight and Jack Mann have been selected to the National Museum of Racing's Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor. Privman, 62, a resident of Carlsbad, Ca., covered his first race in 1980--Spectacular Bid's victory in the Malibu Stakes--while in college at California State University, Northridge, and working part-time for The Los Angeles Daily News. Privman worked for The Daily News full-time from 1981 through 1991, then became West Coast editor for The Racing Times (1991 to 1992)...

The Indiana Horse Racing Association held its annual banquet to honor and induct two new members to the Hall of Fame Sunday, Oct. 24 at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino. Dr. James Carmichael, inducted posthumously, and Ernie Gaskin were the 18th and 19th individuals added to the list of leaders who have worked tirelessly to promote and support horse racing in the state of Indiana. Dr. James Carmichael was a career advocate for Quarter Horse racing. The graduate of Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine owned a veterinary practice in...

Her Majesty The Queen has become the first entry into the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame within the Special Contributor category for her "unwavering commitment and longstanding patronage of the sport". From celebrating her first winner in 1949, the Queen has been a consistent presence  in racing as an owner/breeder through eight decades, as well as acting as an unofficial figurehead for the sport in Britain, particularly though its globally recognised flagship Flat meeting, Royal Ascot. "I suspect that The Queen will have a lot of inner pride...

Fresh off of a year-delayed induction into racing's Hall of Fame Friday, Mark Casse joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday morning for an expansive discussion on his career and the sport at large. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Casse reflected on his family's growing legacy in the sport, remembered arguably his most famous pupil Tepin (Bernstein) and assessed where the industry stands on stamping out its drug problems. Asked about the emotion of his Hall of Fame speech, Casse said,...

Recent Hall of Fame inductee Mark Casse joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to share what the recent induction means to him and discuss some of his top trainees, both past and present.

Steve Asmussen entered Saturday with 13 chances to pass Dale Baird to become the winningest North American trainer of all time. He needed just one. With his first starter on the day, Asmussen moved into sole possession of first place with a win from first-time-starter Stellar Tap (Tapit) in the fifth race at Saratoga, a maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds. It was the 9,446th win in a career that began quietly in 1986 at Ruidoso Downs in a race worth $2,600. The win came for Winchell Thoroughbreds, who owns...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--To punctuate his acceptance speech that concluded the Hall of Fame induction ceremony Friday, trainer Todd Pletcher used a favorite line of the late Cot Campbell, the Thoroughbred owner and colorful racing personality who was one of his longtime patrons. "It's not going to sound nearly as cool coming from me, he was a cool guy," Pletcher said, "but most of all, I want to thank the horses, the horses and the horses." Campbell's words were a fitting coda for racing's annual feel-good day that salutes the best...

For at least a decade, there were no "if" or "when" questions about Todd Pletcher and the Hall of Fame. If? By the time he won the GI Kentucky Derby for the first time with Super Saver in 2010, Pletcher, then a month away from his 43rd birthday, already had nine champions, four Eclipse Awards as outstanding trainer, four national money-earned titles, had topped the Saratoga trainers table six times and had earned the Gulfstream Park training title for the seventh consecutive year. Super Saver's Derby triumph was his 72nd...

Hall of Fame jockey John Rotz, a GI Preakness S. and GI Belmont S. winner, passed away peacefully Monday at his farm in Warrensburg, Illinois after battling a number of brain diseases, including dementia. He was 86. Classy, polite and down-to-earth, Rotz was known as "Gentleman John," a nickname he earned shortly after his riding career began in the fifties. After retiring in 1973, he worked as a steward at the NYRA tracks as well as at tracks in Louisiana, Ohio and Delaware. After ending his stint as a steward,...

The National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which will honor both the 2020 and 2021 classes after being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic last year, will be open to the public. The ceremony, which will be held at Fasig-Tipton in Saratoga, is slated for Friday, Aug. 6, at 10:30 a.m. There is no cost to attend. In addition, the ceremony will also be live streamed on the museum's website. "The museum would like to thank Fasig-Tipton for their long-time support and use of their beautiful facility for...

The relationship between trainer and assistant can often be tumultuous and fleeting, while in other instances, it can prove life-altering and enduring. And every once in a while, the spark ignites, paving the road to great glory and even the Hall of Fame. When it was announced that trainer Todd Pletcher would be inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame this summer, most could not have been surprised that the 53-year-old would have been granted the honor in his very first year of eligibility. In truth, there...