The National Museum of Racing will induct 16 new members into its Hall of Fame Friday, Aug. 2. The 2019 induction class is comprised of jockey Craig Perret; the racehorses Royal Delta (Empire Maker), My Juliet (Gallant Romeo) and Waya (Fr) (Faraway Son); and Pillars of the Turf James E. “Ted” Bassett III, Christopher T. Chenery, Richard L. “Dick” Duchossois, William S. Farish, John Hettinger, James R. Keene, Frank E. “Jimmy” Kilroe, Gladys Mills Phipps, Ogden Phipps, Helen Hay Whitney, Marylou Whitney, and Warren Wright, Sr.
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m. at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion. The event is open to the public and free to attend. Legendary racecaller Tom Durkin will serve as master of ceremonies. Perret and Royal Delta were elected to the Hall via the contemporary voting process; My Juliet and Waya were chosen by the Museum's Historic Review Committee; and the Pillars were selected by the Museum's Pillars of the Turf Committee.
Craig Perret, 68, was North America's leading apprentice jockey by earnings in 1967 (prior to the Eclipse Awards) and won the 1990 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey. A native of New Orleans, La., Perret won 4,415 races in a career that spanned from 1967 through 2005. He won the GI Belmont S. in 1987 with Bet Twice, denying Alysheba the Triple Crown. Three years later, Perret won the GI Kentucky Derby with Unbridled. He won four Breeders' Cup races, including two editions of the Sprint, as well as two runnings of both the GI Travers S. and Queen's Plate, among others.
Royal Delta was bred in Kentucky by Palides Investments N.V., Inc. and campaigned by Besilu Stables. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Royal Delta won three Eclipse Awards (Champion 3-Year-Old Filly in 2011 and Champion Older Mare in 2012 and 2013) and consecutive runnings of the GI Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic (2011 and 2012). A dark bay, she won nine graded stakes in her career, including six Grade I events. Competing from 2010 through 2013, Royal Delta made 22 starts with a record of 12-5-1 and earnings of $4,811,126.
My Juliet was bred in Kentucky by J. R. Bettersworth and owned for most of her career by George Weasel, Jr. A dark bay, she won the 1976 Eclipse Award for Champion Sprinter before there were separate championship designations for males and females. Competing from 1974 through 1977, My Juliet raced 36 times with a record of 24-4-2 and earnings of $548,859. Trained for most of her career by Eugene Euster, My Juliet won 17 stakes races, including six graded events.
Waya was a bay filly bred in France, where she competed for her owner/breeder Daniel Wildenstein and trainer Angel Penna, Sr. She won the G2 Prix de l'Opera and the G3 Prix de Royaumont as a 3-year-old before being sent to the United States at age four. In her first American campaign, Waya equaled a world record for 1 1/8 miles on grass, covering the distance in 1:45 en route to winning the 1978 Diana Handicap at Saratoga. She also defeated males in two Grade I races that year at Belmont, the Man o' War S. and Turf Classic. Sold to George Strawbridge, Jr. and Peter M. Brant prior to her 5-year-old season, Waya won the 1979 Eclipse Award for Champion Older Mare while being trained by David Whiteley. She won five stakes that year, including Grade Is in the Santa Barbara, Top Flight, and Beldame. Waya was retired at the end of her 5-year-old campaign with a record of 14-6-4 from 29 starts and earnings of $822,948.
Among the most notable of the Pillars of the Turf inductees, William S. Farish, 80, was born in Houston on March 17, 1939. He is the owner of the 2,300-acre Lane's End Farm in Versailles, Ky., recognized as one of the world's leading breeding operations. A two-time Eclipse Award winner for Outstanding Breeder (1992, 1999), Farish served as the Chairman of the Board of Churchill Downs from 1992 through 2001 and won the Eclipse Award of Merit in 2009. Farish has campaigned more than 165 stakes winners and Lane's End has bred more than 300 stakes winners, including Horse of the Year winners A.P. Indy, Charismatic, and Mineshaft, and champion Lemon Drop Kid.
Ogden Phipps (1908-2002) was born in New York City, graduated from Harvard University, and served in the Navy in World War II. Phipps bought a group of horses from the estate of Col. E. R. Bradley's dispersal in 1946 that served as the initial core of a successful operation that built on his family's already extensive legacy in racing. Like his family's Wheatley Stable, which was brought to prominence by his mother, Phipps bred and developed his horses at Claiborne Farm through much of his career. Phipps bred 12 champions and was the leading breeder in money won in 1988 and 1989. He won two Eclipse Awards as outstanding owner (1988, 1989) and one as outstanding breeder (1988). Overall, Phipps bred 108 stakes winners either individually or in partnership.
Marylou Whitney, 93, was born Dec. 24, 1925 in Kansas City, Mo. An actress, author, and philanthropic socialite, Mrs. Whitney took up her pursuit of racing following the death of her husband, C. V. Whitney, in 1992. Mrs. Whitney spent a substantial amount of time and money trying to buy back mares associated with the Whitney family for breeding. She purchased Dear Birdie, who proved to be the foundation for Marylou Whitney Stables. Dear Birdie was named Broodmare of the Year
in 2004 and is the dam of Classin winner Birdstone and champion Bird Town, who gave Mrs. Whitney the distinction of being the only woman to breed and own a GI Kentucky Oaks winner. One of the founding members of The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and a major contributor to the opening of the Secretariat Center at the Kentucky Horse Park, Mrs. Whitney has been an advocate for finding retired Thoroughbreds new careers and homes once their racing careers have ended. She has also done substantial charitable work with backstretch workers. In 2010, Mrs. Whitney was awarded the Eclipse Award of Merit. She was elected to The Jockey Club the following year.
For more information on all of the 2019 inductees, click here.
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