Eight-time Sovereign Award winning trainer Mark Casse and four-time Eclipse Award-winning rider Javier Castellano are among five jockeys, three trainers and three racehorses that have been tabbed as finalists for the National Museum of Racing's 2017 Hall of Fame class. Fellow finalists named in a Wednesday morning announcement include jockeys Robby Albarado, Victor Espinoza, Craig Perret and the late Garrett Gomez; trainers John Shirreffs and David Whiteley; and racehorses Gio Ponti (Tale of the Cat), Goldikova (Ire) (Anabaa) and Kona Gold (Java Gold).
Casse, Castellano, Albarado, Shirreffs, Gio Ponti and Goldikova are first-time finalists selected by the Hall of Fame's Nominating Committee from a total of 86 initial candidates suggested by participants in the Thoroughbred industry.
Casse, 56, began his training career in 1979 and has won 2,200 races to date with earnings in excess of $125 million. Inducted to the Canadian Racing Hall of Fame in 2016, Casse currently trains Eclipse Award winners Tepin (Bernstein) and Classic Empire (Pioneerof the Nile).
Shirreffs, 71, joins Casse as a contemporary on the final ballot. The Southern California stalwart is best known as the trainer of 2010 Horse of the Year and Hall of Famer Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}), as well as 2005 GI Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo (Holy Bull). Shirreffs holds a strong hand on the 2017 Kentucky Derby trail with the pair of Grade I winner Gormley (Malibu Moon) and recent GIII Robert B. Lewis S. hero Royal Mo (Uncle Mo) for long-time clients Jerry and Ann Moss.
Whiteley, son of Hall of Famer Frank Whiteley, campaigned champions Waya, Revidere and Just a Game during his training career, which culminated in 1995 with 678 wins and earnings of $11,837,823. He also gained notoriety for spoiling Spectacular Bid's Triple Crown attempt in the 1979 GI Belmont S. with Coastal. Whiteley won with a remarkable 32.7% of his career starters.
Castellano, 39, has won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in each of the past four years, notching 4,632 career wins to date. In addition to setting a single-year earnings record in 2015 with $28.1 million, he has won 348 graded stakes, seven Breeders' Cup races and the 2006 GI Preakness S. with Bernardini (A.P. Indy). The native Venezuelan's other top mounts have included Hall of Famer Ghostzapper (Awesome Again), as well as champions Flintshire (GB) (Dansili {GB}), Honor Code (A.P. Indy), Dayatthespa (City Zip) and Zagora (Fr) (Green Tune).
Albarado, 43, has won 5,026 races to date with purse earnings of more than $206 million in a career that began in 1990. Albarado was the regular rider of two-time Horse of the Year and Hall of Famer Curlin (Smart Strike), as well as 2003 Horse of the Year Mineshaft (A.P. Indy). He has won a total of 202 graded stakes races.
Espinoza, 44, has rose to the top of the game numerous times throughout his career, including a recent run of success as the pilot of 2015 Triple Crown winner and Horse of the Year American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) and 2014 and 2016 Horse of the Year California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit). Espinoza, who won the GI Kentucky Derby in 2002 with War Emblem, is one of only 10 jockeys to win the Run for the Roses three times or more.
Perret won 4,415 races in a career that spanned from 1967 through 2005. The Louisianan landed Eclipse Award honors as top rider in 1990 and achieved career highs with Bet Twice's 14-length victory in the 1987 Belmont and Unbridled's score in the 1990 Kentucky Derby–among 208 graded stakes wins throughout his time in the saddle.
Gomez, who died in December, won 3,769 races and racked up over $205 million in earnings during a career that began in 1988 and concluded in 2013. An Eclipse Award winner in 2007 and 2008, Gomez captured 13 Breeders' Cup races and was the leading North American rider by earnings in each year from 2006 through 2009.
On the equine side of the ballot, versatile Castleton Lyons colorbearer Gio Ponti was named by virtue of a career that included 10 graded stakes victories, including eight Grade I events. Champion Turf Male in 2009 and 2010 and Champion Older Male in 2009, Gio Ponti posted a career record of 12-10-1 from 29 starts and retired with earnings of $6,169,800 for trainer Christophe Clement.
Goldikova was honored in the same years as Gio Ponti, landing the Eclipse Award for Champion Turf Female in 2009 and 2010. In four North American starts, she won three consecutive runnings of the GI Breeders' Cup Mile from 2008 through 2010, contributing to her overall earnings of $7,176,551. Based in Europe, Goldikova was owned by Wertheimer and Frere and trained by Freddy Head.
Kona Gold won the Eclipse Award for Champion Sprinter in 2000 after winning that year's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, setting a track record at Santa Anita in the process. Racing from 1998 through 2003, the gritty Bruce Headley trainee retired with a docket of 14-7-2 from 30 starts and 10 graded stakes victories to his credit.
Hall of Fame voters are permitted to select as many candidates as they believe are worthy of induction to the Hall of Fame. A maximum of four candidates with the highest vote totals–provided they receive majority approval of the voting panel–will be inducted to the Hall of Fame at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs Friday, Aug. 4. An announcement of the inductees will be made after the conclusion of the voting process Apr. 24.
To view the Hall of Fame listings, visit the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame website.
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