Arravale, Jambalaya, Russell Baze set to enter Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame

Michael Burns

Arravale, winner of the 2006 E.P. Taylor Stakes, will be inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame on Thursday.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Arravale’s star burned brightly in 2006 as she won the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks and Woodbine’s Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes.

Those successes led to Sovereign Awards as Horse of the Year and champion turf female for Arravale, and her long-term reward will come Thursday when she is inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Arravale, the choice in the female horse category, will be one of five Thoroughbred inductees honored at Thursday’s annual Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame gala at the nearby Mississauga Convention Centre.

Jambalaya, male horse; L’Alezane, veteran horse; Russell Baze, jockey; and the late owner/breeder Aubrey Minshall, builder; also were voted in by the 20-member Thoroughbred election committee, which selected from slates of three nominees provided by the nominations committee in each of the five categories.

Arravale, who was bred in Kentucky, also won Woodbine’s Grade 3 Natalma Stakes as a 2-year-old and the listed Alywow in her first start at 3.

In 2008, Arravale retired to the breeding shed with a record of 5-1-2 from 15 starts and earnings of $1,230,549 for owner Bob Costigan and trainer Mac Benson.

Her first foal, the 2-year-old filly Nancy O, is in training at Woodbine with Carolyn Costigan, daughter of Bob Costigan.

◗ Jambalaya was a turf specialist who recorded Grade 1 wins in the 2007 Arlington Million and Gulfstream Park Breeders’ Cup Handicap.

Owned by his trainer, Catherine Day Phillips, in partnership with her husband, Todd Phillips, Jambalaya compiled a record of 9-1-7 for earnings of $1,748,359 from 23 starts.

Jambalaya, an Ontario-bred gelding, retired in 2010 and has taken up residence at Kingfield Farm, the nom du course of his owners.

◗ L’Alezane, owned by Jean-Louis Levesque and trained by Yonnie Star, was Canada’s Horse of the Year and champion 2-year-old filly in 1977.

Bred in Ontario by E.P. Taylor, L’Alezane won 12 races, with her major successes coming in Keeneland’s Grade 2 Alcibiades and the Grade 3 Schuylerville and Adirondack at Saratoga.

◗ Baze, still riding high at age 54, is the all-time leading rider in races won with 11,675 victories as of Tuesday.

Born in Vancouver, Baze holds dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship, but has done the overwhelming majority of his riding south of the border and was inducted into Saratoga’s Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame in 1999.

◗ Aubrey Minshall, who founded Minshall Farm, died in 1993, but had established a breeding and racing operation that produced champions including Mt. Sassafras, Bold Ruritana, King Corrie, and Dance for Donna.

Minshall Farm dominated the Sovereign Awards in 1996, with honors as outstanding owner and breeder, Horse of the Year, and older horse awards with Mt. Sassafras; and an outstanding trainer award for Barbara Minshall, Aubrey Minshall’s widow.

◗ The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame also will honor the late trainer Patrick MacMurchy and the late jockey John Dewhurst in the Thoroughbred “Legends” category.

The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, a dual-breed facility, is located at Woodbine.

Five Standardbred inductees and two Standardbred “Legends” also will be feted Thursday.