Delaware adds five to Wall of Fame

A trainer and owner with longstanding ties to the Delaware Handicap, which will be run for the 71st time Sunday, are among the second class of inductees to Delaware Park's Wall of Fame.

Virgil "Buddy" Raines, whose 65-year career included two wins in the Del Cap, and Foxcatcher Farms, whose owner William du Pont, won the inaugural running of Delaware Park's most prestigious stakes, are among five inductees announced on Tuesday.

The class of 2008, selected by a panel of the track's executives, also includes the great horse Damascus, former jockey Chris McCarron, and former racing official R.R.M. Carpenter Jr.

"This second class of inductees represents the virtues and commitments of the people who have made the great tradition of horse racing at Delaware Park what it is today," said Bill Fasy, chief operating officer of Delaware Park.

Raines, who died in 2000 at age 89, saddled 21 stakes winners, including Greek Money, winner of the 1962 Preakness; Cochise, winner of the Saratoga Cup; and Open Fire, the champion handicap mare of 1966, the same year she won the Delaware Handicap. Raines also won the 1944 Del Cap with Everget.

Foxcatcher Farms was locally owned by the late William du Pont, who designed and built Delaware Park. Foxcatcher Farms won the inaugural Delaware Handicap - then known as the New Castle Handicap - with Rosenna in 1937. In 1955, the farm won the Del Cap for a second time with Parlo.

Damascus, Horse of the Year in 1967, raced at Delaware four times. During his championship campaign, he won the Leonard Richards Stakes and lost the William du Pont Jr. Handicap by a nose as the 1-5 favorite. In 1968, Damascus returned to Delaware, where he won an allowance and scored by two lengths in the du Pont.

McCarron, who rode 7,141 winners during a career from 1974 to 2002, was Delaware's leading rider in 1974, the same year he won an Eclipse Award as the outstanding apprentice.

Carpenter served as chairman of the Delaware Racing Commission from 1971 until 1989. He owned the Philadelphia Phillies for three decades. A $100,000 stakes named in his honor will be contested on Saturday's Delaware Oaks undercard.