AUBURN, Wash. – When the crowd gathers for Washington Racing Hall of Fame induction ceremonies Saturday night at Emerald Downs, it will surely be said about Ricky Frazier that the man could ride a racehorse. Frazier won five Emerald Downs riding titles during the seven seasons from 2004-10 before his career came to a stunning halt in a freak accident in Fresno, Calif., where a head-to-head collision with a horse caused head injuries so severe that symptoms persist nearly four years later. Frazier lives in Hot Springs, Ark., and occasionally visits Emerald Downs, where he’s embraced as a native son. He won 886 races over eight full seasons here, with 72 stakes victories, and was the regular rider on top horses Smarty Deb, Shampoo, Atta Boy Roy, Flamethrowintexan, Ladyledue, Noosa Beach, and others. On Saturday, he’ll join trainer Ben Harris in a 2014 Hall of Fame class that includes horses Chum Salmon and Delicate Vine and breeders Barbara and William Nelson Jr. “I found out about it on the morning of my 50th birthday,” Frazier said this week of the Hall of Fame nod. “It was real cool. It makes you reflect. They were in a real hurry to get me started when I was 15, to get a few years in before I got heavy, and I ended up riding for more than 30 years.” Frazier had built an impressive résumé by the time he arrived at Emerald Downs in 2002. He rode seven winners on one day at Louisiana Downs in 1988 and captured riding titles at Hawthorne and Sam Houston Race Park. He also came with a long medical sheet, highlighted by a broken neck and what Frazier said was a “crushed” ankle that threatened to end his career. Wayne McDonnell, an agent who worked with Frazier in California and West Virginia, said he “could have ridden in 12 or 14 Kentucky Derbies” had he not been waylaid by injuries and a constant battle to make weight. Frazier is comfortable in retirement, he said. He became a grandfather last year and spends more time with family and friends than he did when he was riding. His lone regret, he said, was not being active long enough to reach 4,000 career victories. He finished with 3,469. “It’s been 3 1/2 years now, and it has healed as much as it’s going to heal,” Frazier said of his head injury. “I still have some balance issues. You have good days and bad days. But you move on. My quality of life ... I’m not in a wheelchair or anything. If you have to retire, this is an easier way to get forced out.” At Emerald, Frazier was renowned for his attention to detail and clever race riding. Boone McCanna, the agent who helped guide Frazier’s career at Emerald and in Northern California, said Frazier “was his own best agent.” “He rode smarter races than anybody, he read the Racing Form and knew all the horses around him, and he was the consummate pro,” McCanna said. “And then he could get off the horse and tell the trainer something intelligent. He was a falcon among sparrows out there.” “Ricky was a thinker,” said trainer Doris Harwood, whose relationship with Frazier culminated with the jockey’s victory aboard Noosa Beach in the 2010 Longacres Mile. “He was prepared. Whether he had been on your horse or not, he knew all the horses in the race, he always had a plan for your horse, and if that didn’t work out, he always had a Plan B.” “I think he was pretty darn good from anywhere,” trainer Frank Lucarelli said of Frazier’s riding style. “He was versatile. He was really dangerous from right off the pace, but I would never hesitate to put him on any style of horse. There was one year where he must have slipped up the rail and won 30 races. He had a knack for that. You’d see a horse coming up there, and it was, ‘Son of a gun, he nailed me again!’ ” Frazier also seemed to have tremendous empathy for the horses, Harwood said, a sentiment echoed by Larry Ross, another trainer who won stakes races with Frazier and developed a friendship. “Ricky was the consummate jockey,” Ross said. “It wasn’t just a mount for him; he was concerned for the horse. Him, Gary Baze, and right now with Leslie Mawing, they’re not just out there for the ride. They’re out there to help evaluate your horses and to take care of them. It’s a shame that he couldn’t keep riding. But Ricky is the greatest guy, and Emerald was lucky to have him.”