Heavenly Prize stands alone in 2018 Hall of Fame balloting
In an absolutely stunning development, Heavenly Prize is the lone contemporary inductee into the 2018 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame, this despite a change in voting rules this year that seemed as though it would make it easier for a backlogged group of deserving candidates to finally get in.
Heavenly Prize was one of 10 horses, trainers, and jockeys on the final ballot, the others being jockeys Robby Albarado, Corey Nakatani, and Craig Perret; trainers Mark Casse, John Shirreffs, and David Whiteley, and the racehorses Blind Luck, Gio Ponti, and Havre de Grace.
In recent years, even though voters could chose as many candidates as they felt worthy, only the top four receiving votes could get in. The Hall of Fame has a policy of not releasing vote totals, but it is believed several candidates in recent years got support from more than 50 percent of the voters, but did not finish in the top four and thus were denied entry.
Voters this year again were able to choose as many as they believed deserved induction, but the Hall of Fame tweaked its rules to allow any candidate who received support from more than 50 percent of the 166 voters to get in, making it a straight up-or-down vote for all finalists.
Yet when the ballots were counted this year, the Hall of Fame announced on Monday that only Heavenly Prize got more than 50 percent of the votes. The other nine fell short, even though voters, in theory, could have voted every single one in. It was not expected that all 10 would get in, but that only one candidate got more than 50 percent of the vote is shocking, especially considering the change in voting rules plus what seemed to be a bumper crop of qualified finalists.
So, Heavenly Prize will be the lone contemporary horse, trainer, or jockey inducted on Aug. 3 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where the Hall of Fame is located. She will be joined by candidates chosen by the Hall of Fame’s historic review committee, and by its Pillars of the Turf committee, those selections to be announced in May.
The 10 finalists on this year’s final ballot were chosen by an 18-member nominating committee, which reviewed dozens of candidates. To make the final ballot, a candidate had to receive support from at least 12 of the nominating committee members, in essence a higher bar than the final ballot, making this outcome all the more surprising.
Heavenly Prize – a Grade 1 winner at ages 2, 3, and 4 -- was the champion 3-year-old filly of 1994, when her victories included the Alabama, Gazelle, and Beldame, all Grade 1 races.
:: Click here to view career PPs for Heavenly Prize
Heavenly Prize also won the Frizette at age 2, and four more Grade 1 races – the Apple Blossom, Hempstead, Go for Wand, and John A. Morris – at age 4. She finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff in both 1994 and 1995. She completed her career with nine wins in 18 starts and finished in the money in all of her races. She earned $1,825,940.
Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey trained Heavenly Prize, who was bred and owned by Ogden Phipps. Heavenly Prize – by Seeking the Gold out of the Nijinsky II mare Oh What a Dance -- died in 2013 at age 22.