There is a temptation to simply transcribe and distribute Craig Perret’s reaction to his election to the Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame earlier this week. It was that fulsome, so nakedly heartfelt, and with only the slightest trace of regret that he needed 12 appearances on the ballot before the vote finally went his way.So, because this reporter is easily tempted, here goes:“It’s funny how you retire, and for years you just go along and see a few friends at the races, then something like this comes up and I get calls from all over,” Perret said. “It’s pretty overwhelming right now.”Perret’s best year of many good years was 1990, when he won an Eclipse Award as outstanding jockey. The New Orleans native had been an impact rider since 1967, when he led North American apprentices in purse money.“I turned 16 that February, so the only place for me to go was Oaklawn Park,” Perret said. “But I was so small and so light – I think the first horse I ever rode carried only 92 pounds, and I had trouble carrying the saddle because I was only about 67 pounds. “But it wasn’t really happening yet, and with my dad it got to a point where he said it was time to be going back to school,” Perret continued. “So I went to Chicago that summer and got serious. I got pictures of me and The Shoe when we were living at Marje Everett’s home right there at Arlington Park, and I might be a couple inches shorter than him.”Perret never shied from the spotlight. He was one of the seven riders to win a Breeders’ Cup race on its inaugural program at Hollywood Park in 1984. In 1987 he won the Belmont Stakes by 14 lengths with Bet Twice. Then, in 1990 came his victory in the Kentucky Derby with Unbridled.“I was just a little guy from the Ninth Ward, from an average little family,” Perret said. “We didn’t have anything to do with horse racing, and none of my family was athletic except my father, who was a boxer. When I rode my first Derby it was like, ‘How did I get here?’ Then when I won the Derby, trust me, after that the Lord didn’t owe me nothing. It was a dream only so many people get to live. Winning the Derby was like something inside me got answered. It was worth all you did. You got to the biggest stage and you got the biggest jewel. What’s left is just pure joy.”Since Perret was first nominated to the Hall of Fame in 1994, he was passed over by the voters for 23 other jockeys. He got used to the news, year after year, and tried to shrug it off with, “Hey, at least they keep remembering me.” But there was something about the 1994 verdict that really stung.“That year I was nominated along with a very good friend of mine who got in – Jimmy Croll,” Perret said. “I love him to death. I wanted to get in with him so bad, because we did so much together. And not just winning races. It was as just people off the track.”On the track, Perret and Croll combined for a host of major victories with both Bet Twice and two-time champion sprinter Housebuster. The trainer died in 2008.“When I look back, the years that I rode in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, I had the greatest time of my life,” Perret said. “Walking into the backstretch every morning was like waking up to family. We had our own lingo. I could feel at home at any barn. Everything was face-to-face, eye-to-eye. And every call I been getting takes me back to that time.”On this particular day, Perret was hunting wild turkey in some Kentucky wilderness, not far from his farm in Shelbyville. His cellphone kept ringing, as fellow riders like Ray Sibille, Chris McCarron, Randy Romero, and Mark Guidry called to share the glow. Retired since 2005, with 4,415 winners, Perret is not one to dwell upon the past. But he is loving the moment.“I look at a lot of my friends who are all crippled up,” he said. “I’m not, and I had 37 years on the big stage with the best people. We had our day in the sun, and the light never shined just on you, no matter what you did.”Perret will be the only contemporary two-legged individual to enter the Hall of Fame this year, but he will be joined by four living Pillars of the sport who were chosen by committee – Marylou Whitney, Ted Bassett, Richard Duchossois, and William S. Farish III.“I mean, look who I’m going to be at the table with,” Perret said. “They’re some of the founders of the game. Like with Mr. Farish. He’s talked about how his first good horse was Kaskaskia. I rode that horse!“It’s my turn for a reason, so let’s wait and see what that reason is,” Perret added. “I know one thing, though, and I’m telling you straight up – I’m going to be one nervous wreck. I’d walk into the paddock for the Derby, cool as a cucumber. But this. I’ll be looking out at all the people who got me there, and it will be touching. Very touching.”