Getting inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame is a reward for a body of work. But every trainer knows that, in the eyes of the fans, they are only as good as their last starter. That’s what Todd Pletcher was musing about on Tuesday, less than 72 hours before he was to become one of the newest members of the Hall of Fame. “One of the unusual things about the racing Hall of Fame is that you can be inducted while you’re still active, and there’s a good chance after being inducted I will lose a race at Saratoga and be brought right back to reality,” Pletcher said. Pletcher, elected this year in his first year of eligibility, is part of an overflow number of inductees Friday, as the Hall of Fame is combining a ceremony for the classes of 2020 and 2021. Last year’s induction was canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. On Friday morning at 10:30 Eastern at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion, right around the corner from the Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, Pletcher and his fellow 2021 inductees – Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and steeplechase trainer Jack Fisher – will be feted along with the class of 2020 – trainer Mark Casse, former jockey Darrel McHargue, two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan, horse of yesteryear Tom Bowling, and Pillars of the Turf Alice Headley Chandler, Keene Daingerfield Jr., and George D. Widener Jr. The witty former racecaller Tom Durkin will serve as emcee for the ceremony, which is open to the public, though seating is limited. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. The ceremony will be broadcast live on the museum’s website, www.racingmuseum.org. Pletcher, 54, has won seven Eclipse Awards as champion trainer and his runners have earned just shy of $410 million in purses, a record. He has led the nation in annual purse earnings 10 times. Entering Wednesday’s racing, he has won 5,155 races, seventh all-time, his major wins including the Kentucky Derby twice, the Belmont three times, 11 Breeders’ Cup races, and four Kentucky Oaks, including this year. He’s also won four Canadian Triple Crown races. Eleven of his horses have won individual Eclipse Awards. Pletcher said trying to thank everyone who got him to this point is an impossible task. :: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures “Looking back at everyone who’s played a part – be it the horses, owners, co-workers – I’d leave someone out. That’s one of the things I’ve struggled with with my speech,” he said. “I’m going to keep it in broader terms, but I will definitely thank some who are no longer here.” Pletcher will be introduced by owner Mike Repole, who is only even-money to conclude his remarks prior to Repole and Pletcher sending out Mo Ready in the day’s sixth race at Saratoga. :: Visit DRF's Saratoga shop for all your handicapping needs: Past performances, picks, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more American Pharoah in 2015 became the first Triple Crown winner in the 37 years, and the 12th in history, when he swept the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont, all under Hall of Famer Victor Espinoza. He was Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male that year, after winning the 2-year-old male title the prior year. American Pharoah won nine times in 11 starts and earned more than $8.6 million. He was trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. Ahmed and Justin Zayat, whose Zayat Stables bred and owned American Pharoah, will accept the award, the Hall of Fame said. Fisher, 58, has led the nation’s steeplechase trainers in annual wins 13 times and in annual purse earnings eight times. His best runner has been two-time Eclipse Award-winning steeplechaser Good Night Shirt, who won eight Grade 1 races. Fisher also trained champion steeplechasers Moscato and Scorpiancer. Fisher also is known for his association with timber champion Saluter, who won six consecutive editions of the Virginia Gold Cup and four runnings of the Virginia Hunt Cup. Fisher has won the Virginia Gold Cup 12 times as a trainer and nine times as a rider, both records. Fisher rode Saluter to each of his Gold Cup victories. Casse, 60, has been a force in both Canada, where he was inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame in 2016, and the United States. He has won Canada’s Sovereign Award as champion trainer 13 times, and has won seven Canadian Triple Crown races, including two runnings of the Queen’s Plate. His best-known runner was Tepin, who is one of five Breeders’ Cup winners Casse has trained and who won the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot. Casse has won the Preakness and Belmont once each. He has won 3,122 races, and his runners have earned $190 million, ninth all-time. Casse will be introduced by Aron Yagoda, a horse owner and family friend. McHargue, 66, retired in 1988 having won 2,533 races in North America. He is best known for a brilliant 1978 campaign in which he won the Eclipse Award as champion jockey while setting what at the time was a single-season earnings record for a jockey of $6,188,353. He won the 1975 Preakness, and such other major races as the Apple Blossom, Blue Grass, Del Mar Debutante, Hopeful, La Brea, Santa Anita Derby, Santa Anita Handicap, and Santa Margarita. He won three Grade 1 grass races aboard Hall of Famer John Henry in 1980. McHargue has been a steward since 1990, and the chief steward in California since 2015. He is unable to attend the ceremony, so a video tribute will be played. Wise Dan, a gelding, won six Eclipse Awards during his remarkable career, which saw him win 23 times in 31 starts – on dirt, turf, and synthetic – including 11 Grade 1 races, most notably the Breeders’ Cup Mile in 2012 and 2013. He was owned by Morton Fink, who died in November 2019, and was trained by Charlie LoPresti, who will accept the award. Tom Bowling, by the prolific sire Lexington, won 14 of 17 starts racing from 1872 through 1874, including the Travers and Jersey Derby at age 3 and all four of his starts – twice at 2 1/2 miles – at 4. He was bred and owned by H.P. McGrath and trained by Hall of Famer Ansel Williamson. Michael Veitch, chair of the Hall of Fame’s historic review committee, will accept the award. Chandler, who founded Mill Ridge Farm after the death of her father, Hal Price Headley, was a prominent breeder for more than half a century, beginning with 1968 Epsom Derby winner Sir Ivor, prior to her death in April at age 95. Others raised at Mill Ridge include Derby winner Giacomo, and Horses of the Year Havre de Grace and Point Given. Chandler served as chairperson of the University of Kentucky’s Gluck Equine Research Foundation, president of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, and director of the Breeders’ Cup, Keeneland Association, and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. Her many honors included the Eclipse Award of Merit, and Honored Guest of the Thoroughbred Club of America. Her award will be accepted by her son Reynolds Bell. Daingerfield, who died in 1993 at age 83, was the most revered steward of his generation. Daingerfield became a steward in 1948 and was the chief steward in Illinois, New Jersey, and finally his home state of Kentucky, where he worked until his retirement in 1989. He also was an Eclipse Award of Merit recipient. Widener, from a famous racing family, was a prominent owner, breeder, and executive. He bred and raced champions including Jaipur, Jamestown, and What a Treat, as well as Hall of Famer Eight Thirty, and owned champion Battlefield. He won the Travers a record-tying five times. Widener was chairman of The Jockey Club for 14 years. He also chaired the Greater New York Association (the forerunner to the New York Racing Association), served as president of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, and was a director of the TCA, which, as with Chandler, named him an Honored Guest at its annual dinner. He died in 1971 at age 82, and that year was named by the Hall of Fame as its first Exemplar of Racing, a status afforded only four others since. Like McHargue, both Daingerfield and Widener will have video tributes.