Only one could win when champions Arrogate and California Chrome shared a starting gate for the first time in the highly anticipated 2016 Breeders’ Cup Classic. They were separated by mere feet, with Arrogate winning by a half-length. California Chrome ultimately took home Horse of the Year honors and both earned divisional trophies. On Friday the two will share a stage in lockstep as they enter the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y, as part of the class of 2023. The immensely popular California Chrome and the star-crossed Arrogate, along with fellow Eclipse Award champion Songbird and Corey Nakatani, one of the most successful riders in the history of the Breeders’ Cup, are this year’s contemporary electees into the Hall of Fame, selected earlier this year by a voting panel. All three horses were appearing on the contemporary ballot for the first time. Rounding out this class are jockey Fernando Toro, selected for induction by the Hall of Fame’s Historic Review Committee, and John W. Hanes II, Leonard W. Jerome, and Stella F. Thayer, selected by a panel as Pillars of the Turf. The inductees will be recognized and enshrined at Fasig-Tipton’s Humphrey S. Finney Sales Pavilion, down the street from Saratoga Race Course. The ceremony, which begins at 10:30 a.m. Eastern, is free and open to the public – although seating is limited and goes quickly. The event, which will again be emceed by retired racecaller Tom Durkin, will be live-streamed on the museum’s website, www.racingmuseum.org; at DRF.com; and, for the first time, as a Spanish-language broadcast at DRFenEspanol.com. :: DRF's 2023 Saratoga headquarters: Previews, past performances, picks, recaps, news, and more. California Chrome, named for his home state and his flashy markings, rose from modest beginnings for breeders and original owners Steve Coburn and Perry Martin. Taylor Made Farm later bought in and campaigned the horse with Martin late in his career as California Chrome LLC. California Chrome won 10 graded stakes for trainer Art Sherman, highlighted by the 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes to secure the first of his two Horse of the Year titles. He went on to success as an older horse, highlighted by a win in the 2016 Dubai World Cup, to earn another championship. He retired with earnings of $14,752,650 and was briefly the highest-earning North American Thoroughbred of all time – until Arrogate came along. Arrogate was trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert for the late Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farm, which had purchased him as a yearling. The gray ripped through four consecutive major Grade/Group 1 races in scintillating fashion to secure his stardom. He burst onto the scene with a 13 1/2-length victory in the 2016 Travers Stakes, running the 10 furlongs in 1:59.36 to smashing a 37-year-old track record. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 122. He went on to edge California Chrome in the Classic with a 120 Beyer. Arrogate began 2017 by winning the Pegasus World Cup by 4 3/4 lengths – California Chrome was ninth in his career finale – with a 119 Beyer. He posted his final victory in the Dubai World Cup, recovering from a poor start to run down eventual 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner and retired with a record $17,422,600 in earnings. California Chrome began his stud career at Taylor Made in Kentucky, but has resided in Japan since January 2020. Arrogate died in June of that year, after an illness led to neurological symptoms. Dr. John Chandler of Juddmonte will be accepting on behalf of Arrogate. Co-breeder and original co-owner Coburn will be on hand for California Chrome. Songbird, trained by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer for the late Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farm, won 13 of 15 career starts. Her nine Grade 1 wins included the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, which propelled her to the first of two divisional Eclipse Awards. Wins the next year in the historic Alabama and Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga helped secure her second title in 2016. Her only losses were runner-up efforts to fellow Eclipse champions Beholder – who she now joins in the Hall of Fame – and Forever Unbridled. Songbird was sold at the conclusion of her racing career, the case with many of Porter’s top racemares. She now resides as a broodmare in Kentucky for Mandy Pope, who purchased her for $9.5 million. Porter died in 2021 following a long battle with cancer. His widow, Betsy Porter, will be in attendance for Songbird’s Friday induction, accompanied by Victoria Keith of Fox Hill. Rounding out the four contemporary inductees is Nakatanki, 52. The native of Covina, Calif., won 3,909 races with purse earnings of $234,554,534 – ranking 14th all-time – in a career that spanned from 1988 through 2018. His 341 graded stakes victories include 10 Breeders’ Cup races. He doubled up at the event twice – in 1996 he won the Distaff (Jewel Princess) and Sprint (Lit de Justice) and in 2011 he scored in the Turf Sprint (Regally Ready) and Juvenile Fillies (My Miss Aurelia). Despite the continued expansion of the event, he still ranks 13th by riders in purse money won. Toro, an 82-year-old native of Santiago, Chile, who resides in California, won 3,555 races with purse earnings of $56,299,765 during his North American riding career, which spanned 1966 through 1990. After a distinguished career in Chile, winning classic races and other major events, Toro won 80 graded stakes in North America, including the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Mile in 1984 on Royal Heroine. Toro was renowned as one of the finest grass riders in the nation. Thayer, 82, will be in attendance on Friday to be recognized by the organization for which she has been a trustee since 1994. She served as the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s ninth president from 2005 to 2014, the first woman to hold the position in the institution’s history. Thayer, a native of Tampa, Fla., purchased Tampa Bay Downs with her brother Howell Ferguson in 1986, and currently serves as the track’s president. At the time of purchase, she named controller Lorraine M. King as general manager. It marked the first time a Thoroughbred track had separate female ownership and management. In 1990, Tampa Bay Downs became the first track in Florida to accept a simulcast signal. The move gave the track a prominent year-round presence and fueled the growth of its stakes program, which is highlighted by the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby. Thayer was elected to The Jockey Club in 2004 and was named a steward for the organization in 2012. She is a past president of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations. Jerome (1818-1891) and Hanes (1892-1987) both played significant roles in the New York racing landscape. Jerome, who amassed a significant fortune and became known as the “King of Wall Street,” was a driving force in the creation of three major racetracks in the New York City area – Jerome Park, which hosted the inaugural Belmont Stakes in 1867; the Sheepshead Bay Race Track; and Morris Park, which also hosted the Belmont Stakes at one point. Jerome, who founded the Coney Island Jockey Club, was president of both Sheepshead Bay and Morris Park at the time of his death in 1891. He also helped establish the American Jockey Club (not affiliated with the modern Jockey Club) and served as the first vice president of Saratoga Race Course upon its opening in 1864. Hanes was a part of various syndicates that purchased top stars for breeding, including Bold Bidder, My Babu, Nashua, and Royal Charger. In his own name and through partnerships, he bred 19 stakes winners, including the champion Idun. Outside of those interests, Hanes played a key role in the revitalization of New York racing in the 1950s. He helped obtain legislation to establish the management corporation that eventually became the New York Racing Association and served as the organization’s president before transitioning to a role as NYRA chairman. He remainied a trustee until 1973. Hanes also served as president of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, and as president of the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association. A previous version of this article misstated the number of times Corey Nakatani won two races on a Breeders' Cup program. He accomplish the feat twice, in 1996 and 2011, not three times. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.