Shaman Ghost leads Canadian Hall nominees

ETOBICOKE, Ontario -- Shaman Ghost, the 2015 Queen’s Plate winner. along with Sovereign Award-winning trainers Reade Baker and Daniel Vella, and longtime Woodbine track announcer Dan Loiselle headline the list of candidates eligible for induction to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2018.

A total of 15 horses and people in five different categories have been selected as Thoroughbred candidates on this year’s ballot, with another 15 Standardbred candidates up for election as well. The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame’s 20-person Election Committee for each breed will determine the inductees in each category, and the results will be announced on Apr. 10.

Shaman Ghost, who won two Grade 1 races in his career and was Canadian 3-year-old male champion in 2015, is eligible for induction in the Thoroughbred Male Horse category this year, along with longtime Ontario-sire Bold Executive, and 2008 Canadian Horse of the Year, Fatal Bullet.

Baker and Vella are both on the ballot for the second consecutive year in the Trainer category, along with two-time Queen’s Plate winner J.G. "Jerry" Lavigne.

Loiselle, meanwhile, is up for election in the Communicator category, along with Daily Racing Form writers Joe Hirsch and Wally Wood.

Three Grade 1 winners are eligible for induction in the Thoroughbred Female Horse category, including Grade 1 Alabama Stakes winner Careless Jewel; Grade 1 Diana Stakes winner Hard Not to Like; and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner and Eclipse champion Judy the Beauty.

The final Thoroughbred category on this year’s ballot is the Builder category. Eligible for induction this year include the late Phillip Kives, a longtime Manitoba horse owner' Victoria "Vicki" Pappas, a respected Ontario horsewoman and founding member of the LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement The induction ceremony for this year’s Hall of Fame class will take place at the Mississauga Convention Centre on Aug. 8.