Smarty Jones, Groupie Doll, McPeek get on Hall of Fame ballot for first time

Smarty Jones, the popular colt who narrowly missed winning the 2004 Triple Crown, is among the eight racehorses who will appear on the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s ballot for 2025, the Hall of Fame announced Thursday.

Smarty Jones, who lost only the Belmont Stakes in his nine-race career, is making his first appearance on the ballot this year, 21 years after his Triple Crown campaign. To be included on the Hall of Fame ballot for contemporary horses, a horse must have been retired for at least five years and been active within the past 25 years.

This year’s ballot includes eight horses, seven trainers, and one jockey. Only two of the horses, Smarty Jones and Groupie Doll, and one of the trainers, Kenny McPeek, are making their first appearances on the Hall of Fame ballot.

The six horses who have previously appeared on a ballot are Blind Luck, the champion 3-year-old filly in 2010; Game On Dude, a winner of 14 graded stakes over a four-year-career, including three Santa Anita Handicaps; Havre de Grace, the 2011 Horse of the Year and champion older female; Kona Gold, the champion sprinter of 2000; Lady Eli, the 2017 champion turf female; and Rags to Riches, the memorable winner of the Belmont Stakes in 2007, the first female to win the race in more than 100 years,when she also was champion 3-year-old filly.

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The final nominee, Groupie Doll, won consecutive Eclipse Awards for female sprinter in 2012 and 2013.

McPeek is appearing on the ballot for the first time less than a year after pulling off the Kentucky Oaks-Kentucky Derby double, the first time a trainer had won both races in a single year since Ben Jones in 1952. The other six trainers on the ballot are Christophe Clement, Kiaran McLaughlin, Graham Motion, Doug O’Neill, John Sadler, and John Shirreffs.

McLaughlin, who has been an agent for jockey Luis Saez since 2020, is the only nominee among the seven trainers who is not still active.

Only one jockey, Jorge Chavez, will appear on the ballot this year. Chavez won 4,526 races with purse earnings of $161.8 million over a 23-year riding career. He retired in 2011.

To be eligible for the Hall of Fame ballot, trainers must have been licensed for 25 years, and jockeys must have been licensed for 20 years, though both of those requirements can be waived at the discretion of the Hall’s Executive Committee.

Under the voting procedures, Hall of Fame voters may select as many candidates for induction as they wish. All candidates that receive majority approval from the voting panel are selected for induction.

Ballots will be mailed to the Hall of Fame voting panel next week. The panel has 170 members.

The nominees were determined by the Hall’s 14-member nominating committee. All the finalists were required to receive a minimum of nine votes from the committee to qualify for the ballot.

The results of the voting will be announced April 24. Also on that date, the Hall of Fame will announce this year’s selections by the Historic Review Committee, which selects horses that have been inactive for at least 25 years, as well as this year’s selections in the Pillars of the Turf and Steeplechase categories.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place 10:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 1, at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The ceremony is open to the public and free to attend.

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