Stars of Justify, Gun Runner align once again in Hall of Fame induction
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Gun Runner, the 2017 Horse of the Year, made his final start on Jan. 27, 2018, with a victory in the Pegasus World Cup, his star setting after a career that spanned more than 28 months.
About three weeks later, eventual 2018 Horse of the Year Justify streaked onto the scene with a debut victory on Feb. 18, 2018, with his meteoric career spanning just 111 days, but including a sweep of the Triple Crown.
Although their stars rose and set in sequence, and they never met on the racetrack, now Gun Runner and Justify are forever linked in the constellation that matters most. The two Thoroughbreds, along with jockey Joel Rosario, were elected to the National Museum of Hall of Fame’s contemporary class of 2024, and were formally enshrined Friday morning.
The induction ceremony at Fasig-Tipton’s Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion, which also honored racing stars in the Historic Review and Pillars of the Turf categories, was, as always, free and open to the public, in what celebrated announcer and ceremony emcee Tom Durkin called “our annual August lovefest of racing.” Indeed, the crowd, many of whom would later head just down the block to the main gate of Saratoga Race Course for the afternoon card, was delighted to rub elbows with Thoroughbred legends – Steve Asmussen, who trained Gun Runner, and Bob Baffert, who trained Justify, were among more than a dozen returning Hall of Famers in attendance, and many fans toted posters or programs collecting autographs, or wore garb referencing one of the day’s inductees.
Gun Runner delighted the Saratoga crowd with wins in the 2017 Whitney and Woodward, part of a streak of five Grade 1 victories that concluded his career, including the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Classic. The champion, who raced for Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm, won 12 of 19 starts overall, including 10 graded stakes, and earned more than $15.9 million.
Asmussen called Three Chimneys and Winchell Thoroughbreds “a perfect combination of two great racing families,” acknowledging that the ownership took a financial risk by keeping him in training as an older horse, and that paid off in continued development for a championship. Asmussen became choked up while recognizing other key members of the team that developed Gun Runner – longtime assistant Scott Blasi and regular rider Florent Geroux.
“What this horse meant for us and did for us, and the sacrifices we would all gladly make for this sort of opportunity is what makes the Hall of Fame,” Asmussen said.
Justify became the first Derby winner since Apollo in 1882 to claim the classic without racing as a 2-year-old, making that distinction en route to becoming the sport’s 13th Triple Crown winner. He crossed the line first in all six career starts while campaigned on the track by the large partnership of China Horse Club, Head of Plains Partners, Starlight Racing, and WinStar Farm.
“Justify took us all on the ride of a lifetime,” said WinStar president and CEO Elliott Walden, who represented the group by collecting and listing each principal owner’s favorite memory from the colt’s career and listing them off onstage. “There are many of us who are blessed to be a part of his story.”
While Thoroughbreds must have not raced for five years to be eligible for contemporary induction, jockeys and trainers may be elected while still active, although they must meet minimum career-length requirements. That means that Hall of Famers might add to their résumés as they go on, the past meeting the future. That is aptly illustrated this week by Rosario, who on Saturday rides Disarm, a son of Gun Runner, for Winchell and Asmussen in the Whitney. Rosario will be seeking the 117th Grade 1 victory of a sterling career that includes a Kentucky Derby, two editions of the Belmont Stakes, and 15 Breeders’ Cup races.
On Friday morning before preparing for the Saratoga card, though, Rosario traded silks for a Hall of Fame blazer.
“I’m very thankful for the many opportunities I have been given, and for the people who have supported me through my whole career,” Rosario said, thanking family, trainers, agents, and behind-the-scenes workers such as valets, the gate crew, and excercise riders in a speech that included both English and Spanish portions.
“I never thought as a kid growing up in the Dominican Republic, playing baseball and riding my horse very quickly to the grocery store, that I would one day be a Hall of Fame jockey,” Rosario said.
If Friday was a lovefest to the sport, few so ably chronicled that love as the late, great Daily Racing Form executive columnist Joe Hirsch, who was among the inductees into the Hall’s Pillars of the Turf category, which recognizes the game-shaping contributions of those who do not necessarily fit the traditional categories for induction. Hirsch is the first journalist so enshrined.
“I feel I’m the luckiest feller in the world,” Hirsch wrote in his final column for the Form in 2003. “I fell in love with racing 50 years ago and have had the glorious opportunity of making it my life’s work.”
Before family members Peter Krulewitch and Jonathan Socolow accepted the induction plaque for Hirsch, who died in 2009, a video message from Hirsch’s former roommate and good friend, football great Joe Namath, was played to the audience.
Hirsch wrote for Daily Racing Form for nearly half a century, serving as executive columnist from 1974 until his retirement, and well known for his “Derby Doings” reporting. Hirsch, the founding member and first president of the National Turf Writers Association – now the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters – received, among scores of other honors, an Eclipse Award for outstanding newspaper writing (1978) and an Eclipse Award of Merit (1992) for a lifetime of service. In addition to press venues and races named for him, the National Museum of Racing created the Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor in 2010, recognizing distinguished careers in Turf media. It was announced last December that Dick Jerardi, Paul Moran, and John L. Hervey are this year’s honorees.
The other Pillars of the Turf inducted on Friday were prominent owners Clement L. Hirsch (no relation), co-founder and president of the Oak Tree Racing Association; and Harry Guggenheim, one of those who outlined a plan for a non-profit to reorganize New York racing in the 1950s, which eventually led to the creation of the New York Racing Association. Bo Hirsch and D.G. Van Clief, respectively, accepted for the late pillars.
Also honored on Friday were three inductees from the Museum’s Historic Review Committee, which this year considered only candidates from before the year 1900. Those selected were the Thoroughbreds Aristides, winner of the first Kentucky Derby, with Tonya Abeln of Churchill Downs accepting; Lecomte, who handed the great Lexington his only defeat, with writer and historian Michael Veitch accepting; and jockey Abe Hawkins, who rode Lecomte, among other stars, with Greg Harbut and Clark Williams accepting on behalf of the Ed Brown Society, which has as its mission to celebrate the rich history of African-Americans in racing and to create opportunities for young people of color to gain industry exposure.
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