Hall of Fame class of 2012 inductee profile: Planet

Planet (from an Edward Troye painting)

By BRIEN BOUYEA, Communications Officer

Planet was one of the most spectacular American racehorses in the years leading up to the Civil War.

Foaled in Virginia at Major Thomas W. Doswell’s Bullfield Stable in 1855, Planet was sired by Revenue out of the Boston mare Nina. Planet was a sensation from the start. He made his debut with a victory over four others in mile heats for a purse of $10,750 in Fairfield, Va., on May 4, 1858, and went on to establish a record for career purse earnings that stood for 20 years.

Turf writer John Hervey described Planet as “In color a rich chestnut, 15.2½ (hands) tall, he was remarkable for his symmetry of mould and the excellence of his limbs.”

Planet displayed his remarkable skill and versatility by compiling a record of 27-4-0 from 31 starts and earning $69,700. Known as “The Great Red Fox,” Planet was regarded by many turf experts to be second only to the mighty Lexington among the greatest American racehorses prior to the Civil War.

Carrying Bullfield’s famed orange silks, Planet won at a variety of distances in Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and Louisiana. He also traveled to New York, where he won a $20,000 sweepstakes on Sept. 25, 1860 at the Fashion Course on Long Island. Racing from ages 3 through 5, Planet defeated many of the top horses of his era, including Daniel Boone, Congaree, Socks, and Arthur Macon.

Further demonstrating his versatility, Planet was a natural trotter. He was able to trot a mile in three minutes, and most of his training was conducted in that gait. According to Hervey, this ability led to some trouble, as Planet was once ordered off a New York track by a racing official for “training at a flying trot before a meet.” The official declared that trotters were not allowed. Other horsemen jumped to the defense of the great Planet, as this was his traditional training regimen, and the official rescinded his order.

Planet was retired to stud at Bullfield in 1861. The Civil War and its aftermath curtailed racing in the South and interrupted several years of Planet’s career as a stallion. During those years, Planet and many of the other Bullfield horses were hidden in the woods to protect them from Yankee marauders.

In 1868, Doswell, sold Planet to R.A. Alexander of Woodburn Farm in Kentucky. Planet resided at Woodburn until he died at the age of 20 in 1875.

Hall of Fame class of 2012 inductee profile: Roger Attfield

Roger Attfield (Michael Burns photo)

By BRIEN BOUYEA, Communications Officer

Following a stint as a steeplechase rider and an accomplished career as an international show jumper, England native Roger Attfield has spent the past 40 years building up credentials that rival any Thoroughbred trainer in North America.

Born on Nov. 28, 1939 in Newbury, England, Attfield immigrated to Canada in 1970 and took his first training job with Gateway Farms. In the years since, Attfield has won the Sovereign Award for Outstanding Canadian Trainer a record eight times, trained three Canadian Triple Crown winners, six Canadian Horse of the Year winners, eight winners of the Queen’s Plate, and 44 Sovereign Award-winning horses.

In 1976, Attfield developed the colt Norcliffe into the first of his eight Queen’s Plate winners and his first Canadian Horse of the Year. Norcliffe won 10 stakes under Attfield’s care and helped launch the trainer to stardom.

Attfield conditioned his first Canadian Triple Crown winner, With Approval, in 1989. He swept the Queen’s Plate, Prince of Wales Stakes, and Breeders’ Stakes again the following year with Izvestia, and also in 1993 with Peteski. Attfield has won the Breeders’ Stakes seven times and the Prince of Wales five times. His other major Canadian wins include five runnings of both the Princess Elizabeth Stakes and the Plate Trial, four editions of the Ontario Derby, Durham Cup, and Marine Stakes, and three triumphs in the E.P. Taylor Stakes, Autumn Stakes, Glorious Song, Sky Classic, and Woodbine Oaks.

Along with his dominance in Canada, Attfield has found considerable success in the United States. He won his first Breeders’ Cup race in 2011 when Perfect Shirl took the Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs. Other major wins in the United States include the Shadwell Turf Mile, Flower Bowl, Elkhorn, Lake George, Glens Falls, Ohio Derby, Makers Mark Mile, Wood Memorial, Gotham, Arlington Matron, Molly Pitcher, Carter Handicap, Derby Trial, Yellow Ribbon Invitational, Stymie Handicap, Hialeah Turf Cup, and Pan American Handicap.

At the time of his election to the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame, Attfield had won 1,731 career races and ranked 16^th all time among North American trainers with more than $88 million in earnings.

Hall of Fame class of 2012 inductee profile: Robert Wheeler

Robert Wheeler with Silver Spoon (left) and Bug Brush (NMR Collection)

By BRIEN BOUYEA, Communications Officer      

When C.V. Whitney decided to send a string of horses to the West Coast he did plenty of research into finding the proper trainer. After weighing his many options, Whitney selected Robert Wheeler, an ex-cowboy and rodeo star. Whitney, as he usually did, chose wisely.

“If a horse has anything at all, turn him over to Bob Wheeler and he’ll bring it out,” Whitney once said.

Wheeler enjoyed tremendous success working for Whitney and numerous other major stables, including J. Rukin Jelks, Greentree Stable, and Nelson Bunker Hunt, among others. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Wheeler conditioned 56 stakes-winning horses, including Hall of Famer Silver Spoon and champion Track Robbery.

Born on June 21, 1920 in Crawford, Neb., Wheeler took a job in his teens breaking yearlings at Woolford Farm in Missouri. Among the horses he worked with was Lawrin, the 1938 Kentucky Derby winner. Wheeler worked for Woolford for five years before riding broncos and bulls on the western rodeo circuit. Injuries forced him to give Thoroughbred training a try.

Wheeler won 1,336 races from 1938 through 1992. He won 10 stakes with the filly Silver Spoon, including the 1959 Santa Anita Derby. Wheeler repeated in the Santa Anita Derby in 1960 with Tompion. He also conditioned Bug Brush, winner of six stakes as a 4-year-old. Bug Brush set a world record for 1⅛ miles in the 1959 San Antonio Stakes. Bug Brush and Silver Spoon won back-to-back runnings of the Santa Margarita Handicap in 1959 and 1960, respectively, and combined for 14 stakes victories at Santa Anita in those two years.

Other significant races won by Wheeler horses included five runnings of the Hollywood Juvenile Championship, three editions of the Santa Margarita Handicap and Santa Anita Oaks (formerly the Santa Susana Stakes), and two victories in the Hollywood Gold Cup and Del Mar Oaks.

The success continued for Wheeler as the years and decades passed. During the late 1970s, he won a total of 17 stakes with the fillies Taisez Vous and B. Thoughtful, including back-to-back runnings of the Grade 1 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita. He guided Track Robbery to the 1982 Eclipse Award for older filly or mare and he was still active in the game when he died in 1992. At the time of his passing, Wheeler ranked fifth all time in stakes wins at Santa Anita.

Hall of Fame trainer Frank “Pancho” Martin dead at age 86

Frank “Pancho” Martin, left, with Angel Cordero, Jr. (NMR Collection)

Trainer Frank “Pancho” Martin, who was inducted into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in 1981, died Wednesday night. He was 86.

Martin, who was born in Cuba on Dec. 3, 1925, won 3,240 races and had purse earnings of $47,586,039, according to Equibase statistics. After stints in New England and Florida, Martin arrived in New York in 1951 and led that circuit in victories 11 times, including 10 straight years from 1973-1982. He led the nation in purse earnings with $2,408,419 in 1974. He won individual meet training titles at Aqueduct six times, Belmont four times, and Saratoga twice.

On his introduction to racing, Martin said: “I lived two blocks from Oriental Park when I was growing up, and the only things to do were to go to work on the track or play baseball. I was a lousy ballplayer.”

Martin trained Autobiography, champion older horse in 1972 when he won the Jockey Club Gold Cup; and Outstandingly, champion 2-year-old filly in 1984, when she was awarded the win in the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies via disqualification. Outstandingly was owned by Harbor View Farm, which Martin trained for from 1983-86.

The most famous horse Martin trained was Sham, winner of the 1973 Santa Anita Derby and runner-up to Secretariat in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. Martin’s other notable runners include 1959 Wood Memorial winner Manassa Mauler, 1974 Wood winner Rube the Great, 1971 Brooklyn Handicap winner Never Bow, and 1972 Suburban Handicap winner Hitchcock. Other major races won by Martin’s horses include the Santa Anita Handicap, Jersey Derby, Gotham, Monmouth Handicap, Lawrence Realization, Count Fleet, Whirlaway, and Toboggan.

Martin was honored with the New York Turf Writers Association’s Outstanding Trainer Award in 1971, 1974, and 1982, and also received the organization’s award as New York’s Champion Trainer in 1971, 1973, 1976-79, and 1981. Martin’s grandson, Carlos Martin, is currently a trainer on the NYRA circuit.

Napravnik, Romans, Muzikar and Veitch to be featured in National Museum of Racing’s Saratoga Preview

Rosie Napravnik (Brien Bouyea photo)

Jockey Rosie Napravnik, trainer Dale Romans, jockey agent Matt Muzikar, and journalist Michael Veitch will be the featured guests at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s annual “Saratoga Preview” on Wednesday, July 18 at 7 p.m. in the Museum’s Hall of Fame Gallery.

The event will feature an audience-driven discussion with the panelists and is free and open to the public. Brien Bouyea, the Museum’s communications officer, will moderate the program. There will be drawings for giveaways from the Museum’s gift shop, including merchandise from EMBRACE THE RACE, The Apparel for the Horse Racing Lifestyle.

Napravnik became the first woman to win the prestigious Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks earlier this year aboard Believe You Can. Her other major victories include the Louisiana Derby, Peter Pan Stakes, Fair Grounds Oaks, and Maryland Million Classic. Through July 9, Napravnik has 1,345 career victories and purse earnings of more than $38 million. The winner of riding titles at Fair Grounds, Pimlico, Laurel, and Delaware Park, Napravnik will be riding regularly at the Saratoga meet for the first time this summer. She currently ranks seventh among North American jockeys in earnings in 2012 with more than $6 million.

Romans won his first Triple Crown event in 2011 when Shackleford captured the Preakness Stakes. Romans also scored a major upset at the 2011 Breeders’ Cup when Court Vision won the Mile at 64-1. In a career that began in 1987, Romans has won 1,553 races and has purse earnings of more than $70 million. At the recently concluded Churchill Downs spring meet, Romans led all trainers in wins and earnings. He has won nine training titles at Churchill Downs and currently ranks fourth among North American trainers in earnings this year with more than $5.6 million. His major victories include the Dubai World Cup, Whitney Handicap, and Metropolitan Handicap. Notable horses trained by Romans include Kitten’s Joy, Paddy O’Prado, Dullahan, Roses in May, and Tapitsfly.

Muzikar, a Saratoga Springs native, has been a jockey agent for 15 years. He currently represents Napravnik and Javier Castellano, who is the leading money-winning jockey in North America so far in 2012. He has also worked for jockeys such as Joe Bravo, Shaun Bridgmohan, Cornelio Velasquez, Eibar Coa, Channing Hill, Aaron Gryder, and Mike Luzzi.

Veitch has been covering horse racing for The Saratogian and its racing supplement, The Pink Sheet, since 1979. He is a former host of “Down the Stretch” on the Capital OTB television network and his writing has appeared in a variety of outlets, including Daily Racing Form. He is the author of “Foundations of Fame: Nineteenth Century Thoroughbred Racing in Saratoga Springs.” Veitch is a member of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s Nominating Committee and Historic Review Committee, as well as a member of the Saratoga150 Committee, which is organizing a series of events to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of the inaugural Saratoga meeting in 2013.

The 2012 Saratoga Race Course season opens on Friday, July 20 with a 40-day meeting. The track is open six days a week (closed on Tuesdays) with the highlight being the 143^rd running of the Grade 1 Travers Stakes on Saturday, Aug. 25. The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily during the Saratoga racing season.

New website launched for Triple Crown winner and Hall of Famer Affirmed

A new website dedicated to the memory of Hall of Fame member Affirmed, America’s last Triple Crown champion, has been launched by Affirmed Enterprises, which is headed by Patrice Jacobs Wolfson.

Affirmed was the 11th and most recent to win the Triple Crown in 1978.

Affirmed, a two-time Horse of the Year, was bred and raced by Mr. and Mrs. Louis E. Wolfson’s Harbor View Farm.

This new site includes photos, videos, articles, and memorabilia covering the entire racing and stallion career of Affirmed as well as the human connections. It also features an on-line “Scrapbook” containing personal mementoes from Mrs. Wolfson.

“My husband and I always believed that it was a privilege to be associated with Affirmed,” said Patrice Wolfson. “This project has allowed me to relive so many great moments, and it pleases me that Affirmed’s many accomplishments are not diminished by the years. This has been a labor of love, and I hope past and future racing fans will enjoy it.”

There is a Facebook page in association with the new website which will provide a vehicle for additional photos to be shared as well as a way for fans to post their favorite memories.

The website’s address is www.affirmedtriplecrown.com.

Anthony Hamilton and Planet elected to Racing Hall of Fame

Anthony Hamilton

Anthony Hamilton, one of the finest jockeys of the 19^th century, and Planet, a dominant racehorse in the years leading up to the Civil War, have been elected to the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame through the Museum’s Historic Review process.

Hamilton and Planet will be inducted on Aug. 10 at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion along with contemporary selections jockey John Velazquez, the racehorse Ghostzapper, and trainers Roger Attfield and Robert Wheeler. The ceremony is at 10:30 a.m. and is free and open to the public.

Hamilton was born in Charleston, S.C., in 1866 and won many of the most prestigious races of the 19^th century. His first notable win was at age 15 when he took the 1881 Phoenix Handicap with Sligo. In 1890, Hamilton rode Potomac to victory in the third edition of the Futurity, which at the time was the richest race in American history with a purse of $67,675. That year, Hamilton led the nation in winning percentage (31.2). In 1891, he boosted his national-best win percentage to 33.8 and won 154 races to place second in the national standings.

In 1895, Hamilton won two of the most prominent races in the country by taking the Brooklyn Handicap on Hornpipe and the Suburban Handicap aboard Lazzarone. The next year, Hamilton added the third major New York handicap event, the Metropolitan Handicap, with Counter Tenor. Hamilton is the only African-American jockey to win all three of New York’s major handicap races. During this era, these races were generally considered to be more important than the likes of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.

Hamilton’s other major victories included the American Derby (1887), Lawrence Realization Stakes (1891), Monmouth Oaks (1889, 1890), Monmouth Invitational Handicap (1889, 1892), Juvenile Stakes (1890), Gazelle Handicap (1887, 1890), Nursery Stakes (1886), Flatbush Stakes (1889, 1890), Sapling Stakes (1891), Swift Stakes (1892), Toboggan Handicap (1890), Twin City Handicap (1886, 1888, 1889, 1892, 1894), Great Trial Stakes (1892), Tidal Stakes (1891), Hudson Stakes (1889), and St. Louis Derby (1888), among others.

Hamilton rode for many of the top owners of the 19^th century, including Pierre Lorillard, Mike Dwyer, August Belmont, Sr., August Belmont II, J.R. Keene, and Billy Lakeland. He rode Hall of Famers Firenze and Salvator, and champions Lamplighter and Potomac.

In the late 1890s, Hamilton relocated to Europe and enjoyed continued success. He won the Metropolitan Stakes of Vienna and the Karoli Memorial in Budapest. In Poland, he added the Ruler Stakes, the first leg of the Polish Triple Crown. His career came to an end in 1904 when he was thrown from a horse in Russia. Hamilton died in France three years later. Historian Fred Burlew, son of a Hall of Fame trainer, ranked Hamilton third on his list of the 10 greatest African-American jockeys of all time behind only Hall of Famers Isaac Murphy and Willie Simms.

Foaled in Virginia at Major Thomas W. Doswell’s Bullfield Stable in 1855, Planet was sired by Revenue out of the Boston mare Nina. Planet was a sensation from the start. He made his debut with a victory over four others in mile heats for a purse of $10,750 in Fairfield, Va., on May 4, 1858, and went on to establish a record for career purse earnings that stood for 20 years.

Turf writer John Hervey described Planet as “In color a rich chestnut, 15.2½ (hands) tall, he was remarkable for his symmetry of mould and the excellence of his limbs.”

Planet displayed his remarkable skill and versatility by compiling a record of 27-4-0 from 31 starts and earning $69,700. Known as “The Great Red Fox,” Planet was regarded by many turf experts to be second only to the mighty Lexington among the greatest American racehorses prior to the Civil War.

Carrying Bullfield’s famed orange silks, Planet won at a variety of distances in Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and Louisiana. He also traveled to New York, where he won a $20,000 sweepstakes on Sept. 25, 1860 at the Fashion Course on Long Island. Racing from ages 3 through 6, Planet defeated many of the top horses of his era, including Daniel Boone, Congaree, Socks, and Arthur Macon. He was trained through most of his career by N.B. Young.

Further demonstrating his versatility, Planet was a natural trotter. He was able to trot a mile in three minutes, and most of his training was conducted in that gait. According to Hervey, this ability led to some trouble, as Planet was once ordered off a New York track by a racing official for “training at a flying trot before a meet.” The official declared that trotters were not allowed. Other horsemen jumped to the defense of the great Planet, as this was his traditional training regimen, and the official rescinded his order.

Planet was retired to stud at Bullfield in 1861. His lost his final race, which occurred only five days before the bombardment of Fort Sumter launched the Civil War and effectively ended racing of that era in the South. The Civil War and its aftermath interrupted several years of Planet’s career as a stallion. During those years, Planet and many of the other Bullfield horses were hidden in the woods to protect them from Yankee soldiers.

In 1868, Doswell sold Planet to R.A. Alexander of Woodburn Farm in Kentucky. Planet resided at Woodburn until he died at the age of 20 in 1875.

Planet, from an 1861 painting by Edward Troye

Velazquez, Attfield, Wheeler and Ghostzapper elected to National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame

John Velazquez (photo by Brien Bouyea)

Ghostzapper, the 2004 Horse of the Year, jockey John Velazquez and trainers Roger Attfield and Robert Wheeler have been elected to the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame.

The class of 2012 will be inducted on Friday, Aug. 10, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion at 10:30 a.m. The ceremony is free and open to the public.

Ghostzapper, Velazquez, Attfield and Wheeler were elected in the contemporary category by the 183 members of the Hall of Fame voting panel.

Ghostzapper (Awesome Again-Baby Zip, by Relaunch) won 9 of 11 career starts and earned $3,446,120. He was named Horse of the Year and Champion Older Male in 2004 when he posted a 4-for-4 record. Trained by Hall of Fame member Bobby Frankel, Ghostzapper won the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Classic in stakes-record time, covering the
1¼-mile distance in 1:59.02. That year, he also won the Woodward Stakes, Tom Fool Handicap, and Iselin Handicap. At 3, Ghostzapper won the Vosburgh Stakes. He closed out his career with a victory in the Metropolitan Handicap at age 5. Ghostzapper raced for Frank Stronach and is currently a stallion at Stronach’s Adena Springs in Kentucky.

Velazquez has won 4,803 races, including 733 stakes, and has earned more than $263 million. He won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in 2004 and 2005 and led all North American riders in earnings during those years. He led all New York jockeys in wins from 2001 through 2004 and set a record with 65 wins at Saratoga in 2004. Velazquez has won 22 riding titles at New York Racing Association tracks and has nine Breeders’ Cup wins. He posted 50 Grade 1 wins from 2006 through 2011. Velazquez won the Kentucky Derby in 2011 with Animal Kingdom and the Belmont Stakes in 2007 with Rags to Riches. His other major victories include the Travers, Alabama, Champagne, Sanford, Personal Ensign, Whitney, King’s Bishop, Hollywood Derby, and Kentucky Oaks.

Attfield has saddled the winner of 1,731 races, including 369 stakes, and has purse earnings of more than $88 million. He has won the Sovereign Award for Outstanding Canadian Trainer a record eight times and trained three Canadian Triple Crown winners (Izvestia, With Approval, and Peteski). Attfield has won a record-tying eight runnings of the Queen’s Plate and seven editions of the Canadian Breeders’ Stakes. He won his first Breeders’ Cup race in 2011 when Perfect Shirl took the Filly and Mare Turf. Attfield is a member of the Canadian Racing Hall of Fame. The many other stakes races he has won in the United States include the Wood Memorial, Flower Bowl, Shadwell Turf Mile, Maker’s Mark Mile, Elkhorn, Yellow Ribbon, Orchid, and Carter Handicap.

Wheeler, whose career spanned from 1938 through 1992, won 1,336 races and trained for prominent owners such as C.V. Whitney, J. Rukin Jelks, Greentree Stable, and Nelson Bunker Hunt. He conditioned 56 stakes-winning horses, including 1982 Champion Older Female Track Robbery. The majority of his career predates the grading of races, but from 1976 on he won 18 of the 69 (26 percent) graded stakes his horses ran in and 44 of his 175 (25 percent) overall stakes attempts. In 1959 and 1960, Wheeler’s West Coast-based division included Tompion, winner of the Santa Anita Derby, Blue Grass Stakes, and Malibu, and the distaff pair of Bug Brush and Silver Spoon. Bug Brush won six stakes at 4 and set a world record the day she beat males Hillsdale and Terrang in the San Antonio Stakes. Silver Spoon, a member of the Hall of Fame, won 10 stakes in two years, including the trainer’s first of back-to-back wins in the Santa Anita Derby, in which she defeated Preakness winner Royal Orbit. He also sent out five winners of the Hollywood Juvenile Championship, which prior to the Breeders’ Cup era was one of the nation’s top races for 2-year-olds. From 1959 through 1969, Wheeler was on the leaders list of the top 30 North American trainers seven times in terms of earnings. His division accounted for more than 60 percent of the earnings of the C.V. Whitney stable when it led all owners in 1960.

Milestones looming for two prominent West Coast riders

Mike Smith and Zenyatta (Bill Mochon photo)

Two of the most prominent jockeys on the West Coast are on the verge of career milestones, as Hall of Famer Mike Smith is closing in on his 5,000th victory and young standout Joe Talamo is within striking distance of his 1,000th win.

Smith has 4,997 wins as of Tuesday. He has three starts on both Thursday and Friday at Santa Anita and is scheduled to ride Rousing Sermon in Sunday’s Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds. Smith would become only the 25th jockey in North American history with 5,000 career wins.

Talamo, meanwhile has 995 career wins as of Tuesday. He is scheduled for seven mounts at Santa Anita on Thursday and six there on Friday’s card.

Kentucky Derby party to benefit Old Friends at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will be hosting a Kentucky Derby party to benefit the retired Thoroughbreds at Old Friends at Cabin Creek: The Bobby Frankel Division, on Saturday, May 5 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Tickets for the event are $65 and can be ordered through Old Friends by contacting JoAnn Pepper at (518) 698-2377. For more information about the event, sponsorship opportunities, or to donate, please visit www.oldfriendscabincreek.com.

The event will be catered by Longfellows and will feature a cash bar. There will also be numerous contests, such as the “Fancy Hat Contest” and “Fancy Tie Contest.” There will be celebrity judges, a 50/50 raffle, auction items, and giveaways.

Coverage of the 138^th running of the Kentucky Derby can be seen throughout the Museum on high-definition televisions courtesy of Best Buy, as well as in the Hall of Fame gallery on the Museum’s theatre screen in high-definition.