The National Museum of Racing will induct 16 new members into its Hall of Fame on Friday, Aug. 2.
The 2019 induction class is comprised of jockey Craig Perret; the racehorses Royal Delta (KY), My Juliet (KY), and Waya (FR); and Pillars of the Turf James E. “Ted” Bassett III, Christopher T. Chenery, Richard L. “Dick” Duchossois, William S. Farish, John Hettinger, James R. Keene, Frank E. “Jimmy” Kilroe, Gladys Mills Phipps, Ogden Phipps, Helen Hay Whitney, Marylou Whitney, and Warren Wright, Sr.
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m. at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion. The event is open to the public and free to attend. Legendary racecaller Tom Durkin will serve as master of ceremonies.
Perret and Royal Delta were elected to the Hall via the contemporary voting process; My Juliet and Waya were chosen by the Museum’s Historic Review Committee; and the Pillars were selected by the Museum’s Pillars of the Turf Committee.
Craig Perret, 68, was North America’s leading apprentice jockey by earnings in 1967 (prior to the Eclipse Awards) and won the 1990 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey. A native of New Orleans, La., Perret won 4,415 races in a career that spanned from 1967 through 2005. He won the Belmont Stakes in 1987 with Bet Twice, denying Alysheba the Triple Crown. Three years later, Perret won the Kentucky Derby with Unbridled. He won four Breeders’ Cup races, including two editions of the Sprint, as well as two runnings of both the Travers Stakes and Queen’s Plate, among others.
Royal Delta (Empire Maker—Delta Princess, by A.P. Indy) was bred in Kentucky by Palides Investments N.V., Inc. and campaigned by Besilu Stables. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Royal Delta won three Eclipse Awards (Champion 3-Year-Old Filly in 2011 and Champion Older Mare in 2012 and 2013) and consecutive runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic (2011 and 2012). A dark bay, she won nine graded stakes in her career, including six Grade 1 events. Competing from 2010 through 2013, Royal Delta made 22 starts with a record of 12-5-1 and earnings of $4,811,126.
Farish (courtesy of Lane’s End)
William S. Farish, 80, was born in Houston on March 17, 1939. He is the owner of the 2,300-acre Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Ky. Lane’s End is recognized as one of the world’s leading breeding operations. A two-time Eclipse Award winner for Outstanding Breeder (1992, 1999), Farish served as the Chairman of the Board of Churchill Downs from 1992 through 2001 and won the Eclipse Award of Merit in 2009. Farish raced his first stakes winner, Kaskaskia, in 1967 and received his first major headlines as the owner of Bee Bee Bee, upset winner over Riva Ridge in the 1972 Preakness Stakes.
Farish has campaigned more than 165 stakes winners and Lane’s End has bred more than 300 stakes winners, including Horse of the Year winners A.P. Indy, Charismatic, and Mineshaft, and champion Lemon Drop Kid. In 1999, Farish became the first breeder since A. J. Alexander in 1880 to breed or co-breed two horses (Charismatic and Lemon Drop Kid) that combined to win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont in the same year. Farish was also the co-breeder of Danzig, the leading sire in North America in 1991, 1992, and 1993. Danzig sired 188 stakes winners and 10 champions. Farish has been a steward and vice chairman of The Jockey Club, a director and chairman of the executive committee of the Breeders’ Cup, and a member of the board of directors of the Keeneland Association. In 2006, Farish became a trustee of the Keeneland Association. In 2001, he was appointed by President George W. Bush as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, serving in the role for three years.
For bios of all of the 2019 inductees, click here.
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame is located in Saratoga Springs, NY, 12866, across from the historic Saratoga Race Course, the oldest operating track in the country.
Its mission is to preserve and promote the history of Thoroughbred racing in America and honor the sport’s most accomplished participants in the Official National Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame.
For more information, click here.
National Museum of Racing
