Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame Class of 2023

The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame congratulates the people and horses being recognized as inductees in 2023. Four people and four horses have been elected from a ballot of very deserving candidates.

Induction ceremonies for the Class of 2023 will be held in August 2023, along with those previously announced in October 2022 as the CHRHF Class of 2022. Additional details will be announced in May.

Class of 2023 – Thoroughbred Inductees

Glenn Sikura – Builder
Irwin Driedger – Jockey
Pink Lloyd – Male Horse
Formal Gold – Veteran

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R. Glenn Sikura – Builder

The owner/operator of Hill ‘n’ Dale Canada, located in King, ON, R. Glenn Sikura, has contributed to Canadian Thoroughbred racing as a breeder, owner, and sales agent while also holding key positions with organizations representing various aspects of the Canadian Thoroughbred industry.

Glenn has served as Chief Steward of the Jockey Club of Canada since 2018 and is the Past-President of the National and Ontario Divisions of the CTHS, Past-President of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, a founding member and Past-President of OHRIA, former Director of both the Breeders Cup and TOBA.

As owner of Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms Sales Agency, in Toronto, to date he has sold 148 stakes horses that have won over $80,000,000 and 2,500 races. In Kentucky, horses Glenn has sold include Arlington Million G1 winner, Jambalaya, and Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Sprint Champion, Maryfield. Other successful sales graduates include Horse of the Year – A Bit o’ Gold, Dynamic Sky, Inglorious, and One for Rose. As an owner/breeder, Glenn campaigned champion Serenading, Handpainted, Painting and many others.

As a horse breeder who foals mares for clients across North America, it is estimated that he personally has delivered most of the approximately 1,500 horses foaled at the farm. Glenn is also the recipient of a Blood-Horse Mint Julep Cup for lifetime contribution to the Horse Industry in 2016, and an Award of Merit from the CTHS Ontario Division. Glenn becomes the third member of his family to be inducted to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, having been preceded by his father John Sikura, Jr, CHRHF Class of 2013 and brother, John G. Sikura, CHRHF Class of 2018.

Irwin Driedger – Jockey

A native of Russell, MB, Irwin Driedger launched his riding career in 1967, at age 11, as an exercise rider. He then honed his skills at fairs in Western Canada, before moving to bush tracks and eventually recognized tracks such as Assiniboia Downs in 1973, where he plied his trade until 1982. In 1979, Irwin set an Assiniboia record of 161 wins before surpassing his own accomplishment in 1980 with 180 victories. In 1981, Driedger made 214 trips to the winners’ circle, a record that stood for many years. Over the next 17 years, Driedger rode at major tracks across Canada winning 1,633 races for purse earnings of $14.6 million. The 1998 recipient of the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award, Driedger rode Sovereign Award Winners Liz’s Pride, Phoenix Factor, Classy ‘n’ Smart, In My Cap, Grey Classic and Imperial Choice. When CHRHF honouree Classy N Smart’s daughter Dance Smartly, was ready to start her race career, Driedger, was provided the opportunity to ride the future CHRHF Honoured Member for her first start, a five-furlong maiden race, which the pair won by a comfortable three and a half length margin.

In 1990, Driedger retired from competition and became the Secretary-Manager of the Jockeys Benefit Association of Canada, serving his first term until 2006. Under his direction Canadian Jockey’s became the first in North America to wear safety vests. Driedger was also instrumental in helping to install safety rails at Woodbine. From 2006 until 2018, Driedger held the position of Director of Thoroughbred Racing Surfaces at Woodbine. In 2019 he returned the Jockeys’ Benefit Association of Canada to again assume the role of Secretary-Manager, a position he held until his retirement in 2021.

Pink Lloyd – Male Horse

An Ontario-bred foal of 2012, Pink Lloyd became one of the country’s most famous and popular race horses during his career. Having missed out on his opportunity to race at age two and three due to growing pains, he certainly made up for it over his six years on the track, winning 29 of 38 starts and earning $2.4 million under the tutelage of Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame Trainer, Robert Tiller. Bred by John Carey and owned by Entourage Stable, including principal owner, Frank Di Giulio Jr., the gelding’s first major win came early in 2017 when he captured the Jacques Cartier Stakes, a race he would remarkably win three more times. This win would be the start of a of an incredible career record of 26-career stakes wins, all accomplished at Woodbine at sprint distances. His perfect season of eight stakes wins earned him Sovereign Awards as Champion Older Horse, Outstanding Sprinter and Horse of the Year.

Over the course of the next four years, five more Sovereign Awards were earned while Pink Lloyd reigned as the perennial Sprint Champion, often competing in record time. Pink Lloyd’s thirty-eighth and final career start in the autumn of 2021 was in the Kennedy Road Stakes, when the venerable nine-year-old gelding saved his best for the final furlong and rushed late on the outside to snatch his twenty-ninth career score before an adoring audience. Following his retirement from the track, Pink Lloyd’s connections donated him to LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society, where he contentedly enjoys daily turnout and visits from his Hall of Fame trainer and his long-time groom. Now his connections will add another award to the mantle, that of Canadian Horse Racing Honoured member.

Formal Gold – Veteran

Twenty-five years after the conclusion of his race career, Ontario-bred Formal Gold continues to rank among the top Thoroughbreds in North America, in terms of Beyer Speed Figures.

Bred by Mr. and Mrs. Rodes Kelly, trained by William W. Perry and owned by John D. Murphy, Sr., during his race career, the son of Black Tie Affair consistently received Beyer speed ratings in the mid 120’s. As a four-year-old, when beaten a nose by Wills Way in the 1997 Whitney, Formal Gold earned a Beyer Rating of 126; a 124 rating for his win in the Philip Islen and a 125 rating when he won the Woodward Stakes that same year. By comparison, current racing superstar Flightline received a 126 Beyer Rating in the 2022 Pacific Classic and a 121 rating for his victory in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Formal Gold was ranked among the top handicap horses of 1997 with gate-to-wire efforts in two Grade 1 victories — the Donn Handicap at Gulfstream and the Woodward Stakes, defeating Horse of the Year and US Hall of Fame member, Skip Away, in both races. In total, Formal Gold finished ahead of Skip Away in four of their six meetings.

At stud, Formal Gold ranked among the top 1% as sire of 2-year-old winners from starters at 45% and sired progeny with global earnings of nearly $16 million (US), including 19 stakes winners. After initially standing at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, he was later re-located to Rancho San Miguel in California, and finally to Esquirol Farms in Alberta, Canada.