The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame is pleased to announce its 2012 ballot. A total of 30 horses and people, including 15 Thoroughbred racing candidates and 15 Standardbred racing candidates have been selected to appear on the ballot.
The two 20-person Election Committees will declare the winners in the respective categories and they will be announced on Tuesday, April 10th.
Thoroughbred Nominees
Two jockeys from British Columbia and a pair of fillies who earned Horse of the Year honours during their illustrious careers, were among 15 thoroughbreds and horsemen nominated for election into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame’s class of 2012.
Born in Vancouver, Russell Baze, who has won more races than any jockey in history, was nominated along with fellow Vancouverite Mickey Walls and Lloyd Duffy, a native of Prince Edward Island, in the Jockey/Trainer category.
The 53-year-old Baze, a member of the U.S. Hall of Fame and winner of over 11,500 races, has campaigned mainly in the United States and California. He was the leading rider in the U.S. on 10 occasions and his awards include the Eclipse, George Woolf and Isaac Murphy. He won more than 400 races 11 times in a season during his prolific career.
Walls won an Eclipse Award and Sovereign Award as the leading apprentice jockey in both the U.S. and Canada in 1991. He was also the first jockey to win Sovereign Awards as the leading apprentice and outstanding jockey in the same year. Walls began riding at age 16 at Exhibition Park (now Hastings) and broke Sandy Hawley’s record for most wins by an apprentice with 231 victories in 1991.
He won the Queen’s Plate with Woodcarver in 1999 and every major stakes race in Ontario.
Duffy, age 67, won a Sovereign Award in 1982 and the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award in 1990. He is a member of the P.E.I. Sports Hall of Fame.
Jean Louis Levesque’s juvenile star L’Alezane won stakes races in New York, Kentucky, Manitoba and Ontario and captured a Sovereign Award in 1977. She heads the list of Veterans.
Also nominated in this category is the acclaimed broodmare of Kinghaven Farms, Cool Mood, and multiple stakes winner Rainbow Connection, owned by Ron Edgar and Doug Cameron.
Robert Costigan’s Arravale, winner of the prestigious E.P. Taylor Stakes (Grade 1) against top female turf stars, was Canada’s champion turf female in 2006. Trained by Hall of Famer Mac Benson, she won stakes in California and Canada.
Also nominated in the Female division is multiple stakes winner Apelia, owned by Steve Stavro’s Knob Hill Stables. A splendid sprinter, Apelia won stakes in New York, Kentucky and New Jersey and is the dam of champion mare Saorise.
One For Rose is the other nominee, owned by the Tucci Stables family of Toronto. She was a multiple Sovereign Award winner during her lengthy career. “Rosie” was a popular fan favourite for trainer Sid Attard. She recently produced her first stakes winner since being sold to Japanese breeding interests.
Jambalaya, upset winner of the Arlington Million and a multiple Grade One stakes winner for trainer Catherine Day Phillips, leads the Male Horse division.
His opponents for honours are Quiet Resolve and Soaring Free, both from Sam-Son Farm.
In the Builder’s category, two leading breeders in Ontario, the late John Sikura Jr., and the late Aubrey Minshall are nominated along with writer Curtis Stock of Alberta, a 10-time Sovereign Award winner for his coverage of thoroughbred racing.
Sikura, who emigrated from Czechoslovakia as a teenager in the 1950s, built Hill ‘N’ Dale Farms into a highly successful breeding and stallion operation. He was the purchaser of the first yearling in history to sell for more than $1 million and twice was leading consignor at Keeneland.
Minshall, a native of Guyana, lived in Trinidad before he arrived in Canada. In 1996, he was posthumously recognized by the industry when his Minshall Farms was named both the leading owner and breeder in Canada and also owner of Horse of the Year, Mt. Sassafras.
Unfortunately, his sudden death in 1993 did not let him enjoy some of his best stock, but the years of devotion did.
Standardbred Nominees
Male Horse
Astreos
Kadabra
Majestic Son
Broodmare
B Cor Tamara
JCs Nathalie
Mystic Mistress
Trainer-Driver
Wally Hennessey
Carl Jamieson
Dave Wall
Builders
Doug Harkness
Charles Juravinski
William Rowe
Veterans
Brets View
Celias Counsel
Rumpus Hanover
Balloting to select those who will be inducted will begin March 28 among the 20-member thoroughbred election committee.
The HOF’s Gala induction and awards dinner will be held Thursday, August 16, at the Mississauga Convention Centre.
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