National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

Smarty Jones (Elusive Quality), winner of the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness Stakes, leads a class of seven who will be inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Friday morning. The champion 3-year-old of 2004, the lone selection in the contemporary category, joins racehorses Decathlon, Hermis and trainer George H. Conway, who were chosen by the 1900-1959 Historic Review Committee; and Edward L. Bowen, Arthur Hancock, III, and Richard Ten Broeck, who were elected by the Pillars of the Turf Committee. The induction...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - As the final races of the opening day of the Saratoga season are being run July 10, a reception to celebrate a collaboration linking racing and breeding in New York and Ireland will be beginning across the street at the National Museum of Racing. The event sponsored by the New York State Breeding and Development Fund will honor Helena Nolan, the Consul General of Ireland in the U.S. and Suzanne Eade, CEO of Horse Racing Ireland. Nolan and Eade were principals with Brian O'Dwyer, the chairman...

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame has revealed that D. G. Van Clief and Josh Pons have been named to the Hall of Fame committee as chairs of the Contemporary Nominating Committee and the Pillars of the Turf Committee, respectively. With the new Hall of Fame committee chairs in place, Museum leadership is reportedly beginning an evaluation of the overall nomination and election process, including a review of the contemporary Hall of Fame voting panel. The current procedures may be found here. Van Clief, who previously served...

As a fan of horse racing and someone that holds the Hall of Fame in esteem as the highest honor in our sport, I would like to implore the Hall and their Board of Trustees to take a hard look at both the nominating process for applicants to the Hall of Fame, and at the system through which the horses and people are elected. For the past few years, we have had a number of very good nominees on the equine and human side, and to not even know how...

Seven new members have been elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, headed by Smarty Jones, a finalist for the first time and featured on these pages this week. Additionally, Kentucky-breds Decathlon and Hermis and trainer George H. Conway have been chosen by the 1900-1959 Historic Review Committee; and Edward L. Bowen, Arthur B. Hancock III, and Richard Ten Broeck have been elected by the Pillars of the Turf Committee. In the contemporary category, Pennsylvania-bred Smarty Jones was the lone candidate to appear on the majority...

Later this week, the 2025 class of inductees for the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame will be announced. Among the eight racehorses included as finalists on the ballot is 2004 dual Classic winner Smarty Jones (Elusive Quality). All eight of the horses have marvelous credentials--obviously, or they wouldn't be on the ballot--but if there was a Hall of Fame for the intangible, Smarty Jones would be a shoo-in at the top of the class. "I think there was this trickle-down effect in what he did that will never...

The two-week Backstretch Employee Service Team (BEST) Supply Drive will to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2025, according to a museum release Tuesday. The organization will again be accepting donations for three months this spring, beginning Apr. 16 and going through July 15. Donations are accepted in person at the museum during regular business hours. Anyone who donates an item will receive a pass for free Museum admission plus a guest. All donations go directly to the backstretch workers. Items needed include new or slightly...

From Bob Hutt Let me preface my remarks as President of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (PTHA) by saying I am humbled and honored that Smarty Jones was made a finalist for the Hall of Fame. Smarty Jones was the first horse unbeaten through the Kentucky Derby and Preakness since Seattle Slew in 1977.  Justify and Seattle Slew are the only horses to win the Triple Crown while unbeaten. Smarty's run through the 2004 Triple Crown races compares very favorably with Triple Crown winners American Pharoah and Justify. In fact,...

Tim Layden, Ed Schuyler, Jr., and the late Edwin Pope have been selected to the National Museum of Racing's Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor, the repository for racing's history said in a press release on Wednesday morning. The honor roll was established in 2010 to recognize individuals whose careers have been dedicated to, or substantially involved in, writing about Thoroughbred racing (non-fiction), and who distinguished themselves as journalists. Layden is a four-time Eclipse Award winner and the 2015 recipient of the Walter Haight Award for career excellence in turf...

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame is seeking auction items from the Thoroughbred industry, as well as businesses around Saratoga Springs ahead of its third annual "Countdown to the Triple Crown" fundraising event, scheduled for Feb. 1. Businesses who donate an item, experience, or gift card will be  promoted leading up to the event through the museum's social media channels and through database distribution. The museum will also provide contributing businesses with two complimentary tickets to the event. Guests can attend the event in person at the...

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame's sixth annual Photo Finish exhibition will open in the Museum's von Stade Gallery Nov. 2 and will run through Feb. 2, 2025. The exhibit will also be available on the museum's website, racingmuseum.org. Photo Finish features selected amateur and professional photographs that document the Thoroughbred racing experience, from a serene moment on the farm to the exhilaration at the finish of a race. Each image captures an element of the strength, beauty, and emotion of the sport. Photographers from 11 states are...

Charlotte C. Weber has been chosen as the interim board chair of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame through a vote by the institution's executive committee. Weber, previously a vice chair, will serve in the chair position formerly held by John Hendrickson, who passed away Aug. 19. Hendrickson was the museum's chair since 2017. Weber has been a museum trustee since 2001.