NEWS
Laughter, tears mark 2010 Racing
Hall of Fame induction ceremony
Posted: Friday, August 13, 2010 2:29 PM
by Paul Post
A capacity crowd turned out on Friday to hear inspiring, funny, and sometimes emotional stories about the Racing Hall of Fame’s seven newest members in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Horses Point Given, Azeri, Best Pal, and Harry Bassett, jockeys Randy Romero and Don Pierce, and trainer Michael E. “Buster” Millerick were inducted during a ceremony at Fasig-Tipton Co.’s Humphrey S. Finney Sales Pavilion near Saratoga Race Course, where several of the honorees enjoyed some of their greatest moments.
It was a celebration of the sport’s history and pageantry, highlighted by a constellation of previously inducted Racing Hall of Fame jockeys and trainers.
“What does it take to the get to the Hall of Fame? Greatness,” keynote speaker and Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens said. “Greatness is not one particular moment or that one performance. It’s many, many performances. Are these people ever satisfied? Absolutely not. They’ve never rested on their laurels.”
Every career is marked by “hiccups,” the ups and downs, highs and lows that go with being an athlete, he said.
“Today’s members are no different, whether it’s horse or human,” Stevens said. “There are problems that have to be overcome in every generation.”
Stevens said he is anticipating the day superstar females Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta finally meet on the track.
“They are the best thing that’s happened to racing in several years,” he said. “When these two great mares finally meet, there won’t be a loser. There can’t be.”
Friday’s event, however, was focused on the achievements of past racing legends.
“The only thing missing is my father, my dad,” Larry Mabee, son of Best Pal’s owners John and Betty Mabee, said as he choked back tears. “They would be so proud to be here. They loved their horses. He [Best Pal] got on a race track and he knew what his job was. He was there to race; he was there to win every time he could. The memories just kind of flow back in.”
Carroll Angelle of the Louisiana governor’s office presented Romero with two state proclamations.
He told the story of how Romero, during a duck hunting trip, was so anxious to get started that he shot up a flock of decoys. No one got any fowl because there were not any more decoys.
“True story, honest to God,” Angelle said.
Paul Post is a New York-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent
