The Thoroughbred horse is the official Maryland state breed of horse, and now we will have an official Hall of Fame for our state breed. Yesterday, April 2, 2013, the Maryland Horse Breeders Association (MHBA) and Maryland Racing Media Association (MRMA) announced the 12-horse inaugural class and operational details of their newly established joint venture, the Maryland-bred Thoroughbred Hall of Fame (MTHOF).
Flat runners Broad Brush, Challedon, Cigar, Find, Gallorette, Jameela, Politely, Safely Kept, Twixt and Vertex and steeplechasers Elkridge and Jay Trump earned induction into the MTHOF. The honorees, with biographies, photos, videos and complete race records, will be showcased on-line at www.mdthoroughbredhalloffame.com while plans to establish a physical facility continue.
“It is virtual for now but, as we move forward with a horse industry museum here, we will make sure that the great Maryland-bred horses will have a place of honor,” said MHBA executive director Cricket Goodall. “It is important that their achievements be marked for all time.”
The MTHOF endeavors to celebrate the racing and stud-book achievements of Maryland-bred Thoroughbreds nationally and internationally, and to showcase their enduring legacies. The planning committee representing varied state racing interests determined MTHOF eligibility for flat runners and steeplechasers retired from racing at least five years. They used the following criteria to determine its first dozen inductees: Challedon, Cigar, Elkridge, Gallorette, Jay Trump and Safely Kept are the only Maryland-breds in the National Racing Hall of Fame; Find and Vertex were included in a comprehensive 1963 vote of state sportswriters who determined the greatest-ever racing Maryland-breds; and Broad Brush, Jameela, Politely and Twixt are the only remaining two-time Maryland-bred horses of the year, an honor first awarded in 1962.
The MTHOF committee considered only racehorses for the initial class but left open the possibility of inducting notable persons in subsequent years. It also determined to limit future classes to no more than two equine inductees.
In addition to Goodall and MRMA president Ted Black, the selection committee includes Frank Vespe, MRMA vice president and prominent racing blogger; Cindy Deubler and Anne Pennington of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association; Joe Clancy, the magazine’s editor and MRMA member; Josh Pons, Country Life Farm principal and Eclipse Award-winning writer; Katy Voss, trainer/breeder and a director of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association; Georganne Hale, Maryland Jockey Club racing secretary, and Jim McCue, MJC photographer; and Vinnie Perrone, Eclipse Award-winning writer.
A celebration to recognize the inaugural class of inductees will take place at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday, May 11, adorning its program with ceremonies, remembrances and races named for inductees.
For more information, contact the Maryland Horse Breeders Association at 410-252-2100 or visit www.mdthoroughbredhalloffame.com.
MISSION STATEMENT
To create and maintain a Maryland-bred Thoroughbred Hall of Fame (MTHOF) as a means of celebrating the excellence of state-bred Thoroughbred horses. Maryland-bred horses are distinguished by both their on-track achievements and their impact on the stud book. MTHOF seeks to extol the significant contributions of Maryland-breds to racing and breeding nationally and internationally, and to showcase their enduring legacies.
