California Chrome, Songbird Headline 2023 Hall of Fame Class

Eight new members, including multiple Eclipse Award winners California Chrome and Songbird, have been elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. The class of 2023 also includes jockey Corey Nakatani and champion Arrogate in the contemporary category; jockey Fernando Toro via the Historic Review Committee; and Pillars of the Turf selections John W. Hanes II, Leonard W. Jerome and Stella F. Thayer. Arrogate, California Chrome and Songbird all were elected in their first year of eligibility.

The 2023 Hall of Fame class will be enshrined at 10:30 a.m. ET Friday, August 4, at Fasig-Tipton’s Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, New York. The ceremony will be broadcast live online at racingmuseum.org. The event is open to the public and free to attend.

Corey Nakatani, 52, a native of Covina, California, won 3,909 races with purse earnings of $234,554,534 in a career that spanned from 1988 through 2018. His 341 graded stakes victories included 10 Breeders’ Cup races. Nakatani ranks 14th all time in career earnings and finished in the top 20 in annual earnings 16 times, including 11 times in the top 10. A winner of 10 riding titles on the Southern California circuit, Nakatani ranks in the top 10 in overall wins and stakes wins at both Santa Anita Park and Del Mar.

Arrogate posted a record of 7-1-1 from 11 starts while racing in 2016 and 2017. His earnings of $17,422,600 represent the highest total in history for a horse with at least one start in North America. Winner of the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old male in 2016, Arrogate was bred by Clearsky Farms and purchased for $560,000 by Juddmonte Farms at the 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale. Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Arrogate finished third in his debut in April 2016 at Los Alamitos before winning seven consecutive races, including the Travers Stakes, Breeders’ Cup Classic, Pegasus World Cup and Dubai World Cup, all Grade 1 events.

Songbird was bred by John Antonelli and purchased for $400,000 by Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farm at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale of selected yearlings. Trained by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, Songbird raced from 2015 through 2017 with a record of 13-2-0 from 15 starts and earnings of $4,692,000. Winner of Eclipse Awards for champion 2-year-old filly in 2015 and champion 3-year-old filly in 2016, Songbird counted nine Grade 1s among her 12 graded stakes victories.

Fernando Toro, 82, a native of Santiago, Chile, won 3,555 races with purse earnings of $56,299,765 during his North American riding career from 1966 through 1990. Toro won his first race in his native country at age 15 in 1956 and topped the Chilean jockey standings twice. Before arriving in the U.S., Toro won three editions of the prestigious Gran Premio as well as the 1964 Clasico St. Leger, a race in the Chilean Triple Crown series. Based in Southern California, Toro won 80 graded stakes in North America. At the time of his retirement, he ranked in the top 10 in stakes wins at Del Mar, Hollywood Park and Santa Anita.

Stella F. Thayer, 82, a native of Tampa, Florida, purchased Tampa Bay Downs with her brother, Howell Ferguson, in 1986. She currently serves as the track’s president. Thayer was elected the ninth president of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2005. The first woman to hold the position in the institution’s history, Thayer served as museum president until 2014. She has been a museum trustee since 1994.

John W. Hanes II, a native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, played a key role in the revitalization of New York racing in the 1950s. He was elected a steward of The Jockey Club in 1953 and tasked by the organization to chair a special committee to improve New York’s tracks and quality of racing. Along with committee members Christopher T. Chenery and Harry F. Guggenheim, Hanes secured $109 million to revitalize Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course. He also helped obtain legislation to establish the management corporation that eventually became the New York Racing Association.

California Chrome was bred and owned by Perry Martin and Steve Coburn. Taylor Made Farm later joined in the ownership, purchasing Coburn’s share. Trained by Art Sherman, California Chrome raced from 2013 to 2017 with a record of 16-4-1 from 27 starts and earnings of $14,752,650. He was voted Horse of the Year in 2014 and 2016 and earned additional Eclipse Awards for champion 3-year-old male in 2014 and champion older male in 2016.

Leonard W. Jerome bought the 230-acre estate and mansion of James Bathgate in what was then rural Westchester County, New York, in 1866. Jerome and August Belmont I built Jerome Park on that land and held the inaugural Belmont Stakes there in 1867. The Belmont was contested at Jerome Park until 1890. Other key races inaugurated at Jerome Park include the Champagne Stakes, Juvenile Stakes and Ladies Handicap. Jerome established the Coney Island Jockey Club in 1879. The organization held race cards at Prospect Park in New York City while constructing Sheepshead Bay Race Track, which opened in 1880.