Two of the most noteworthy horses in recent memory were honored at this year’s National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame induction ceremony, held Aug. 2 at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The 2018 Triple Crown winner and Horse of the Year Justify and 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner were the only contemporary horses in the 2024 Hall of Fame class. Each was inducted in his first year of eligibility.

Justify

Speaking on behalf of Justify’s connections, co-owner Elliott Walden recalled WinStar Farm’s owner Kenny Troutt’s Triple Crown, beginning when Troutt established the farm in 2000.

Troutt (center) and connections of Justify. (Skip Dickstein/BloodHorse)

Walden is the CEO, president, and racing manager for WinStar, which owned Justify in partnership with China Horse Club, Head of Plains Partners, and Starlight Racing. He said, “I don’t know if you can speak a Triple Crown into existence, but every year from 2000 to 2018, Kenny Troutt talked about winning the Triple Crown.

“I told him, ‘You’re setting your sights too high,’ and here we are, inducting the 13^th Triple Crown winner into the Hall of Fame.”

China Horse Club and WinStar’s Maverick Racing purchased Justify at the 2015 Keeneland September Yearling Sale from the consignment of Glennwood Farm, paying $500,000. Now standing at Ashford Stud in Kentucky for a private fee, Justify was bred by John Gunther.

The Bob Baffert trainee retired unbeaten in six starts – though this spring, he was disqualified by stewards from victory in the 2018 Santa Anita Derby following a long legal battle in which a judge ultimately ruled that racing regulations mandated that outcome when post-race testing confirmed a positive for scopolamine. The disqualification is under appeal, with his connections arguing the presence of scopolamine was caused by environmental contamination that affected six other horses in the same time frame.

After the Santa Anita Derby, the lightly-raced talent sailed through the Triple Crown, taking the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes in his final start.

“He always had an aura about him,” Walden said of the chestnut. “Barbara Livingston caught a picture of him coming in from the Belmont, and as he came into the barn, every horse in the shedrow had their head on him, looking at him like he was something special.”

Gun Runner

Not necessarily known on the backstretch for his sentimentality, trainer Steve Asmussen got choked up talking about Gun Runner, the horse that Asmussen trained to five straight Grade 1 wins, including the 2017 Whitney Stakes, the 2017 Woodward Stakes, and the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Torrealba, Winchell, Asmussen (Skip Dickstein/BloodHorse)

“Gun Runner’s ability is so obvious, and that’s what got him here,” said the trainer. “But what a perfect combination of two great racing families, for them to (take) the financial risk and sacrifice of running him as a 4-year-old, the confidence that they had in him to do what he went on to do.

“What a great honor it is to look out at (jockey) Florent (Geroux) and (assistant trainer) Scott (Blasi) ... what this horse meant to us and did for us and the sacrifices that we would all gladly make for this sort of opportunity – it is what makes the Hall of Fame.”

Bred in Kentucky by Besilu Stables, Gun Runner is owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm, where the 11-year-old stood in 2024 for a private fee. 

Three Chimneys’ owner Gonçalo Borges Torrealba couldn’t be at the ceremony and was represented by his brother Roderigo, one of the farm’s directors.

“He was magnificent on the track, especially during his final year,” said Torrealba. “We owe a great deal to Ben Leon, who bred Gun Runner under his banner of Besilu Stables. Mr. Leon, we applaud your achievement in breeding such a remarkable horse.”

Winchell noted the three paths “on the human” side that it takes to get to the Hall of Fame.

“The first path is putting the horse in the hands of Steve Asmussen, who was able to recognize very early his ability and manage his career accordingly. Critical path number two is pairing the horse with the right jockey, Florent, and for him to connect with the horse and get the most out of every ride. And the last critical path is an ownership team that was willing to run him as a 4-year-old. Gun Runner did quite enough that he could retire as a 3-year-old, but running him as a 4-year-old is what got him to the Hall of Fame.”

Joel Rosario

Jockey Joel Rosario joined Justify and Gun Runner in this year’s contemporary inductee class. The native of the Dominican Republic was introduced by Ambassador José Singer, Special Envoy of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations Security Council. Singer also owns horses that Rosario has ridden in both the Dominican Republic and the United States.

Rosario aboard Knicks Go. (Eclipse Sportswire)

“Joel is the first rider from the Dominican Republic to be in the Hall of Fame,” said Singer. “We have maybe 200 horses running in our country, and just a small jockey school, maybe five students. It’s a very small community, and that’s what makes it such an astonishing thing to have Joel recognized.”

Rosario began his career in his home country and then established himself in California before moving to race mainly on the New York circuit in the early 2010s. Through Aug. 1, he has won 3,633 races and his mounts have earned over $322.5 million. Rosario received the Eclipse Award as Outstanding Jockey in 2021 and has won one Kentucky Derby, two Belmont Stakes, and 15 Breeders’ Cup races.

“I’m thankful for the many opportunities given to me and for the people who have supported me throughout my career,” said Rosario. “I never thought growing up in the Dominican Republic, playing baseball and riding my horse really quickly to the grocery store, that I would be a Hall of Fame jockey. Thank you to all the agents that have helped me get where I am today, in the Dominican Republic and the United States, to the owners and trainers, and to the jockeys, valets, grooms, gate crew, and exercise riders – it’s fun to work with you every day.

“And thank you to the horses. Without the horses, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Abe Hawkins

While Gun Runner and Justify were inducted five years after their retirements, Abe Hawkins’ honor came more than 150 years after Hawkins’ death in 1867 as he was inducted by the Hall of Fame’s Historic Review Committee. Born enslaved and enslaved for most of his life, Hawkins was a preeminent jockey in the 19^th century. Characterized by historian Katherine Mooney as “nothing less than a national figure,” Hawkins won the Jersey Derby, the Travers Stakes, and the inaugural Jerome Stakes, all in 1866.

Subscribe now!

Accepting the honor on Hawkins’ behalf were Clark Williams and Greg Harbut, president and chairman respectively of the Ed Brown Society, which takes its name from enslaved 19^th century jockey and trainer Ed Brown, who counts among his successes winning the 1870 Belmont Stakes as a jockey and the 1877 Kentucky Derby as a trainer, and Williams’ remarks received some of the loudest applause at the ceremony.

“This is a supreme and well-deserved honor,” said Williams of Hawkins’ induction. “It represents a seminal moment in the fulfillment of the Ed Brown Society’s mission, which is to celebrate the rich history of African-Americans in the equine industry while also creating opportunities for talented and focused young people of color to gain the experience, training, and support necessary for them to become successful professionals in all aspects of the industry.”

Noting that upon his death, press reports said that as a jockey Hawkins had no equal in this country, Williams also observed that those sentiments were expressed at a time when Black people rarely received accolades for their contributions.

“All of us who participate in this great sport, all of us, of all races and ethnicities, in some way or another, we all stand on the shoulders of Abe Hawkins today.”

One of few Black people attending the ceremony, Williams went on, “Today, some act as though ‘diversity’ is a bad word, but hear me when I say there is no doubt that our sport was its best in so many ways when this industry possessed more racial diversity in some crucial professional roles where there is very little racial diversity in 2024. We must work together, and we must do better in our working together.”

Also inducted in the Historic Review category were horses Lecomte, the only runner to ever defeat the great Lexington, and ridden in that victory by Hawkins; and Aristides, the winner of the first Kentucky Derby.

Pillars of the Turf

This year’s Pillars of the Turf inductees are owner/breeder/executive Harry F. Guggenheim; Clement L. Hirsch, co-founder and president of the Oak Tree Racing Association and a director of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association; and Joe Hirsch, who joined the Museum’s Media Roll of Honor for his decades of work as a turf writer at Daily Racing Form and other publications. Hirsch’s former roommate, NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath, made a video appearance to celebrate his late friend’s induction.