Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame Releases 2020 Ballot

The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame has announced its 2020 ballot, featuring 15 Thoroughbred racing candidates along with 15 members of the Standardbred racing community.

A 20-person election committee for each breed will determine the recipients in their respective categories. Results will be announced April 7.

The five categories selected for the 2020 Thoroughbred ballot are Builder, Jockey, Trainer, Female Horse, and Veteran Horse.

A Thoroughbred Builder ballot comprised of Charles Fipke, Philip Kives, and Sue Leslie is offered for voter consideration.

Fipke, a successful Canadian geologist and prospector who was involved in the discovery of the Ekati Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories, has been involved in the Canadian Thoroughbred industry for close to 40 years. Among his accomplishments, the Alberta native bred and owned Perfect Soul, the Sovereign Award-winning champion male turf horse in 2003 and now a successful sire; Not Bourbon , the Sovereign Award-winning champion 3-year-old male of 2008 and winner of that year's Queen's Plate; and Impossible Time, the Sovereign Award-winning champion older female of 2010. Fipke has bred and owned a number of other successful racehorses including Perfect Shirl, winner of the 2011 Emirates Airline Breeder's Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T).

The late Kives, based in Manitoba, known worldwide as the owner of K-Tel and the inventor of the infomercial, became involved in Thoroughbred racing in 1977 with the launch of K-4 Stables (later changed to K-5 to recognize the addition of his son to the Kives family). His passion for racing continued for four decades until his passing in 2016. Kives-owned and -bred horses won multiple stakes races at Winnipeg's Assiniboia Downs as well as in Kentucky, Florida, New York, Ontario, and Alberta. As an owner, Kives won every single stakes race at Assiniboia not just once, but multiple times each, including two editions of the Manitoba Derby, eight runnings of the Gold Cup, three editions of the Winnipeg Futurity, and five runnings of the Matron.

Leslie has dedicated the better part of her life to the sport of horse racing—breeding, owning, and training Thoroughbred horses in Ontario for more than 30 years. As the president/chair of the Ontario HBPA, the president/chair of Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association, on the board of directors on the Avelino Gomez Memorial Foundation, a member of the Jockey Club of Canada and Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society, Leslie has been a proponent for horsepeople across all facets of the industry, most recently working to establish what is now known as Ontario Racing. In 2011, Leslie was honored with a special Sovereign Award for her lifetime work in horse racing and she continues to be a strong leader and a devoted advocate.

Gary Boulanger, Richard Dos Ramos, and Irwin Driedger have been selected to appear on the Thoroughbred Jockey ballot.

Alberta-born Boulanger began his riding career in 1987, spending his early years at tracks in the United States and earning leading jockey status at Longacres Racetrack (1989, 1990, 1991) and Calder Race Course (1994, 1995). In 2000, Boulanger returned to Canada, riding primarily at Woodbine. In 2001, the top money-winning year of his career, he rode Hall of Fame filly Dancethruthedawn to wins in the Labatt Woodbine Oaks and Queen's Plate. Despite suffering what could have been a career-ending injury from a racing accident at Gulfstream Park in 2005, Boulanger fought back and continues to ride, splitting his time between Florida and Woodbine. The 2017 Avelino Gomez Award recipient has won 3,610 races, including 41 graded stakes, and has earnings of nearly $80 million (all statistics through March 24).

Dos Ramos retired from riding in 2013 following a career that began in 1981 at Greenwood, where a total of 142 wins garnered him the Sovereign Award as Canada's top apprentice jockey. He won a second Sovereign Award in 1982. During the 1990s, the Trinidadian experienced some of his top career highlights including his 1992 upset aboard Benburb over the legendary A.P. Indy in the Molson Export Million and a 1999 longshot victory in the $1.5 million Canadian International (G1T) aboard Thornfield, both trained by Hall of Famer Philip England. His success continued through the millennium when he was the recipient of the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award in 2002 and followed up the same day with a win in the Woodbine Oaks with Ginger Gold. Dos Ramos' career stats include 2,159 wins, 18,645 starts, and almost $61 million in earnings.

Driedger, a Manitoba native, launched his career at age 11 in 1967, riding at fairs in Western Canada. He began riding at recognized Canadian racetracks in 1973 and competed at major tracks across Canada for the next 17 years achieving leading rider honors at Winnipeg's Assiniboia Downs from 1979-82, before relocating to Woodbine. When he retired as a jockey on Aug. 12, 1990, he had won over 1,700 races. He then became the secretary/manager of the Jockeys' Benefit Association of Canada, serving until 2006. Under his direction, Canadian jockeys became the first in North America to wear safety vests. Driedger was also instrumental in helping to install safety rails at Woodbine. Following 14 years as director of Thoroughbred racing surfaces at Woodbine, he returned to JBAC as executive director in 2019.

The three Trainers on the 2020 Thoroughbred Election ballot are Michael Keogh, J.G (Jerry) Lavigne, and Daniel J. Vella. 

As longtime private trainer for Hall of Fame Builder Gus Schickedanz, Keogh is a two-time Queen's Plate-winning trainer, first with Woodcarver in 1999 and then with Canadian Triple Crown champion Wando in 2003. During that Triple Crown-winning season, Keogh was also training stablemate Mobil, who earned a Sovereign Award at age 4. Hall of Famer Langfuhr, also trained by Keogh, won three grade 1 stakes and received the Sovereign Award in 1996 as champion sprinter. As an assistant to Hall of Fame Trainer Roger Attfield from 1986-93, Keogh worked with a long list of Hall of Fame inductees including Alywow, Peteski, Carotene, Izvestia, and With Approval. Since 1993, Keogh's stats include 2,689 starts with 330 wins and more than $21.5 million in earnings.

The late Lavigne's career as a trainer began in 1958. His achievements included 68 stakes race wins with 22 stakes winners, as well as two Queen's Plate races with Almoner in 1970 and Son of Briartic in 1982. He was the conditioner of Canadian champion colt Nice Dancer, a multiple stakes winner on the turf, Lost Majorette, and sprinter Park Romeo. His trainee Fabe Count had a stellar record over four years as a multiple stakes winner at nine different distances over both turf and dirt.

Vella captured the Sovereign Award training title in both 1994 and 1995 while working with the powerful Stronach Stable. He has won the coveted Queen's Plate twice in his career thus far, the first in 1994 with Frank Stronach's Basqueian, and the second in 2012 with Strait of Dover for Wally and Terry Leong. Vella has scored 135 career stakes wins in a career that began in 1985. Current career stats include 5,478 starts, 838 wins, and over $37.7 million in earnings.

In the Thoroughbred Female Horse category, voters will select from Hard Not to Like, Marketing Mix, and Tepin.

Bred in Ontario by Garland Williamson, well-traveled Hard Not to Like won at five of the eight tracks she visited during her 22 starts over five years. She earned more than $1.2 million while accumulating eight victories including the 2014 Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland, the 2015 Diana Stakes (G1T) at Saratoga Race Course, and the 2015 Gamely Stakes (G1T) at Santa Anita Park. The striking gray filly by Hard Spun  out of Tactical Cat mare Like a Gem, herself a multiple graded stakes winner, was indeed bred for success.

Tepin, under the direction of trainer Mark Casse throughout most of her race career, accumulated a record of 13-5-1, including nine grade/group 1 wins or placings in three countries—Canada, England and the U.S.—for owner Robert Masterson. Racing from age 3-6, the striking daughter of Bernstein's most notable wins, often against the boys, included the 2015 Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) and 2016 Woodbine Mile (G1T). A trip across the pond in June 2016 resulted in a win in the Queen Anne Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot. Out of the Stravinsky mare Life Happened, she was twice presented with the Eclipse Award champion female turf horse (2015 and 2016).

Marketing Mix, an Ontario-bred Medaglia d'Oro  filly bred by Sean Fitzhenry, was a $150,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase in 2009. Her 21-race career for Glen Hill Farm, under the tutelage of trainer Tom Proctor, banked $2 million in earnings with 10 wins including stakes victories in the 2012 editions of the Rodeo Drive Stakes (G1T), Nassau Stakes (G2T), and Dance Smartly Stakes (G2T), along with the 2013 Gamely Stakes (G1T). She also turned in second-place finishes in the 2012 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf and the 2013 Rodeo Drive.

The Thoroughbred Veteran Horse category will be contested by Bold Executive, Formal Gold, and Play the King.

Bold Executive, a Gus Schickedanz-bred son of Bold Ruckus, had a race career of 19 starts that included wins in the prestigious Coronation Futurity in 1986, as well as the Yearling Sales Stakes and Shepperton Stakes for owners Romeo, Marcello and Pedigree Stud Farm. As a stallion, Bold Executive topped the Canadian sires list six times between 2001-12.

Ontario-bred Formal Gold remains the fastest Canadian-bred in terms of speed figures, even though his final year of racing occurred in 1997. A son of Black Tie Affair, his Equibase Rating is 136—one of the highest in history. Formal Gold was also ranked among the top handicap horses of 1997 with gate-to-wire efforts in two top-level victories—the Woodward Stakes (G1) in September of that year after defeating Horse of the Year Skip Away in the Donn Handicap (G1) at Gulfstream in February. At stud he ranked among the top 1% as sire of 2-year-old winners from starters at 45%, and sired progeny with global earnings of nearly $16 million, including 19 stakes winners.

Play the King, a Kinghaven Farms' homebred, started his racing career slowly but eventually became Canadian Horse of the Year. With 29 starts over his four-year race career, he visited the winner's circle 15 times and earned just shy of $1 million. At age 4 he had wins in the Toboggan Handicap (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack, as well as the Jacques Cartier and Vigil Stakes at Woodbine. That year resulted in an additional four stakes wins, all at six furlongs—the Toronto Budweiser Breeders' Cup Stakes, Highlander Handicap, Suffolk Downs Sprint Handicap (G3), and Nearctic Handicap (G3). He returned the following year in championship form repeating wins in the Budweiser BC and Nearctic before making his most noted performance, the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Churchill Downs. A strong second-place finish at odds of 49-1 brought him Sovereign Awards as champion sprinter, older horse, and Horse of the Year in 1988.