Voss, Good Night Shirt Elected to Hall of Fame

The late Thomas H. Voss, a five-time National Steeplechase Association leader in wins and three-time leader in earnings, and two-time Eclipse Award-winning champion steeplechase horse (2007-08) Good Night Shirt, have been elected to the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame by the museum's steeplechase review committee. 

Good Night Shirt and Voss will be inducted into the Hall of Fame Aug. 4 at 10:30 a.m. ET in a ceremony that is open to the public and free to attend at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion. The Hall of Fame's 2017 contemporary inductees and Pillars of the Turf selections will be announced at a later date.

The steeplechase review committee meets once every four years to consider candidates. In 2013 racehorses McDynamo and Tuscalee were inducted. 

Voss (1950-2014) led all NSA trainers in wins in 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2011, and in earnings in 1997, 2002, and 2009. In a career that spanned from 1974 to 2013, he won 706 races and had purse earnings of more than $17 million. He won 394 steeplechase races, and his jump earnings of $8,868,201 rank third all-time. 

NSA-1 victories for Voss include the Colonial Cup (2010), Grand National (2009), Supreme Hurdle (2007), Joe Aitcheson Hurdle (2002), Breeders' Cup Steeplechase (2001), Atlanta Cup (1998), Appleton Hurdle (1998), and the New York Turf Writers Cup (1996). Voss also won the Maryland Hunt Cup in 1998 and 1999, and took the National Hunt Cup when it was an ungraded event in 2008 and 2012.

Also successful in flat racing, Voss won the Sword Dancer Invitational (G1T) and the Turf Classic Invitational (G1T) with 9-year-old John's Call in 2000. John's Call also finished third in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) that year and added another graded win for Voss in the Laurel Turf Cup (G3T). 

Voss trained 2010 Eclipse Award-winning steeplechaser Slip Away, winner of the Colonial Cup and Temple Gwathmey that year. Slip Away turned heads with his early speed over the jumps, often taking his rivals all the way in the marathon events. He sealed his championship with a powerful performance in the Colonial Cup (NSA-1), winning by nearly 26 lengths. 

In his youth, Voss successfully rode over timber fences and subsequently launched his career as a trainer in his native Maryland. He won his first steeplechase race as a trainer in 1975 with Aruhapy at Monkton, and also rode the winner. He trained NSA champions Left Unsaid, Guelph, Planet's Aligned, Ginz, Ironfist, Approaching Squall, and Soaringoverseattle. He also served on the NSA board of directors and was NSA secretary in 2013. He died in 2014 at the age of 63.

Bred in Maryland by Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Bowman, Good Night Shirt (Concern—Hot Story, by Two Punch) was owned for the majority of his career by Harold "Sonny" Via Jr., and trained by Jack Fisher. Good Night Shirt joined Fisher's barn in 2005 after beginning his career as a flat racer. He went on to win 10 graded stakes races, including eight NSA-1 events. 

In 2007, Good Night Shirt won the Iroquois, Lonesome Glory and Colonial Cup—all NSA-1 events—to earn the first of his consecutive Eclipse Awards. As a 7-year-old the following year, Good Night Shirt raced exclusively in top-level company. He won each of his five starts, taking in succession the Georgia Cup, Iroquois, Lonesome Glory, Grand National, and Colonial Cup. Good Night Shirt's 2008 earnings of $485,520 set a single-season record, surpassing the previous mark of $314,163, which he set in 2007.

In his 2008 Lonesome Glory victory, Good Night Shirt set a Belmont Park track record of 4:24 for 2 1/2 miles over jumps. He received 168 pounds in the National Steeplechase Association Theoretical Handicap in 2008. Only Lonesome Glory was given a higher impost (170 pounds in 1995) among annual highweights in NSA history. The NSA Theoretical Handicap has been in place since 1992.

As an 8-year-old, Good Night Shirt began his 2009 season with a victory in the Carolina Cup (NSA-2)—securing his 10th graded stakes win—before finishing second in the Iroquois. He was then retired because of an ankle injury with a record of 14-5-3 from 33 starts and earnings of $1,041,083, joining Lonesome Glory and McDynamo as only the third steeplechaser to surpass $1 million in earnings. Good Night Shirt is also in the elite company of Lonesome Glory, Zaccio, Mistico, Moonstruck, and Alajmal as the only horses to win both the Carolina Cup and Colonial Cup.