Ashado, Curlin Among Legends Inducted to Hall of Fame

Curlin, pictured winning the 2008 Woodward Stakes, is one of eight people or horses inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame for 2014. (Photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
Champion Thoroughbreds Ashado and Curlin were inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame on Friday, joining five trainers, jockeys or individuals recognized as "Pillars of the Turf" and a historical equine champion in the Hall's Class of 2014.
Trainer Gary Jones and jockey Alex Solis were chosen, along with Ashado and Curlin, by a national panel comprised of racing writers, officials, and historians. The museum's Historic Review Committee elected jockey Lloyd Hughes and Thoroughbred Clifford, while Edward R. Bradley and Edward P. Taylor were chosen by a committee as Pillars of the Turf.
Retired trainer Gary Jones won 1,465 races including the Marlboro Cup, Widener Handicap and Oaklawn Handicap with 1986 champion Turkoman. Jones also conditioned Hall of Famer Best Pal, who accumulated wins in the Santa Anita Handicap, Pacific Classic, Hollywood Gold Cup and Oaklawn Handicap. Overall Jones earned $52,672,611 from 1975 to 1996 and tallied 102 graded stakes victories.
Still an active jockey, Alex Solis has ridden the winners of nearly 5,000 races in a career spanning three decades. Solis won the 1986 Preakness with champion Snow Chief and has won three Breeders' Cup races including the 2003 Classic aboard Pleasantly Perfect. He has ridden top horses Flat Out, Criminal Type, Jewel Princess, Victory Gallop and Pleasant Tap among others.
ASHADO WINS THE 2004 BREEDERS' CUP DISTAFF

Video courtesy of Breeders' Cup World Championships YouTube channel
Champion Ashado won 12 of her 21 career starts and placed in another seven of them, earning $3,931,440 in the process. Trained by Todd Pletcher and campaigned by Starlight Stables, Paul Saylor and Johns Martin, the daughter of Saint Ballado has 11 graded stakes wins to her credit, including the Kentucky Oaks, Breeders' Cup Distaff, Beldame, Coaching Club American Oaks, Ogden Phipps and Spinaway. Ashado was named champion 3-year-old filly in 2004 and champion older filly or mare in 2005.
Curlin, a two-time Horse of the Year, did not debut until early in his 3-year-old season but quickly made up for lost time when finishing third in the 2007 Kentucky Derby, winning the Preakness and finishing second in the Belmont after a stretch-long battle with filly Rags to Riches. The colt then won the Jockey Club Gold Cup against older horses and the Breeders' Cup Classic to cap off his championship season. As a 4-year-old Curlin won the Dubai World Cup, Stephen Foster, Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup en route to a second consecutive Horse of the Year title for trainer Steve Asmussen and owner Stonestreet Stables. Overall Curlin won $10,501,800, more than any other Thoroughbred in history, from a record of 16-11-2-2.
CURLIN WINS THE 2008 BREEDERS' CUP CLASSIC

Video courtesy of Breeders' Cup World Championships YouTube channel
Jockey Lloyd Hughes was the first to pilot three Preakness Stakes winners, accomplishing the feat with Tom Ochiltree (1875), Harold (1879) and Greneda (1880). A Welsh native, Hughes began riding at Monmouth Park in 1872 and also won the Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes multiple times. He won numerous other stakes while riding for some of the sport's top owners.
Clifford, winner of 42 races from 62 starts, raced from 1892 through 1897. His 3-year-old record includes 18 wins, one second and four thirds from 24 starts including 11 wins in a five-week period. Clifford was recognized as "one of the most brilliant performers the American turf has ever known" by the New York Times.
Edward R. Bradley was a Thoroughbred owner and breeder whose Idle Hour Stock Farm bred 128 stakes winners under his ownership. Bradley imported the French mare La Troienne, to whom more than 800 American stakes winners can trace their lineage. Bradley also owned four Kentucky Derby winners, three Preakness winners and two Belmont winners and has been honored with a stakes race, the Grade 3 Col. E.R. Bradley Handicap at Fair Grounds, a track he used to own.
E.P. TAYLOR WITH NORTHERN DANCER AND HORATIO LURO

Photo courtesy of Terry Conway
Canadian Edward P. Taylor got involved in racing in the mid-1930s and imported the mare Lady Angela, whose colt Neartic would in turn sire Northern Dancer. In Northern Dancer Taylor had bred a Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner and one of the top sires of all time. Taylor bred 192 stakes winners and 54 champions including Northern Dancer, Glorious Song, Devil's Bag and Storm Bird. Storm Bird would sire Storm Cat, another important North American sire. The Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes is run at Woodbine in his honor.