Lifetime Achievement Award

Joseph Gottstein
(1891-1971, Inducted 2003)

A Seattle native, Joe Gottstein was the only son of Polish immigrants. After attending Brown University, he returned to Seattle and became a true pioneer in this city’s real estate development. Gottstein’s father had given him his first race horse at the age of eight, but The Meadows, Washington’s first major race track, had been closed in 1903 by the anti-gambling furor. In 1922, Gottstein began to campaign for legislation that would legalize racing once again and in 1933, when House Bill 59 was signed into law, he was ready to bring his dream to life. Thg original Longacres grandstand and track were built in only 28 days. From the opening day at Longacres, exactly 70 years ago last month (8/3/33), until his death from cancer at age 79, Gottstein’s vision ensured the success of racing in Washington. He inaugurated the Longacres Mile in 1935 with a $10,000 purse – an enormous sum of money at that time. In 1940, Gottstein started a grass roots campaign among breeders, which led to the formation of the Washington Horse Breeders Association. Click here for expanded profile.

Breeders

Daniel J. Agnew
Post-1970
(1945- , Inducted 2007)

Though being honored for accomplish- ments since 1970, Dan Agnew’s family has been prominent on the Washington Thoroughbred racing and breeding scene for three generations.
    His grandfather, Sam A. Agnew, started with trotters on the fair circuit, but by the 1950s, Dan’s father, S. J. “Jay,” was racing Thoroughbreds successfully at Longacres and Playfair and had established T9O Farm near Centralia. Dan’s Thoroughbred namesake, Mr. Dan A. (foaled in 1956) was a stakes winner at three and four while running for Dan’s parents.
    Born in October 1945, Dan would graduate from law school at Willamette University in 1970 and assume the leadership of the family business, which included prominent lumber dealings, in 1980 after the death of his father.
    As a young man, Dan was on hand when the T9O colors were carried by Terlago in the 1970 Kentucky Derby. Thirteen years later he would be back at Churchill Downs’ hallowed grounds to see his Desert Wine finish second to Sunny’s Halo in the 109th running of the May classic and then be runner-up in the Preakness Stakes (G1). The son of Damascus was to become racing’s 50th millionaire.
    During the 1980s, T9O Farm, renamed DanDar Farm in 1984, would stand some of the preeminent Washington stallions of the era, including four-time leading Washington sire Staff Writer and other top stallions, such as Captain Courageous, Just the Time, Drouilly (Fr) and Peterhof.
    Dan bred, or co-bred, Washington champions Tortellini Roma (1987 two-year-old filly), T. D. Passer (1989 three-year-old colt) and Grade 1 star Delicate Vine. The daughter of Knights Choice was Washing- ton’s horse of the year in 1986 and was ranked second of her sex on the national Experimental Free Handicap at two. Among his non-Washington-bred stakes winners are group one winners Alydar’s Best and Flamenco Wave.
    Other top runners racing in the Agnew silks include Sunset Handicap (G1) winner Kings Island (Ire), Spinster Stakes (G1) winner Top Corsage, 1992 Longacres Derby winner Star Recruit, two-time Belle Roberts Stakes winner Silk Chiffon and, more recently, Fortunate Event, who finished second in the Emerald Distaff Handicap on August 19.
    A second generation WTBA president, Dan has been a member of the WTBA board of directors since 1980 and was at its helm for 15 years. In 2006, the WTBA honored Dan with its most prestigious honor, the S. J. Agnew Special Achievement Award.
    Dan currently lives in Vancouver, Washington, with his wife Kim.

Herb Armstrong
(Valley Farm)
Pre-1970
(1913-1975, Inducted 2003)

From 1936 until his death in 1975, Armstrong operated Valley Farm in his home town of Harrington. That nursery led all Washington breeders by money won seven times (1952, 1954-59), by number of winners for 15 years (1944, 1946-59) and by number of races won for 14 years (1945, 1947-59). For 25 consecutive years (1944-68), Armstrong was ranked among the top 30 breeders in the state. During one 18-year stretch, he bred 87 horses, of which 67 were winners, an incredible 77 percent ratio. Armstrong’s best homebreds included Washington horses of the year Rover Bill (1952), Big Success (1955), Johnie Mike (1956) and Sir William (1957). The latter captured the Santa Anita Derby that year over the immortal Round Table and was the leading Washington-bred earner of his day. Other notable achievements for this legendary horseman include being the first Washington breeder whose state-bred runners earned over $1 million, as well as being named Washington’s 1960 turfman of the year. Click here for expanded profile.

George Drumheller
Pre-1970
(1874-1945, Inducted 2004)

Deemed “the father of Thoroughbred horse racing in Washington,” George Drumheller was one of the original sponsors of Washington State House Bill 59 that allowed racing to return to this state and paved the way for Longacres to open in 1933. A wheat farmer with over 1,000 acres in Walla Walla, Drumheller began to dabble with race horses during “what in the 1920’s was most certainly an obscure business in this state. Spending thousands of dollars for Kentucky bloodstock and racing stock,” he was con-sidered the leading Washington horseman of his day. Drumheller was this state’s leading breeder, by earnings, for six consecutive years (1935-1940). From 1935 through 1951, he bred the winners of 238 races, tops in the state during that period. His Drumheller Ranch stood early leading Washington sires Gladiator (sire of 1941 Longacres Mile winner Campus Fusser), Black Forest (sire of Arlington Park’s Stars and Stripes Stakes winner Georgie Drum) and Fort Churchill (sire of 1945 Longacres Mile winner Prince Ernest). Son, Allen Drumheller, a 2003 inductee to the Washington Racing Hall of Fame in the trainer category, would be the leading breeder in this state eight times. Additionally, Allen was one of the nation’s most respected trainers of his day and one of the state’s original racing commissioners. Click here for expanded profile.

C. J. Sebastian
Pre-1970
(Inducted 2006)

Washington’s 1963 turfman of the year, Christian J. “Seb” Sebastian first entered racing on a large scale in 1944 when he went to the Keeneland Sales and purchased 14 yearlings. He had originally just bought 13, but was encouraged not to go home with an “unlucky 13.” The 14th yearling, which he purchased for $1,200, Galla Damion, put the Kirkland breeder on the racing map. As a three-year-old, the son of Sir Damion set a new world’s record for seven furlongs and was considered one of the early favorites for the Kentucky Derby. He was a three-time stakes winner of $69,790 and became a significant sire in Washington. Another of that fateful group was Blue Tiger, who won the 1949 Longacres Mile in Sebastian’s colors (Galla Damion finished fourth in the $18,200 race). A winner of 20 other races, the gelded son of Tiger earned $64,550. But probably the most significant among that group of yearlings was Dusky Chance, Washington’s 1963 broodmare of the year and dam of four stakes winners, two of which went on to become state champions. Her leading earner, Dusky Damion, a son of Galla Damion, won or placed in 18 stakes races in Washington and California and earned $171,650. Dusky Chance’s second champion, though bred by Sebastian, was raced through most of his career by Ned Skinner and Melville “Jack” McKinstry. Due to health reasons, Sebastian had sold all his Thoroughbred holdings and Kirkland farm in the autumn of 1961. Dr. John H. is the only horse that ever came close to sweeping Longacres top three events, as he won the Washington Futurity, the Longacres Derby and finished second in the Longacres Mile (at three).
    Sebastian was Washington’s leading breeder by earnings for three years (1961-1963) and was also leading breeder by races won in 1963. He bred the winners of $631,234, and that was enough to rank him second among all breeders in 1966. Sebastian’s first Washington-bred runner reached the races in 1950 and he had his first statebred winner the following year.
    A longtime WTBA member, Sebastian served as a board of trustee for seven years and as president of the organization in 1957.

Jerre Paxton
(Northwest Farms)
Post-1970
(1938- , Inducted 2003)

Jerre Paxton’s Northwest Farms/Yakima Stallion Station has dominated Washington racing and breeding circles for over two decades. He was the leading breeder by earnings in Washington for 12 consecutive years (1984-95). Paxton set new earnings records for a breeder in 1990, 1992 and again in 1994. He established a new record for number of stakes winners in one year with eight in 1992. Paxton’s Yakima farm has bred 12 Washington champions. Originally operating as the Yakima Stallion Station, Paxton stood 1982-1986 leading Washington sire Drum Fire there and later his 1991 leading son Knights Choice. By the time of Knights Choice’s reign, the farm had been renamed Northwest Farms. Northwest Farms has sold the WTBA Summer Yearling Sale topper 12 times (co-1979, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2000-02). Among the farm’s many exceptional matrons were Washington broodmares of the year Yang (1978) and Pamlisa’s Delight (1984). Click here for expanded profile.

Guy and Barbara Roberts (Guy Bar Farm)
Post-1970
(Inducted 2005)

Married for over 50 years, and stalwarts of the local breeding industry for over 30 of those, Guy and Barbara Roberts reside in Sunnyside, also home to their Thoroughbred nursery, Guy Bar Farm. An apple and produce grower/distributor, Guy Roberts bred his first winner in 1968 (Fleet Yetta), his first stakes winner in 1971 (Vitation) and first went over the $100,000 yearly earnings mark as a breeder first in 1981. The couple has led all breeders within the state borders seven times (1996-98, 2001-2004), ranked second five times and held the third position four times since 1988. For those keeping score, that’s a one-two-three position in 16 of the last 17 years. Other career highlights include: breeding Washington champions Funboy (1972), Cocktails Anyone (1997 and 1998), Court’s in Session (2004), all graded stakes performers, and being breeders of five statebreds to win over $230,000 each: Funboy ($478,180), Peter’s Pond ($248,082), Cocktails Anyone ($242,545), Court’s in Session ($238,945) and Court Shenanigans ($230,378). Guy Bar Farm has stood several prominent Washington sires and was home to three-time leading Washington sire Table Run during his career at stud. Roberts is also past-president of the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders Association, has served on dozens of the organization’s committees and remains active on the board of trustees today. Click here for expanded profile.

Jockeys

John Adams
(1915-1995, Inducted 2007)

Born on September 1, 1915, in Kansas, John “Iola Mite” Adams won his first race at age 20 without an apprentice license, as his parents refused to sign the necessary papers. That did not stop the young horseman, who lied about his age and jumped to the journeyman ranks without the benefit of a weight allowance.
    By 1936, the rider had traveled across country to Longacres where he rode until the early 1940s. Adams rode Bartlett to victory in the 1936 Spokane Handicap and Alviso for the win in the 1936 Speed Handicap. Adams was aboard three Longacres Mile starters (1936, 1937 and 1942) with his best finish a fourth aboard Blue Bud in ’37. That would be the same year in which he would lead the nation’s riders for the first of three years with a record of 260-186-177 from 1,255 mounts and a 21 percent win ratio. He also led the 1942 ranks with 245 victories (22 percent) and in 1943 with 228 wins (21 percent).
    Adams was known for his “good hands and keen sense of pace.”
    In 1939, he was aboard C.S. Howard’s *Kayak II when that runner won the Santa Anita Handicap. He rode his second “Big ’Cap” winner seven years later on War Knight. He also won the 1954 Preakness Stakes aboard Hasty Road, and among the other big races he won during his 23-year career as a rider were the American Derby, Widener Handicap, Gulfstream Park Handicap, Kentucky Oaks, Arlington-Washington Futurity, CCA Oaks (twice), Breeders’ Futurity, Hopeful Stakes and Hollywood Gold Cup. He twice finished second in the Kentucky Derby, with Blue Swords in 1943 and with Hasty Road.
    Adams was honored with the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 1956 and was elected to the National Racing Hall of Fame in 1965.
    In 1958, Adams retired from riding after 3,270 career wins and purse earnings of $9,743,109 to become a successful trainer. His first winner was ridden by his son John R. Adams. Among the top runners he trained were Prize Spot, Relaunch, New Policy, Niarkos and Jumping Hill, but his most noteworthy training accomplishment occurred with a runner who had recently been transferred into his hands after a 1976 championship season in England. The horse was George Pope, Jr.’s J.O. Tobin and the race was the 1977 Swaps Stakes (G1) in which the great Seattle Slew, fresh off his Triple Crown campaign, would meet his first defeat. J.O. Tobin led at every call, as a tired Slew trailed home fourth by 16 lengths.
    Adams died on August 19, 1995, just shy of his 80th birthday.

Gary Baze
(1955- , Inducted 2003)

Sunnyside, Washington, native Gary Baze has won over 3,200 races, including more in his home state than any rider in history. He began his career as an apprentice at Longacres in 1973 and promptly led the Renton track’s standings with 120 wins. He finished 1973 with a total of 189 victories – good enough to place him second among the nation’s leading apprentices. Baze won a record six riding titles at Longacres (including three in a row) and also holds Longacres’ records for career wins (1,538) and stakes wins (100). He received the prestigious Lindy (Skelly) Award in 1989, 1991 and 2000. Baze, 47, has won a record five Longacres Miles (Trooper Seven, 1980-81; Chum Salmon, 1985; Judge Angelucci, 1987; and Adventuresome Love, 1993). He also has won a record five Washington Breeders’ Cup Oaks and seven Washington Championships, which has been renamed the Washington Cup Classic for its 2003 running. During his stellar career, Baze rode numerous Washington champions and was the regular rider for two of the three horses also being inducted in the inaugural Hall of Fame, Trooper Seven and Captain Condo. Click here for expanded profile.

Russell Baze
(1958- , Inducted 2004)

The best known national figure from the famed Pacific northwest racing family, Russell Baze’s riding career began in earnest when he was 15 at Walla Walla. He won his first race the following year at Yakima Meadows in 1974. Later that year he was leading apprentice at Longacres and Baze would hang his tack at the Renton track for four more years (1975-79). The numbers Baze has recorded since that time are absolutely astounding. He has won 400 or more races in 11 of the last 12 years – only failing to reach the 400 win plateau in 1999 when injured for three months – yet still managed 373 winning rides. As a means of comparison, no other rider in history has won over 400 races for more than two consecutive years. That streak was considered so fantastic that in the middle of the eight year run (1996), Baze was presented a Special Eclipse Award. Just as remarkable is the fact that Baze has won the Isaac Murphy Award, a national honor given annually to the jockey with the highest win percentage, every year since the award’s inception in 1995. He was also awarded the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award by his peers in 2002. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Baze racked up most of these wins in northern California where he has captured 27 consecutive riding titles at Bay Meadows and had a streak of 24 consecutive riding titles at Golden Gate Fields, until it was broken (again due to injury) this past spring. He is the fourth leading rider of all time with over 8,600 wins, trailing only Laffit Pincay, Jr., Bill Shoemaker and Pat Day. If he stays healthy, Baze should surpass Day first, then Shoemaker next year and Pincay in 2006. Baze has ridden three Longacres Mile-G3 winners: Simply Majestic in 1988, Sky Jack in 2003 and was victorious in the ’04 edition last month with Adreamisborn. Click here for expanded profile.

Basil James
(1918-1998, Inducted 2005)

A Sunnyside, Washington, native, Basil James recorded his first victory at Playfair Race Course in 1935. The following year, he led the nation in wins as a 16-year-old apprentice rider with 245 trips to the winner’s circle. Three years later, he led the nation in total earnings by a jockey with $353,333. He finished the 1939 season with 191 wins from 904 mounts, including a score aboard Heather Broom in the prestigious Blue Grass Stakes, held at a brand new racetrack named Keeneland. Later that same year the pair would finish third in the Kentucky Derby. Early in his career, James received tutelage from national Hall of Fame jockey and then trainer Earl Sande. His two greatest mounts were undoubtedly the amazing Alsab and the grand gelding Stymie. Alsab was one of the greatest, most durable runners in American racing history, but as noted by many racing historians, one of the most mismanaged Thoroughbreds as well by his egocentric owner for which he was named, Al Sabbath. Alsab won the 1942 Preakness Stakes and was second in the Kentucky Derby that year under James. Alsab was named champion juvenile in 1941 and champion three-year-old colt of 1942. Stymie, one of the most inspiring rags to riches stories of the American turf was a former bottom level claimer that James rode to victory in the 1946 Whitney Handicap at famed Saratoga race course. James, who was voted into the Washington State Sports Hall of Fame in 1967, served as film analyst at Longacres for many seasons. Click here for expanded profile.

Albert Johnson
(Inducted 2006)

Born November 18, 1900, in Milan, a rural community located northeast of Spokane along the Burlington Northern Railroad, Albert Johnson began his career in racing as a stablehand at Playfair. Later, during his 12 recorded years of riding, he rode 503 winners from 3,199 mounts. An additional 473 of his mounts ran second and another 481 finished third, giving the rider $1,304,740 in amount won during a career which began in 1917 and ended in 1929.
    The top money-winning jockey in 1922 when his mounts won 43 of 297 races and earned $345,054, Johnson was the only the fifth rider in history to win two Kentucky Derbies, which he accomplished in 1922 aboard Morvich – his first Derby mount — and in 1926, while riding Bubbling Over. Johnson rode in seven consecutive Derbies from 1922 through 1928. In 1924, he finished second in the Kentucky classic, while aboard Chihowee, to Black Gold.
    Johnson is one of only seven riders to win back-to-back Belmont Stakes. Both of his wins came aboard sons of Man o’ War owned by Maxwell Riddle: American Flag in 1925 and Crusader in 1926.
    While he never won a Preakness Stakes, Baltimore was the site of his first Triple Crown race, when in 1919 he finished ninth aboard Drummond to the horse who would be racing’s first Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton. His best placings in racing’s middle jewel would be fourth place finishes aboard Dress Parade (1926) and The Nut (1929).
    He was astride Exterminator when that great gelding won the 1922 Brooklyn Handicap. Johnson would later call “Old Bones” the “best horse I ever rode.” He also won the Champagne Stakes (Bubbling Over), Black-Eyed Susan Stakes twice, Belmont Futurity, three Pimlico Futurities, Coaching Club American Oaks, Dwyer Stakes, Matron Stakes, Fashion Stakes, Futurity (Belmont) and many other stakes.
    Upon his retirement from riding, after a stint riding steeplechasers in France, he became a trainer for his boyhood friend, Bing Crosby’s Binglin Stables. Johnson later would serve as a clocker at most of California’s major tracks.
    Inducted into the Inland Empire Hall of Fame in 1965, Johnson was installed in the National Racing Hall of Fame in 1971. Click here for expanded profile.

Ralph Neves
(1918-1995, Inducted 2003)

Born in Cape Cod, Massahusetts, Ralph Neves was inducted in the National Racing Hall of Fame in 1960. He rode for 30 years (1934-64) and won 3,772 races, ranking him sixth on the all-time wins list at the time of his retirement. Neves began riding at age 13 under the supervision of trainer J.J. Millerick. He started his career at Longacres where he won riding titles in 1935 and 1938. Nicknamed “The Portuguese Pepperpot,” Neves also rode for the famed Calumet Farm but competed mostly at west coast tracks where he was a leading rider at Santa Anita, Golden Gate Fields, Del Mar, etc. He recorded three wins each in the Santa Anita Derby, Hollywood Gold Cup, Hollywood Derby, Sunset Handicap and Santa Margarita Handicap. Neves’ biggest victories came in 1957 on Corn Husker in the Santa Anita Handicap and aboard future horse of the year Round Table in the Blue Grass Stakes. In 1954 he received the prestigous George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, named for the ill-fated rider with whom Neves had become good friends. Click here for expanded profile.

Gary Stevens
(1963- , Inducted 2003)

Considered by many to be the greatest rider ever to come out of the Pacific northwest, Caldwell, Idaho, native Gary Stevens has won the Kentucky Derby-G1 three times, the Preakness Stakes-G1 twice and the Belmont Stakes-G1 three times, as well as eight Breeders’ Cup races. He was elected to the the National Racing Hall of Fame in 1997. Closing in on 5,000 career wins, Stevens has won six riding titles at Hollywood Park, five titles at Santa Anita and led the standings twice at Del Mar, Longacres and Portland Meadows. Stevens, 40, also became the first rider in Longacres history to win over 200 races in a season. He captured the track’s signature Longacres Mile-G3 in 1991 aboard Louis Cyphre (Fr) and won the final race in the Renton oval’s storied history on September 21, 1992. Other career achievements include leading the nation in earnings (1990), becoming the youngest rider in history to surpass $100 million in career earnings (1993), winning 16 grade one races in 1995 and being the 1996 George Woolf Memorial Award recipient. Click here for expanded profile.

Trainers

Allen Drumheller, Sr.
(1894-1955, Inducted 2003)

A native of Walla Walla, Washington, Allen Drumheller, Sr. is one of only two trainers to saddle winners of the Longacres Mile four times – Campus Fusser (1941), Lavengro (1942), Hank H. (1947) and Amble In (1948). In the 1948 renewal, his runners finished first, second and third. He also won the Longacres Mile in 1938 as an owner with Triplane. In 1944, Drumheller helped bring Washington racing into the limelight by winning the Stars and Stripes Handicap at Arlington Park with Washington-bred Georgie Drum, who defeated Kentucky Derby winner Pensive in that race. Other notable wins include the 1941 Inglewood Handicap at Hollywood Park with Sir Jeffrey and the 1955 Washington Derby and Hollywood Oaks with Baby Alice, who was named Hollywood Park three-year-old of the meeting in 1955. Additionally, Drumheller’s Sirde became the first Washington-bred winner of over $100,000 and his charge Campus Fusser won the first Washington Futurity (Gottstein Futurity) in 1940. Before becoming involved with Thoroughbreds, Drumheller was a world champion rodeo performer and later served as the first chairman of the Washington Horse Racing Commission. Click here for expanded profile.

Frances Keller
(Inducted 2006)

Frances Keller was one of C. B. “Cowboy Charlie” Irwin’s three famous equestrian daughters. Irwin, who ran a Wild West show part of the year, was a Thoroughbred trainer during the other months. Among his “protégés” was “Silent Tom Smith,” trainer of Seabiscuit and other champions. Irwin, a friend and fishing buddy of Will Rogers, was the nation’s leading trainer in wins in both 1923 (147, $104,054) and 1930 (92, $70,411). After Irwin’s death in a car accident in 1934, Smith took over training the Irwin stable. When he left to go work for C. S. Howard, Smith advised, “Frances, you take the horses. You can train them as well as anybody.”
    In an 1946 article in The Blood-Horse, “. . . the girl who had been a university student, paymaster for a Wild West show, and equestrienne (she once rode a horse into the Waldorf-Astoria [Hotel in New York City]) became a trainer of Thoroughbreds.”
    For a time married to Manny Keller, track superintendent at both Longacres and Playfair, Frances was the trainer of record for two Longacres Mile winners, and though two other women have trained a Mile winner, no other woman has trained two winners of Washington’s most prestigious race event.
    Frances Keller became first female trainer to run a horse in the Mile when, in 1940, she sent out the favored entry of Pala Squaw and Olimpo for Al Rosenberg. Three-year-old Pala Squaw won the race by 1 1/2 lengths. Her stablemate dead-heated for third. Six years later, Keller saddled K & L Stables’ Amble In for his first Mile victory (his second came in 1948 with fellow Hall of Famer Allen Drumheller). Betting choice in the 11th Mile was Irish champion two-year-old *Mafosta, but with Noel Richardson in the saddle, three-year-old Amble In took the stakes by six lengths. The final time of 1:35 set a new track record. During both seasons in which she won the Mile, Keller was also the leading trainer at the meet.
    One of the first women trainers in the nation to earn a training title at a major racetrack, Keller was also the first woman to condition a winner of the Washington (Gottstein) Futurity, 1947 winner Happy Valley. Among the other top horses she trained were 1942 Independence Day Handicap winner Campus Fusser and 1944 Spokane Handicap winner Prince Ernest.

Bud Klokstad
(1931- , Inducted 2005)

Born and reared on the plains of North Dakota, Bud Klokstad began his training career in 1955. During the last 50 years he has trained many of the finest Thoroughbreds to race in the Pacific northwest. Those runners include 1983 Eclipse Award winner Chinook Pass, Washington horse of the year recipients Staff Rider, who set a single season earnings record of $280,549 at Longacres in 1992, and Peterhof’s Patea, who is also the richest Washington-bred distaff runner of all time. He has trained numerous other state-bred champions: Jumron Won, Bub, Laurel Avenue, Return Call, Al Renee, Ladies Excuse Me, T.D. Passer and Holy Rascal; and a host of other top runners. Klokstad, 74, established several standards at Longacres, such as 14 stakes wins (seven separate stakes winners) and total purses earned ($851,343) in a single season. He also is the second leading trainer of all time at the Renton oval with 54 career stakes wins. The affable Klokstad has posted equally impressive numbers at Emerald Downs, having saddled the most stakes winners and most stakes wins overall. He has also posted top figures for earnings in a season ($678,739 in 2002) and total earnings (over $4 million) at the Auburn track. Klokstad also led the trainer rankings in earnings in 1997 and 2001. He has won a record seven Gottstein Futurities and saddled the winners for the Emerald Downs Breeders’ Cup Derby three times, including back-to-back victories in 2001 and 2002. The latter win was with Flying Notes, who scored by over 11 lengths while racing within one-fifth second of the world record for nine furlongs, and was later named horse of the meet. Click here for expanded profile.

Robert "Red" Hyatt McDaniel
(1911-1955, Inducted 2007)

Born the son of a dairy farmer in Enumclaw on September 9, 1911, Robert “Red the Raider” McDaniel began his career in racing as a jockey, riding his first winner in 1926 at Victoria in British Columbia. His career as a rider ended in 1929, when he broke his leg in a racing accident.
    He then turned to training and spent three years at Caliente in Mexico, conditioning a small stable for Vancouver, BC, Canada, resident George Slater. When Slater sold his stable, McDaniel tried his hand as a jockey’s agent and then became the yearling trainer at Rancho San Luis Rey in California.
    In 1938, McDaniel returned to race training, and from 1950 through 1954, would lead the nation’s trainers in number of winners. In 1953, he became the first conditioner to saddle 200 winners when he ended the year with 211. Coming in second that year was Willie Molter with a distant 138. Though noted as a California trainer, McDaniels spent some time conditioning runners at Longacres early on in his career.
    McDaniels was well respected for his ability to make top stakes horses out of former claimers. Among his most noted were Santa Anita Handicap runner-up Stitch Again, who won $97,000 and was a $5,000 claim; Blue Reading, an earner of nearly $200,000 who had been claimed for $6,500; and $275,000 earner Stranglehold, a $7,500 former claimer.
    Among the other top winners he trained was 1955 Santa Anita Handicap winner *Poona II.
    McDaniel, who was a popular and soft-spoken man, was credited for being one of the first to recognize jockey William Shoemaker’s ability. The future National Hall of Famer “did most of his early riding on McDaniel horses.” In 1954, Shoemaker teamed with McDaniel to each take top honors at the 41-day Del Mar meeting. Shoemaker rode 94 winners, with 42 of them among the 47 winners saddled by McDaniels.
    The trainer was once quoted as saying, “If there is any formula for my success, it has been due to studying the conditions of races, running my horse where they belong, and riding Willie Shoemaker.”
    McDaniels saddled his final winner, Aptos, on May 5, 1955, just moments before the 44-year-old trainer took his life by inexplicably jumping off the San Francisco Bay Bridge. At the time of his death he had a public stable of 60 horses, reported to be the largest in the country, and had over 30 other horses turned out for rest.

Jim Penney
(1934- , Inducted 2003)

The other trainer to condition four Longacres Mile winners is Jim Penney. He accomplished the feat by winning in 1973 (Silver Mallet), 1977 (Theologist), 2000 (Edneator) and again in 2002 (Sabertooth). Penney, who hails from Naches, Washington, took out his trainer’s license in 1954. He won a record 17 training titles at Yakima Meadows and is the only trainer in history to win training titles at Yakima, Longacres and Emerald Downs. He has won virtually every important stakes race in this state, most of them multiple times. Penney also trained five winners on a single card at both Longacres and Emerald Downs, a deed that has never been duplicated. To date, Penney has conditioned over 1,000 winners, which admits him to a rare fraternity. A third generation Washington horse-man, Penney, 69, and his wife Betty, operate Homestretch Farm in Edgewood with their family. He has been responsible for numerous Washington-bred champions, including homebred Edneator. Click here for expanded profile.

Tom Smith
(1878-1957, Inducted 2003)

A well-known trainer in the 1930’s and 40’s, Tom Smith saddled 29 stakes winners and six champions including the legendary Seabiscuit. Born in Georgia, his family moved to Colorado when he was a young boy. Early in his career, Smith trained horses for the U.S. Calvary and worked on a cattle ranch. In 1934, he began working for automobile magnate Charles S. Howard. Smith trained at Longacres during the track’s first four seasons and was the leading trainer there in 1935. After Howard purchased Seabiscuit for $8,000, the gelding blossomed into a champion handicap horse and the leading money winner of his day. The Seabiscuit team won stakes from coast-to-coast and the heart of the American public. Smith later trained *Kayak II and Oregon-bred Mioland to additional handicap champion titles. He later went to work for Mrs. Elizabeth Arden’s Maine Chance Farm and led Star Pilot and Beaugay to colt and filly championships in 1945. In 1947, the stable won the Kentucky Derby with Jet Pilot. Smith led the national standings in earnings in 1940 and 1945. Click here for expanded profile.

Charles Whittingham
(1913-1999, Inducted 2004)

Early in his career, “Charlie” Whitting- ham spent five seasons at Longacres, beginning in 1935. During this time, he was a protege of, and trained for, the legendary horseman Horatio Luro, for whom he conditioned Dandy to a runner-up finish in the 1940 Longacres Mile. By most accounts, Whittingham would have to be considered one of the greatest trainers of the last century. His first major stakes winner was Porterhouse, champion two-year-old of 1953. He went on to train 10 more champions and an astounding total of 252 stakes winners, as well as six of the first 50 Thoroughbred millionaires. The list includes 1971 horse of the year Ack Ack, 1987 horse of the year Ferdinand and 1989 horse of the year Sunday Silence. The latter two runners were both Kentucky Derby-G1 winners and each etched Whittingham’s name in the record books as the oldest trainer to win that historic classic, first in 1986 at age 76 and then again three years later. Whittingham returned to the Pacific northwest in 1987 and won the Longacres Mile-G3 with Judge Angelucci. Inducted into the National Racing Hall of Fame in 1974, Whittingham won Eclipse Awards as the nation’s top trainer for 1971, 1982 and 1989 and was the leading money-winning trainer from 1970-73, 1975 and again in 1981-82. At the time of his death in 1999, he was the all time leader by number of wins at both Santa Anita and Hollywood Park. Click here for expanded profile.

Horses

Captain Condo
(1982-1996, Inducted 2003)

Starts: 70; Record: 30-16-7; Earnings: $511,695
Owners: Vaden & Fern Ashby;
Trainer & Breeder: Vaden Ashby

Regarded as the most popular horse to ever run at Longacres Park, the gray legend enjoyed his best year in 1991 at the age of nine, winning five stakes races in seven starts and earning horse of the meeting and Washington-bred horse of the year honors. Captain Condo shares the Longacres record of 12 career stakes wins with Firesweeper. He also placed in nine other Longacres stakes races, including a second place finish to Louis Cyphre (Fr) in the 1991 Longacres Mile and a third place finish in the previous year’s Mile. The son of Captain Courageous—Condoe Mia, by Top Conference, ranks fifth on the all-time Washington-bred money earners list with $511,695. He won 30 races from 70 career starts and lit the board in 53 of those starts. Captain Condo won 16 stakes races including the Washington Championship three straight years (1989-91). The gray superstar was bred, raced and trained by Vaden Ashby and his wife Fern throughout his long career. Click here for expanded profile.

Chinook Pass
(1979- , Inducted 2003)

Starts: 25; Record: 16-4-1; Earnings: $480,073
Owner & Breeder: Ed Purvis (Hi-Yu Stables)
Trainers: Laurie Anderson & Bud Klokstad

Chinook Pass was one of the fastest Thoroughbreds in history and the only Washington-bred to ever earn an Eclipse Award. He was voted the nation’s top sprinter in 1983, the same year he won the Longacres Mile by a record-tying six lengths. The son of Native Born—Yu Turn, by *Turn-to, who was bred and raced by Ed Purvis’ Hi-Yu Stables, held the world’s record of :55 1/5 for 5 furlongs, which was set at Longacres on September 17, 1982. He also equaled the five furlong mark at Hollywood Park and six furlong record at Santa Anita that season. His career totals show 16 wins from 25 starts with five more in the money finishes. He won 11 stakes and earned $480, 073, which places him sixth on the all-time Washington-bred money earner’s list. Click here for expanded profile.

Peterhof's Patea
(1988- , Inducted 2007)

In 1990, a gray two-year-old comet named Peterhof’s Patea made her debut at Longacres and dominated her division. It would only prove to be the arbiter of more good things to come.
    Bred by Jack and Theresa Hodge, the daughter of two-time group winner Peterhof and first foal out of the winning Drone mare Tea At Ten, was consigned to the 1989 WTBA Summer Yearling Sale where she was purchased for $11,500 by Roger Williams. Turned over to future Washington Hall of Fame trainer Bud Klokstad, Peterhof’s Patea would break her maiden in the Green River Valley Stakes for Williams and his future wife Patti Strait and then add wins in the Broderick Memorial and Longacres Lassie Stakes before finishing second in the Joe Gottstein Futurity. With her 3-2-1 record in seven starts, and earnings of $172,187, she was named not only Washington champion two-year-old filly, but the best statebred juvenile of the year.
    At three, Peterhof’s Patea would win three more stakes at Longacres, have two stakes seconds, and add another $98,820 to her totals.
    In 1992, after winning three stakes in a row at Longacres, she gave her connections quite a scare when she developed pneumonia. Four months later, she returned to the races at Bay Meadows and finished the year with a fourth, a second and a win in three stakes, earning $100,730 and adding her second state championship designation, as Washing- ton champion older filly or mare.
    Peterhof’s Patea spent her 1993 campaign in California where she won three stakes and placed in nine others, three of which were Grade 3 events, among her 14 outings, and earned $186,730. Her superlative campaign not only earned her a second title as Washington champion older distaffer, but also horse of the year honors.
    The sturdy performer came back to make a dozen starts at age six, winning the James Wiggins Breeders’ Cup Handicap and placing in four other California stakes to give her a final record of 16-14-6 from 52 starts and earnings of $623,367. Fourteen years later, that amount is still the record earnings for any WTBA-sold runner and she is also the leading Washington-bred distaffer of all time and ranks as the third leading Washington-bred money earner to date.
    Williams and Strait then entered their three-time champion in the 1995 Keeneland January Winter Mixed Sale where Fountainbleau Farm, agent, went to $100,000 to buy her as a broodmare prospect. She was bred to A. P. Indy and exported to Japan where she has produced two winners, including Group 2 winner Jolly Dance, a daughter of Dance in the Dark who has earned over $1.5 million.

Saratoga Passage
(1985- , Inducted 2004)

Despite being plagued by injuries throughout his career, Saratoga Passage still managed to become the all time leading Washington-bred money winner with $800,212. He began his career at Longacres, winning the 1987 Tukwila Stakes and Gottstein Futurity. Saratoga Passage’s biggest win that year came later in the fall at Santa Anita’s Oak Tree meet when he annexed the prestigious Norfolk Futurity-G1. The son of Pirateer—Loridown, by Barrydown, only made one start at age three, but came back the following year better than ever as evidenced by his score in the Eddie Read Handicap-G1 over the Del Mar turf course. To this day, he stands alone as the only Washington-bred ever to capture two grade one events. Additionally, he also finished third in back-to-back runnings of the Oak Tree Invitational Handicap-G1 (1989-90) and placed in both the Del Mar Invitational Handicap-G2 and the San Bernardino Handicap-G2 during the 1989 season. Bred by Melvin and Helen Beck of Oak Harbor and campaigned in the colors of Saratoga I Stable, Saratoga Passage sported a ledger of 22-6-3-5 and he won or placed in 10 stakes. Saratoga Passage, who was trained first by Bob Leonard and later by Robert Frankel, was also voted Washington champion in four categories, including twice being honored as Washington horse of the year during his illustrious career. “Sam,” as the now 19-year-old chestnut gelding is fondly called, currently resides with Jane and Eric Hiner of Olympia. With Jane aboard, the versatile champion has successfully competed in dressage events. Click here for expanded profile.

Sir William
(Inducted 2006)

Foaled in 1954 at Herb and Louella Armstrong’s Valley Farm in Harrington, Sir William earned Washington’s first “grade one” stakes victory when he won the 1957 Santa Anita Derby over future horse of the year Round Table. The son of Rover—Jodot, by Peace Chance, was the first Washington-bred to ever rank on the national Experimental Free Handicap and also the first to earn a victory in a $100,000 stakes.
    Stakes-placed at two, the Cecil Jolley trainee made only seven starts at three, but all came between January 5 and March 22. All of Sir Williams’ 17 lifetime starts were in California while racing for his breeders – who never saw him race!
    Sir William started his sophomore season with a close victory in the six furlong Los Feliz Stakes at Santa Anita. He next ran fourth in the six panel San Miguel Stakes, which was followed by a fifth place in the seven furlong San Vicente Handicap at the same track. He next ran fourth in a 1 1/16 miles allowance test. On February 16, the Kentucky Derby-nominated Sir William finished second by less than a length to Joe Price in the San Felipe Handicap, also at 1 1 1/16 miles.
    The 20th running of the Santa Anita Derby was run over a slow track. All 13 of the runners carried 118 pounds, with Round Table part of a favored four-horse entry. With Henry Moreno (who had been aboard Dark Star when he upset the previously unbeaten Native Dancer in the 1953 Kentucky Derby) in the irons, Sir William lay in wait for the first half-mile and then “sustained a hard drive” to defeat Swirling Abbey by a head with Round Table only a nose back in third in the blanket finish. Final time on the drying out track was 1:54 1/5. His $95,500 winner’s share contributed greatly to Sir William’s $131,335 de-throning of Hank H. as Washington’s leading earner of all-time.
    Sir William then headed north to Bay Meadows where he unfortunately broke a sesamoid in his left front foot in five places during a six furlong allowance race.
    Sir William retired to stud the following year at the Curragh Stock Farm in Canoga Park, CA, where he sired three stakes winners. Click here for expanded profile.

Smogy Dew
(1961-1975, Inducted 2005)

Trainer Glen Williams, winner of a record 57 stakes races at Longacres, and a Hall of Fame nominee himself this year, ranked Smogy Dew’s victory in the 1964 Washington Derby as the biggest thrill of his career. With Lennie Knowles in the saddle, Smogy Dew defeated future Canadian horse of the year and British Columbia hero George Royal by three-quarters of a length. The chestnut daughter of Six Fifteen—No Smog, by Cover Up, was the last filly to win the state’s biggest race restricted to three-year-olds. Her record at age two and three proved Smogy Dew’s complete dominance over her local rivals, of both sexes. At two, she had seven wins and a second place finish in eight starts and was the first Washington-bred distaffer of any age to be named state horse of the year. At age three, she recorded five wins and a placing, also from eight starts. Final numbers show three seasons of racing with 16 wins from 29 starts, her earnings, though a modest $60,248 by today’s standards, gave her a standard starts index (SSI) of 7.40. Half of those wins were versus stakes company, and six of those eight stakes victories came at the expense of male rivals. Included in that number was a win in the Washington Futurity, meaning she beat the best males around for the biggest local prize in both her juvenile and sophomore campaigns. She also won the Spokane Futurity, Drumheller Memorial and Wash-ington Stallion Stakes at two, had wins in the Tacoma and Speed Handicaps, Spokane Derby and Seafair Queen Stakes at three, and finished off her career with victories in the Stepping Stone Handicap (at Exhibition Park) and Fashion Handicap. A foal of 1961, Smogy Dew was bred by Arthur Fiess and sold to Drs. Irwin, Venema and Ranniger at the 1962 WHBA sale for $2,100. Click here for expanded profile.

Trooper Seven
(1976-2000, Inducted 2003)

Starts: 28; Record: 13-5-3; Earnings: $371,435
Owner, Trainer & Breeder: Eugene Zeren

“Trooper” became the first horse in history to win back-to-back Longacre Miles. In one of the most remarkable days in state racing history, 25,031 fans, the largest on-track crowd ever at Longacres until 26,095 sorrowful fans attended its closing in 1992, shook the grandstand when their hometown hero held off a field of tough California invaders to win the 1981 Mile. One of 10 state champions sired by Table Run, Trooper Seven also equaled the track and then world record for 6 1/2 furlongs by winning the 1980 Governor’s Handicap in 1:13 4/5. He won 13 of 28 career starts, earning $371,435. In his final season, 1981, he had a perfect five wins in five starts. The 1980 Washington horse of the year was bred, raised and trained by Eugene Zeren, who along with his wife Jean, stood the stallion at his birthplace, Whispering Firs Ranch in Wauna. He was one of two stakes winners out of the *Holandes II matron Miss Holanda. Click here for expanded profile.

Turbulator
(1965-1989, Inducted 2004)

“Tubby” as he was affectionately known, was named after the tub-shaped, whirlpool-like, water therapy machine used to nurse an injured leg, which delayed his racing career until he was a four-year-old. Turbulator arrived at Playfair Race Course in the summer of 1969 as a maiden. After two months, he had won all seven of his starts at the Spokane oval. His great versatility carried him to victories from six to 16 furlongs. At age five, the stretch runner earned a permanent place in Washington racing history. That year (1970), he won five stakes races, set a world record for 6 1/2 furlongs in the Governor’s Handicap and a Longacres track record for 1 1/16 miles in the Washington Championship. He also set a new standard for one mile at Yakima Meadows. His start in the 1970 Longacres Mile-G3 is an unforgettable part of Washington racing lore. Tubby was the six-to-five favorite in the 13-horse field and had Larry Pierce aboard for the journey. One of Pierce’s stirrups became stuck in the starting gate and snapped when he finally broke free. In recovering from that mishap, Pierce’s other foot also slipped from the remaining stirrup, yet in an incredible riding performance, he was able to bring home Turbulator in fifth, less than 2 1/2 lengths behind the winner Silver Double. He was later named Washington horse of the year and top older male runner for 1970. By Cold Command out of Fur Piece, by By Zeus, Turbulator was bred and trained by Tom Crawford of Spokane. Turbulator raced for Crawford and John Farnsworth until Crawford’s death in 1972. Leonard Roberts took over the duties as Turbulator’s conditioner and the gelding henceforth raced in the colors of Farnsworth and Crawford’s widow, Marguerite. In total, he recorded 21 wins (including 11 stakes victories) and hit the board in 35 of 47 starts, earning $102,457. Click here for expanded profile.