2006 Hall of Fame Inductees Announced

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - Carl Hanford, trainer of five-time Horse of the Year Kelso; Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winning jockey Bill Boland; and Cougar II, a turf champion who was also adept on dirt, have been elected to the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame.

The inductees were announced by Hall of Fame Committee Chairman Edward Bowen during a teleconference today.

The three members of the Class of 2006 will be inducted during ceremonies on Aug. 7 at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion.

Hanford, Boland and Cougar II were elected by the Historic Review Committee, which considers nominees who have not been active in racing for 25 years. The committee meets in even-numbered years.

None of the 12 finalists in the contemporary racing categories qualified for induction by receiving at least 75 percent of the votes cast.

Hanford, 90, was born and raised in Fairbury, Nebraska. He was a jockey for about five years in the 1930s before turning to training. He rode the winner of the first race run at Suffolk Downs in July 1934.

In 1939, Hanford began his training career at Charles Town in West Virginia. After serving five years in the Army's Remount Division during World War II, he resumed training in 1945. Hanford operated a public stable until 1960 when he was hired to manage Allaire du Pont's stable. Kelso was the lone winner in the group of seven maiden fillies and two geldings.

The Kelso-Hanford partnership reached unprecedented heights, including the half-decade reign as the outstanding Thoroughbred in training. Kelso, considered by many observers as one of the top horses of the 20th century, retired in 1966 after winning 39 of 63 starts. He won the prestigious Jockey Club Gold Cup, then run at two miles, five years in a row. His career earnings record of $1,977,896 stood until 1979 when it was broken by Affirmed.

Hanford chuckled as he talked about his selection to the Hall of Fame.

"I just can't see myself with guys like Ben Jones and Preston Burch, those type of trainers, but I guess when you're the Horse of the Year five years in a row, you might have to be considered," he said. "Charlie Whittingham and those guys had many good horses. I had a few stakes horses, but I never had anything else like Kelso, but I don't think any of them in the Hall of Fame had a Kelso either."

Hanford retired as a trainer in 1968 and began a second career as a racing official. He is retired and lives in Delaware.

Boland, 72, was shocked when he was notified that he had been voted into the Hall of Fame. He said he did realize that he was no longer eligible for the contemporary categories, whose nominees are made public. However, his resume was being looked at by the Historic Review Committee, which does not list the nominees it is considering.

"I was the most surprised guy in the world," he said. "I read something in the paper that there were 10 or 15 jockey nominations, and my name wasn't on there, so it was a complete surprise. It's wonderful."

Boland was a 16-year-old apprentice when he rode Middleground to victory for King Ranch in the 1950 Kentucky Derby. He was the second apprentice jockey to win the race, following Carl Hanford's brother, Ira, who rode Bold Venture to victory in 1936.

Prior to Middleground's Derby victory, Boland won the Kentucky Oaks on Ari's Mona. Middleground, second in the Preakness after a rough trip, also won the 1950 Belmont Stakes carrying the apprentice rider from Corpus Christi, Texas. He also won another running of the Belmont, on Amberoid, in 1966.

Before retiring as a jockey in 1969 to begin training, Boland won such important races as the Santa Anita Handicap, Jockey Club Gold Cup, Acorn, Man o' War, Metropolitan Handicap, Alabama, Whitney, Wood Memorial, Hawthorne Gold Cup and Hialeah Turf Cup. On Beau Purple, he defeated Kelso three times.

During his career, Boland rode 1,980 winners from 16,639 mounts and had purse earnings of $14 million.

Boland retired as a trainer in 1988 and spent 10 years as an official with the New York Racing Association. He is retired and lives in Florida.

Mary Jones Bradley purchased the Chilean-bred Cougar II on the advice of her trainer, Hall of Fame member Charlie Whittingham. The son of Tale of Two Cities out of the Madara mare Cindy Lou, became the first foreign-bred millionaire in American racing history when he won the Century Handicap at Hollywood Park on May 5, 1973. He completed his career with an overall record of 20-7-17 in 50 starts and purse earnings of $1,162,725. In 38 starts over four seasons in the United States, he had a record of 15-7-11.

"I'm very honored and thrilled and delighted," Bradley said. "I thought he was a wonderful, wonderful horse and I'm just so glad he's getting this recognition."

During his turf championship season in 1972, Cougar II won the Century Handicap, the Californian, the Carlton F. Burke Handicap, and the Oak Tree Invitational and was second in the San Juan Capistrano. On dirt, he was second in the San Pasqual and Santa Anita Handicap and third in the San Antonio. He was a major winner over several years and his triumphs on dirt included the Santa Anita Handicap in 1973.

In April, a total of 186 ballots for the contemporary racing categories were sent to the voting panel, whose members reside in 26 states, the District of Columbia and two Canadian provinces. From that group, 175 voters - 94 percent - returned their ballots to the auditing firm that oversees the Hall of Fame voting. The instructions asked for "yes" or "no" votes on each of the three finalists in the jockey, trainer, contemporary male and contemporary female divisions.

The finalists were determined by the Hall of Fame Nominating Committee, which considered a total of 91 nominees. The 14 members of the committee reviewed the biographies and statistics of every nominee and took part in a conference call to discuss the nominees before casting a secret ballot. The top three vote-getters in each of the categories became finalists on the ballot sent to the voting panel.

In the voting for jockey by the entire panel, the leader received 47.43 percent of the votes cast. The leading trainer in the voting received 55.43 percent of the vote. The contemporary male leader was 67.43 percent; the contemporary female leader was 63.43.

The Hall of Fame Committee has a longstanding policy of not releasing vote totals.

Hall of Fame officials will conduct a survey of its Hall of Fame voting panel, asking for feedback on the nomination and voting policies that were in place this year.

The Historic Review Committee has 12 members. Biographies and statistics for each of the 51 nominees were sent to the committee members. The group then took part in a conference call to discuss the nominees. A vote followed and the leader in each of the three categories became a finalist. The committee held another conference call to talk about the finalists. A second secret ballot was conducted in which the members of the committee were asked to vote "yes" or "no" on each finalist. To be selected for induction, a finalist had to receive at least 75 percent -- nine of 12 -- of the votes cast by the committee.

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