3 Jockeys and one horse elected to National Racing Museum Hall of Fame

Natl Racng MuseumThree-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Goldikova, multiple Eclipse Award-winning jockeys Javier Castellano and the late Garrett Gomez and Triple Crown-winning jockey Victor Espinoza have been elected to the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in the contemporary category.

The electees will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Friday, Aug. 4 at 10:30 a.m. at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion. The ceremony is open to the public and free to attend (limited seating). Goldikova, Castellano, Espinoza and Gomez will be inducted along with the previously announced steeplechase selections Tom Voss and Good Night Shirt. The Pillars of the Turf inductees will be announced in May.

Bred in Ireland, Goldikova posted a career record of 17-6-3 from 27 starts and earned $7,176,551. The only three-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner (2008, 2009, 2010) — and one of only two horses (along with Beholder) to win three Breeders’ Cup races — Goldikova won the Eclipse Award for Champion Turf Female in 2009 and 2010.

North America’s leading rider in earnings each year from 2013 through 2016 and the leader by wins in 2013 and 2015, Castellano set a single-year earnings record with $28.1 million in 2015. He has won 352 graded stakes, ranked in the top 10 in earnings 11 times and the top 10 in wins seven times. Castellano won the 2006 Preakness with Bernardini and has won the Travers a record five times. A winner of seven Breeders’ Cup races, Castellano’s top mounts have included Ghostzapper, Flintshire, Honor Code, Princess of Sylmar, Dayatthespa and Zagora.

Espinoza, 44, has won 3,318 races though April 23 with purse earnings of more than $193 million in a career that began in 1992. He ranks 17th all time in earnings. The regular rider for 2015 Triple Crown winner and Horse of the Year American Pharoah and two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome, Espinoza twice won the first two legs of the Triple Crown — with War Emblem in 2002 and California Chrome in 2014 — before sweeping the series with American Pharoah.

One of only 10 jockeys to win the Kentucky Derby three times or more, Espinoza has won 243 graded stakes in his career and has ranked in the top 10 nationally in earnings seven times. He has won four riding titles at both Del Mar and Hollywood Park and two at Santa Anita. The winner of the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 2016, Espinoza has won three Breeders’ Cup races and set a track record by winning seven races on a single card at Del Mar in 2006.

Gomez (1972-2016) won 3,769 races with purse earnings of more than $205 million in a career that began in 1988 and concluded in 2013. He ranks 14th all time in earnings. The winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in 2007 and 2008, Gomez won 13 Breeders’ Cup races and earned the Bill Shoemaker Award as the top jockey at the Breeders’ Cup four times. He won a record 76 stakes races in 2007 and was the North American leading rider by earnings each year from 2006 through 2009.

The contemporary electees were chosen from a nationwide voting panel comprised of 186 racing writers, broadcasters, industry officials and historians from a group of 11 finalists selected by the Hall of Fame’s Nominating Committee.

An edited Press Release

Clairenmike

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