Racehorse TALK

Champion trainer Bob Baffert and dual Breeders' Cup Classic winner Tiznow are among the latest group set to be inducted into the US Racing Hall of Fame this year.


The Racing Post filed the following report:

BEN NEVIS, winner of the Grand National in 1980, has been voted into the US Racing Hall of Fame in the steeplechase division.

He will be officially inducted at a ceremony in Saratoga on August 14, when top trainer Bob Baffert and dual Breeders' Cup Classic winner Tiznow will also join the elect of American racing.

Irish-born jumps trainer Janet Elliot, former jockey Eddie Maple and Silverbulletday -twice a champion filly for Baffert - will also be inducted.

Ben Nevis began his career in Europe before being taken to the US by the late Raymond Stewart jnr, whose son-in-law Charlie Fenwick trained the horse in the States.

Ben Nevis was sent back to England for the Grand National in 1979, only to fall before a famous 40-1 victory in 1980 under the tutelage of Tim Forster - and ridden by amateur rider Fenwick.

He became the third US-based jumper to win the National after Battleship and Jay Trump, both of whom are already in the hall of fame.

Baffert, 56, is a three-time Kentucky Derby winner with Silver Charm, Real Quiet and War Emblem and has handled ten Eclipse Award winners altogether.

He will saddle leading contender Pioneer of The Nile in this year's race.

"This is awesome - it's the ultimate honour you can receive as a horse trainer," said Baffert, who also trained new inductee Silverbulletday, winner of 16 of her 23 career starts and champion filly at two and three.

County Cork-born Janet Elliot, 60, was the leading trainer of steeplechasers in both races won and prize-money in 1991, ending JonathanSheppard's 18-year reign at the top.

"That's extremely exciting," she said of her election.

"It's an honour I never expected. Wow!"

Elliot, who won the inaugural Breeders' Cup Steeplechase in 1986 with Census, worked for Sheppard for nearly ten years before opening a public stable in 1979.

Eddie Maple, 60, won 4,398 races over a 34-year career, among them the Belmont Stakes with Temperence Hill and Creme Fraiche.

He also was aboard the great Secretariat on his final start when he won the 1973 Canadian International on the turf at Woodbine.

Most of his big mounts came from the late, great trainer Woody Stephens, among them Conquistador Cielo, Devil's Bag, Swale and Forty Niner.

"I'm tickled to death," said Maple. "There's nothing but great riders, great horses, great trainersin the hall of fame.

"I enjoyed riding all those years and to have something like this come back is really, really thrilling."

Tough and courageous Tiznow remains the only dual winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic, narrowly defeating a pair of European visitors in Giant's Causeway at Churchill Downs in 2000 and Sakhee the following year at Belmont Park.

Horse of the year in 2000 and older male champion in 2001, he won eight of his 15 career starts and earned nearly $6.5m.