Zito Joins the Hall’s Select Group

Trainer Nick Zito recalled his first two visits to a racetrack as he was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame on Monday in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The Brooklyn-born Zito was a young boy when his father, who had exercised horses, took him to Aqueduct and turned him over to a security guard at the New York track for the day.

The next time Zito went to Aqueduct, he sneaked in by climbing over a fence.

“I looked at all those great people and great horses in the paddock, and I knew then that this was what I wanted to do,” Zito said. “This was my life.”

Zito started out at the track as a hotwalker, someone who cools off horses after their morning workouts. He worked for trainers Buddy Jacobson, Bob Lake, Johnny Campo and LeRoy Jolley before starting out on his own with a two-horse stable in 1972.

“It was hard work, and I had to figure out a way to get into the paddock,” Zito said.

His first win came in December 1972. Since then, he has won more than 1,400 races and his horses have earned $71 million, including a win Saturday with Commentator in the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga. Zito won the Kentucky Derby with Strike The Gold in 1991 and Go For Gin in 1994. Last year, he won the Belmont Stakes with a 36-1 shot, Birdstone, as they spoiled Smarty Jones’ bid for a Triple Crown sweep.

“Racing’s a game for the fans, and I’m the luckiest fan alive,” Zito said Monday.

With the voting rules changed, Zito, 57, was the only inductee in the thoroughbred category this year. No other trainers and no horses or jockeys received the required 75% mention on the ballots.

There were three steeplechase inductees, who were elected by committee.

They included trainer Sidney Watters Jr., jockey Tommy Walsh and Lonesome Glory, who was a five-time horse of the year over the jumps.

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Jerry Bailey, a Hall of Fame jockey, was knocked from his mount Monday during the post parade for the fourth race at Saratoga. Performing Diva struck Bailey in the face with her head and ran off.

Bailey received several stitches and will undergo X-rays today.

“I don’t know if my nose is broken, but it’s pretty sore and swollen,” Bailey said.

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Christine reported from Los Angeles.