Zito Has Ticket Punched to Racing Hall of Fame

Trainer Nick Zito was voted into the Racing Hall of Fame, it was announced Tuesday, but under new voting rules, no horses or jockeys were elected.

Zito, on the ballot with four other trainers, was named on at least 75% of the 163 ballots cast. Although the Racing Hall of Fame has adopted rules similar to those used by the Baseball Hall of Fame, unlike baseball, the racing shrine does not announce exact totals.

“We don’t give exact totals, because then we would be implying who the favorites might be in the next election,” said Ed Bowen, chairman of the Racing Hall of Fame’s nominating committee. Bowen did allow that no other trainer was named on 75% of the ballots. Only one trainer -- the one with the highest percentage -- would have been elected had that been the case.

Voters -- turf writers, editors, broadcasters and racing historians -- were given five names in four categories, trainer, jockey, male and female horses, and allowed to select a maximum of three per category. In previous years, the rules varied, but there was one winner per category, no matter what percentage the leading vote-getter might have gotten.

Counting steeplechasers, elected by a 12-member committee, there are 171 horses in the Hall of Fame. Lonesome Glory, a five-time steeplechase champion, was elected by the committee this year. But when Zito is enshrined in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Aug. 8, it will be the first time since the hall opened in 1955 that a thoroughbred running on the flat has not been honored.

None of the jockeys on the ballot -- Eddie Maple, Craig Perret, Randy Romero, Jose Santos and Milo Valenzuela -- received the necessary 75%. The last year at least one jockey wasn’t elected was 1986.

“I told them that this would happen,” said Joe Hirsch, retired Daily Racing Form columnist and a former chairman of the hall’s nominating committee. “[Somebody] got this 75% idea about 20 years ago, and they finally resurrected it. You can’t get 75% of any group to agree about anything. I would certainly hope that they change this rule.”

Silver Charm, who won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Dubai World Cup, earning almost $7 million, seemed to be a favorite in the male-horse category, but he was up against formidable opposition. Also on the ballot were Lure, a two-time Breeders’ Cup winner; the grass standout Manila; Housebuster, twice a champion sprinter; and Best Pal.

The female-horse ballot, which consisted of Inside Information, Mom’s Command, Open Mind, Silverbulletday and Sky Beauty, was also a tough vote.

“I’m sure the executive committee will look at the [voting] process,” Bowen said. “There might be some tweaking.... No matter what system you use, people will disagree with the results and disagree with the process. We looked at different ways to do this, and the consensus was that the winners should win in a more distinctive way.”

Zito, who last year lost out to Shug McGaughey in the balloting, outpolled Dale Baird, Gary Jones, Mel Stute and John Veitch. The election came at a good time for Zito’s Belmont Park barn, which is recovering after having no better than a fourth-place finish with eight starters in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

“Sure, [the Derby and the Preakness] were disappointments, but nothing tops this,” Zito said. “It’s tough to get in the Hall of Fame. I was frustrated, not getting in before this, but you have to wait your turn.”

The Brooklyn-born Zito, 57, saddled his first winner in 1972, after working for trainers Buddy Jacobson, Johnny Campo, Bob Lake and LeRoy Jolley. His horses have won 1,410 races, including 83 graded stakes, and earned $69.3 million.

He won the Derby with Strike The Gold in 1991 and Go For Gin in 1994, the Preakness with Louis Quatorze in 1996 and the Belmont last year with Birdstone. He also trained Storm Song, champion 2-year-old filly in 1996.

Besides Lonesome Glory, the steeplechase committee elected trainer Sidney Watters Jr. and jockey Tommy Walsh. Watters, the leading or co-leading trainer in wins for six years, also was a success on the flat. He won the Santa Anita and San Juan Capistrano Handicaps with Cornhusker in 1957 and later trained Hoist The Flag, Love Sign, Slew O’ Gold and Slewpy.

When Watters, 87, joined a teleconference Tuesday, Zito suggested that he deserved to be in the Hall of Fame for his work with jumpers as well as horses on the flat.

“They saved a plaque this way, Sid,” Zito said.