Racing Hall of Fame inductees announced

The elevation of Colin Hayes AM OBE to ‘Legend’ status and the induction of Chris Waller, Malcolm Johnston, John Size and W.A. Smith are some of the highlights of the 2018 Racing Hall of Fame ceremony.

Induction into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame is one of the racing industry’s highest honours, acknowledging equine and human heroes of the turf who have achieved greatness throughout their careers.

The star-studded Australian Racing Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held this Friday night at the Four Seasons Hotel, in Sydney.

Esteemed trainer Colin Hayes, already a member of the Hall of Fame, will join the likes of Phar Lap, Bart Cummings and Tommy Smith in receiving the highest possible accolade as a Legend.

Hayes, who passed on his Lindsay Park stables to son David, was the winner of 28 Adelaide and 13 Melbourne training premierships in an historic career that included a grand total of 5,333 wins.

Champion trainer Chris Waller will also be inducted, having swept all before him when winning seven successive Sydney premierships in emphatic style.

Waller’s stable star is the world’s best racehorse, Winx, last year’s Hall of Fame inductee and the winner of her past 25 starts, accumulating in excess of $16 million in prizemoney in the process.

“To receive such an accolade and to be held in the esteemed company of recently-inducted trainers such as Bart Cummings, Tommy Smith, Colin Hayes, Jack Denham, and the many other outstanding trainers past and present who have been inducted, all I can say is that I am truly humbled and honoured,” said Waller.

Malcolm Johnston partnered the great Kingston Town to 25 of his 30 victories and was also Sydney’s champion jockey three times, the first when still an apprentice during the 1975-76 season.

Since leaving Australia for Hong Kong, John Size has been crowned the country’s champion trainer a total of nine times.

Only the Australian Racing Hall of Fame Legend, jockey-trainer George Moore, has ever exceeded this with 12 trainer’s titles. Size currently holds the Hong Kong record for the most winners trained in a single season.

Also being inducted is William Arthur (Billy) Smith, who enjoyed a 40-year career as a lightweight jockey, winning the Victorian Metropolitan Jockeys’ Premiership in 1960-61 and the 1960 Melbourne Cup on Hi Jinx.

The names of the 2018 inductees have been officially unveiled this morning at the National Sports Museum, located at the MCG. For more info on the Hall of Fame, please visit here

The full list of 2018 inductees is as follows:

ABERCORN (horse)
POITREL (horse)
AQUANITA (horse)
KARASI (horse)
MALCOLM JOHNSTON (jockey)
W.A. ‘BILLY’ SMITH (jockey)
JOHN SIZE (trainer)
CHRIS WALLER (trainer)
SIR EDWARD DEAS THOMSON (associate)
GEORGE WATSON (associate)
COLIN HAYES (trainer)

Article courtesy of Racing Victoria