Horse Hall of Fame to Induct Four New Members
Posted Sep. 3 at 1:40 pm by Mike Seely
The great filly Belle of Rainier will be inducted into the Washington Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame on September 14 during the Washington Cup card at Emerald Downs. Jockey Larry Pierce, trainer Glen Williams and breeder Frank Brewster will join her as members of the Class of 2008, adding further proof to the wholly accurate notion that horse racing is a team sport. Our heartiest congrats to this splendid quartet. Full release after the jump.
BELLE OF RAINIER HEADS HALL-OF-FAME CLASS
PIERCE, WILLIAMS, BREWSTER ALSO IN CLASS OF 2008
AUBURN, Wash. (Sept. 3) – Belle Of Rainier, the striking gray filly that won 14 stakes races in the 1980s, has been voted into the Washington Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame, Emerald Downs has announced.
Jockey Larry Pierce, trainer Glen Williams and breeder Frank Brewster will join the Belle as members of the Class of 2008. The official induction is Sunday, Sept. 14 during Washington Cup VI at Emerald Downs.
A Washington-bred by Windy Tide foaled in 1979; Belle Of Rainier won 17 of 43 starts and $424,526 in a four-year career for owner/breeder Al Benton and trainer William Findlay. She defeated males—including Chinook Pass—in the 1981 Joe Gottstein Futurity, and beat older fillies and mares in the 1982 Belle Roberts Handicap. Belle Of Rainier captured nine stakes at Longacres, three at Bay Meadows and two at Exhibition Park, and was voted Longacres Horse of the Meeting in 1982.
Pierce, who rode from 1963 to 1984, won three riding titles and ranked third all-time with 1,039 victories at Longacres. Born Feb. 2, 1945 in Clebit, Okla., Pierce ranked second all-time with 63 stakes wins at the Renton oval including the 1973 Longacres Mile on Silver Mallet. Pierce also rode a state record seven winners on May 20, 1972, and was the regular rider on the great Turbulator, one of the most famous racehorses in state history.
Williams, who trained at Longacres from 1954-74, saddled a record 57 stakes winners at the Renton track including two Longacres Mile victories—Sparrow Castle in 1961 and Red Wind in 1972. A Renton native, Williams also won three Longacres Derbies including one by the filly Smogy Dew in 1964.
Brewster is one of the more colorful figures in state racing lore. The proprietor of Clearbrook Stock Farm in Woodinville, Brewster was a three-time leading Washington-breeder by money won and on Aug. 27, 1950, his entry of Two and Twenty and Whang Bang—horses he owned, bred and trained—finished one-two in the Longacres Mile. Whang Bang, a filly, was voted 1950 Washington Horse of the Year.
Founded in 2003, the Washington Thoroughbred Hall of Fame each year honors one horse, one jockey, one trainer and one breeder with induction into the Hall. A committee selects four finalists in each category, and a 15-person panel composed of members of the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association, Washington HBPA, Emerald Downs and outside media members elected the Class of 2008.
The Washington Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame Class of 2008 also includes Pete Pedersen, the legendary racing official who received the lifetime achievement award in a special winner’s circle ceremony on Longacres Mile Day, Aug. 17.
Topics: Horse Racing
