Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, closing in on 6,000 wins, and champion fillies Open Mind, Safely Kept and Sky Beauty were inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame on Friday.
Hollendorfer, long dominant among northern California trainers, was joined in the hall by three 19th century racing figures, jockey Shelby Barnes, trainer Matthew Byrnes and the champion horse Duke of Magenta, who were voted in by the hall's Historic Review Committee.
The 65-year-old Hollendorfer delivered an emotional acceptance speech while recognizing his wife, Janet, who has battled cancer since 2009, and those who have played pivotal roles in his career.
"I'd like to dedicate this plaque to all the racing fans of America," he said. "It will remain at Saratoga and it is forever yours."
Hollendorfer has won training titles at every major Bay Area meeting from 1986-2008, including 37 straight at Bay Meadows and 32 in a row at Golden Gate Fields. He also races successfully in Southern California, and won a training title at Arlington Park in 2001.
He has been among the nation's 10 leading trainers in each of the last 24 years and has to date saddled the winners of 5,990 races. He has won the Kentucky Oaks three times, most recently with Blind Luck -- the 3-year-old champion filly in 2010 who remains in training and is ranked as the nation's leading older female.
"Blind Luck was the final kick in the pants that got me in here," Hollendorfer said in his acceptance speech. "We took her everywhere and she never let us down for one minute. The East Coast is important and sometimes they don't know what we do out on the West Coast, but there are a lot of very good horses and trainers there and a lot of competition."
Hollendorfer also won the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile with Dakota Phone in 2010, finished the season third among trainers with 286 wins and fourth in earnings in $9.3 million.
Open Mind, the champion 2-year-old filly of 1988 and again as a 3-year-old, won 12 of 19 starts and earned $1.8 million. Among her victories were the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, the Kentucky Oaks and the Alabama. She also won the New York filly Triple Crown -- the Acorn, Mother Goose and Coaching Club American Oaks. She was owned by the late Eugene Klein and trained by D. Wayne Lukas.
Safely Kept, trained by Alan Goldberg, was the champion sprinter in 1989, and won 24 of 31 races for earnings of nearly $2.2 million. In her most important victory, the 1990 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Belmont Park, she defeated European champion Dayjur. She was owned by the partnership of Barry Weisbord and Richard Santulli.
Sky Beauty, trained by the Hall of Famer Allen Jerkens, who calls her the best horse he has ever developed, was the 1994 champion older female, and finished her career with 15 wins in 21 starts with earnings of $1.3 million.
She also won the New York filly triple crown, in 1993, and was the last to sweep the series, which has been disbanded.
"She was very special," Jerkens said. "She won the triple crown for fillies and the Alabama. It was just too bad she couldn't do it in the Breeders' Cup, but she did everything else. She was just great. Some of them are just born to be great."
