2022 Hall of Fame Inductees
Mike Carter
Mike Carter
Mike Carter is a Certified Public Accountant with a practice in Dallas, and an entrepreneur investing in different businesses, including owning and racing thoroughbred and quarter horses.
In the early 1980s, he was a financial advisor to B. F. Phillips, Jr., an AQHA legend who, as head of the Texas Horse Racing Association, spearheaded the drive to return pari-mutuel racing to the Lone Star State.
Phillips was a former president of the American Quarter Horse Association and breeder of the legendary Dash For Cash, from his ranch in then very rural Frisco, Texas. He had put together the group to unite all horsemen in an effort to pass a bill to return big-time racing to Texas. Phillips died shortly after the legislation was enacted in the fall of 1987.
As executor of the Phillips Estate, Carter ran the Phillips Ranch and eventually got involved with a group to work on the enabling legislation that would lead to making live racing in Texas a reality. He ran the Phillips Ranch operations until the horses were sold in 1993. Like Phillips before him, Mike was involved with both the Texas Thoroughbred Association and the Texas Quarter Horse Association. Soon, he was active with both breeds as an owner and breeder. He is a lifetime member of the TTA, TQHA, and AQHA.
When Trinity Meadows opened just west of Fort Worth, Mike went to the winner’s circle with horses such as Bayou Sunset (TB), a multiple stakes winner, track record setter, and Texas Champion. Mike was part of the original group (Lone Star Jockey Club) investing with Preston Carter (no relation) and Jim Musselman to obtain the horse racing license for the DFW area. He was a key member of this group working to get the license. After the racing commission awarded the license to Lone Star Jockey Club, multiple lawsuits were filed to contest the decision. This license was the only contested one of the three Class 1 licenses.
He was the co-interim general partner, collaborating with many people to resolve the disputes over the license. When Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie opened just north of Interstate 30 on 315 acres of land in 1997, it was immediately the crown jewel of the horse industry in this part of the country.
A huge crowd of over 21,000 attended the grand opening on April 17, 1997, almost 10 years after the historic vote for pari-mutual racing. Over $1.4 million was wagered that day. Lone Star staged one of the most successful inaugural seasons in American racing history. The average daily handle (money bet) during the first meet was $2.4 million, ranking it number 1among all major U.S. tracks built since 1970. As a follow-up to its first season, in 1998, Lone Star became the first track in modern history to increase its attendance in its second year of operation.
Everyone knew Lone Star had arrived the year it opened, but it was proven to the entire horse racing world when, only seven years after the track opened, it hosted the 2004 Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
On his own and with partnerships, Mike and his wife, Fredi, continue to be involved in the horse racing business today.
C. Dwayne Gilbreath
C. Dwayne Gilbreath
Growing up in a small town just east of Dallas, Gilbreath’s life with horses started at an early age.
Gilbreath would often want to stay home with the horses instead of going to school. At the age of 14, he began to develop an interest in horses while working for a farrier at Phillips Ranch. The farrier dubbed him sleepy.
Sleepy conditioned some of the best horses in racing history, such as Ochoa with $2,781,365 in earnings and Refrigerator with a little under $2,130,000 in earnings. Not only has he sent out the winners of more than 40 Grade one races in California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, but he also received AQHA’s Gordon Crone Special Achievement Award in 2019.
Stan Sigman
Stan Sigman
A giant among men, Stan Sigman conquered the telecommunications industry before his retirement in 2007.
Starting in 1965 as a SW Bell Telephone stockman in his hometown of Hereford, TX, he impressively moved up the ranks through the company after graduating from West Texas University (Now Texas A&M) with his BA in Business Administration in 1970.
He rose to the top of the business world as the CEO and president of Cingular Wireless and AT&T and is regarded as a visionary in the wireless technology field, among countless other business accomplishments.
After his illustrious career in telecommunications, Stan Sigman was able to return to his original passion, Quarter Horses, and developed Namgis, the state-of-the-art training facility for American Quarter Horse roping, racing, and barrel racing horses. Co-ownership of the champion and millionaire Kiss My Hocks, as well as stallion Bucks Hancock Dude and breeding NFR barrel horse Namgis D 33, aka “Chongo” proved that Sigman could excel in anything he put his mind to. Four years into his retirement, the Sigmans purchased a homestead near Ruidoso Downs in Alto, NM, along with a membership in the Ruidoso Jockey Club. In 2017, Stan Sigman partnered with John Andreini, Johnny Trotter, and Chicho Flores in purchasing Ruidoso Downs. Stan Sigman continued to serve on the board at Ruidoso until his passing in late 2020.
Janet VanBebber
Janet VanBebber
Appointed the Chief Racing Officer for the AQHA in 2016, Janet VanBebber oversees the development, management, and coordination of the American Quarter Horse Association’s racing department, as well as playing an integral role in the fostering of the Racing Challenge and other like programs designed to promote American Quarter horse Racing worldwide.
The Janet VanBebber story is truly a tale of turning tragedy into triumph and out of her challenges, producing Champions. As the co-owner of VanBebber Race Stables in Ledbetter, Texas, she overcame every obstacle one could face on their climb to notoriety, from debilitating injuries to painful personal loss, and did so with absolute grace and poise, and continued to establish herself as one of the most accomplished and accredited trainers in the industry.
Janet VanBebber not only made AQHA history at just over a thousand wins, but she did so yielding some of the most notable, record-breaking, horserace champions in the history of the sport such as 3x Champion of Champions winner, Tailor Fit, whom, almost 2 decades after his last race, continues to hold his ranking as one of the breed’s top money earners.
Janet retired briefly in 2012 for another passion in her life, her beautiful daughter, Taylor Anne, before returning to Texas’s horse Racing scene when instated as Chief Racing Officer for the AQHA in 2016. She’s been the recipient of numerous distinguished honors, such as the 2002 AQHA Mildred. Vessels Special Achievement Award, and tonight we’d like to honor her achievements once more by inducting her into the 2022 Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame.
Refrigerator
Refrigerator
This remarkable horse took the first half of the 90s by storm. He quickly became one of the richest racehorses in history.
He was owned by James E. Helzer and bred by Sonny Vaughn. After a 6-year campaign in which he won 22 of 36 races, he retired as American Quarter Horse racing’s all-time money earner in 1996. He was the first horse to ever break the two-million mark in earnings. With an outstanding $2,126,309 accumulated.
Not only did he win the champion of champions three times, but he also won the prestigious All American Futurity and 10 grade 1 stakes. The Refrigerator was named after the defensive lineman for the Chicago Bears, William Perry. One of Refrigerator’s first fans was 8 year 8-year-old, Taylor Winters, who suggested the name for the colt.