2019 Hall of Fame Inductees
Bob & Janice McNair
Bob & Janice McNair
From its inception in 1994, Stonerside won 72 Graded Stakes races including Grade l wins in the Belmont, Breeders’ Cup Mile, Travers, Haskell, Hollywood Gold Cup, Cigar Mile, Carter, Swaps, Wood Memorial, Matriarch and Oak Leaf Stakes. Stonerside also finished second and third in the Kentucky Derby and was the co-breeder of Fusaichi Pegasus, winner of the Derby in 2000. Stonerside became the only stable in history to sell three yearlings at auction in a single year for $3-million or more apiece; and in one memorable afternoon, saw two Stonerside-bred and raised horses win races on Breeders’ Cup day, including the $5-million Classic—America’s richest race at the time. For two years running, Stonerside won the prestigious P.A.B. Widener Trophy as Kentucky’s leading breeder. Racing and breeding Thoroughbreds proved to be the perfect combination of Janice’s background as an accomplished equestrian and Bob’s love of competitive sports, guided from the start by Houston bloodstock consultant John Adger. After 15 years, the McNairs left the business due to the demands of owning the Houston Texans NFL team. It only took one phone call to sell the stable to the most powerful person in racing, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum. Robert was elected to membership in the Jockey Club, and to positions on the board of the Breeders’ Cup and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. He was awarded the Allen Bogan Memorial Award for outstanding service to the Texas Thoroughbred Association. Since his death in late 2018, Janice McNair has retained the former Stonerside Stallions, including Valor Farm residents Too Much Bling (in partnership with Valor’s Douglas Scharbauer), Congaree and Stonesider.
Keith & Marilyn Asmussen
Keith & Marilyn Asmussen
The Asmussen Horse Center in Laredo, TX—built by Keith and Marilyn Asmussen thousands of miles from any Thoroughbred racing hub—is one of the country’s most successful and renowned stable.
Top trainers and owners ship hundreds of their young horses there every year, confident they and their two sons will produce well-schooled 2-year-olds ready to run. The heart of the operation is Keith Asmussen, a rawhide-tough native of South Dakota. Keith rode in his first Quarter Horse match race at nine. His extraordinary talent with schooling young horses is why the center broke 250 yearlings last year. The soul of the operation is Marilyn, a charismatic and equally competent horsewoman; she competed in rodeos while in high school. In 1974 she became the first woman in New Mexico to hold a trainer’s license, and for years conditioned the family’s Quarter Horses while Keith raced them at tracks in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado. They met when they were five; married in 1965 and began their 60+ year career with horses (which continues to this day). The South Dakota winters caused them to move to Colleyville, Texas, then Oklahoma and finally Laredo, TX. Soon their farm was breaking 100+ Quarter Horses. Keith had mounts on several champions, including 1972 world champion Mr Jet Moore, and the Asmussens together campaigned champion 2-year-old gelding Vespero. In the 1970s, they turned to Thoroughbreds and ultimately built their training center in 1984. Their eldest son Cash is an international champion jockey with more than 3,000 winners and career earnings of nearly $54 million. Youngest son Steve is a highly sought-after horse trainer, with training titles at Texas’ three major racetracks, Fair Grounds and Churchill Downs. His runners have earned more than $35.6 million. The Asmussen center has produced six Eclipse winners; three Breeders’ Cup winners; three Millionaires; 75 Graded Stakes winners and more than 200 Stakes winners. Other businesses include Asmussen Horse & Rider Equipment; El Primero Training Centre; KC Horse Transportation; Rio Grande Compost Company and Asmussen Blood Stock and Sales Company. Though horse racing continues to be challenging, Marilyn states they feel blessed to do something they really love.
Johnny Cox
Johnny Cox
A top rider on the Texas circuit, he won the most important stakes races at Ruidoso Downs including the 1965 Rainbow Futurity with Talent Bar and then in 1971 rode the tempestuous Mr Kid Charge to victories in the Rainbow Futurity and All American Futurity, where they set a track record that held for 11 years. He also found success riding Thoroughbreds with a win in the Ruidoso Thoroughbred Futurity aboard Bally Bird. He was recently inducted into the Ruidoso Downs 2019 Racehorse Hall of Fame. Cox also won the West Texas Futurity with Sagey’s Folly in 1964 and took the futurity the following year with Top Division. He started his career as a jockey at a young age when a neighbor let him ride his Shetland pony when he was 14 at a track next to his house in Spicewood, Texas. Cox, who now lives in Alto, N.M., competed in rodeo during high school, but found he could make more money and have more of a career in racing. But maintaining a career as a jockey is very demanding, so he retired after 23 years. Cox then raised registered Red Brangus cattle, and at one point was managing 29 ranches scattered throughout Central Texas. His love for team roping resurfaced in 1997 and he found more time for it as his ranching commitments tapered off. By 2011, he placed fifth in the #10 Finale with partner Westi Hicks, Deming, N.M.
John Adger
John Adger
Introduced to horses at the Tennessee farm of his grandparents, he bought his first horse after attending LSU. At a visit to the Bluegrass in 1969, John met Arthur Hancock—a friend for 50 years and partner in many successful ventures in the bloodstock world. For the late Joe McDermott, John advised the purchase of the Thoroughbred stallion Raise Your Glass, sire of Special Effort, the only horse to win the Quarter Horse Triple Crown at Ruidoso. Raise Your Glass was the first of three leading sires in Texas that John would be involved with.
However, one of his most noteworthy accomplishments is his work with Janice and Bob McNair, developing their Stonerside Stable from a small racing stable into a major global force in the breeding, racing and auction arenas. As racing and bloodstock manager, John guided their investments, from the key acquisition of the Elmendorf broodmare band to the eventual sale of the Stonerside equine empire to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, in one of the largest transactions in racing history. On his own or in partnerships, John has raced graded winners such as Upperline and Willcox Inn, and this will race a homebred filly from the first Texas-foaled crop of Congaree, one of Stonerside’s best runners. A Lifetime member, past president, and current board of the Texas Thoroughbred Association, John was honored with the T. I. “Pops” Harkins Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2009. He serves on the boards of the Breeders’ Cup, Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame, and University of Kentucky Gluck Equine Research Foundation; and advisory board of the Fasig-Tipton Company.
Ted Keefer
Ted Keefer
Texas horseman Raymond “Ted” Keefer, who operated the breaking and training outfit Shady Oak Farm near Magnolia, Texas, died last year in 2018 at the age of 83. Keefer grew up near San Antonio and after a tour of duty with the armed services, returned to Texas in 1961 and got his trainer’s license. Early successes allowed him to buy Shady Oak Farm in 1971, according to Daily Racing Form. Some of the top horses broken and trained by Keefer included 1986 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner Skywalker. He continued training some and won the $100,000 Governor’s Day Handicap with Prize Fight during the inaugural opening day at Sam Houston Race Park in 1994. Keefer also raced as an owner and found the winner’s circle with partners Bill Heiligbrodt and Walter “Buddy” New. Racing as Heiligbrodt & Keefer & New, they campaigned graded stakes winners Appealing Breeze, Lone Star Sky, Prize Fight, Richman, and Southern Rhythm, along with black-type winners Lady Di’s Princess, Patriotic Prince, and Tempered Halo. Lone Star Sky placed in both the Risen Star Stakes (G3) and the Louisiana Derby (G2) before finishing unplaced in the 2003 Kentucky Derby (G1). The partners raced horses primarily with Keefer’s brother Jim, and Lynn Whiting.
Alysheba
Alysheba
A bay colt, Alysheba was purchased at the 1985 July Keeneland Sale for $500,000 by Dorothy Scharbauer and her daughter Pam. The yearling was sent to Jack Van Berg’s training center near Goshen, Kentucky and was based there throughout his career. Even before his first race, Jack was positive that Alysheba would prove to be one of the greatest horses of all time. In his third race, under Don Brumfield, Alysheba ran at Turfway Park and won by 10 lengths. Brumfield would partner with Alysheba two more times, first to finish 2nd in the In Memorial Stakes at Turfway, and then a second-place finish in the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland. Alysheba next raced in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita, under Willie Shoemaker. He was last going into the first turn – at least 15 lengths behind. He ended up running third. NBC commentator Dave Johnson declared “We may have just seen next year’s Kentucky Derby winner!” Jack gave Alysheba time off after his throat operation for entrapped epiglottis and waited until the Bluegrass for his final prep for the Kentucky Derby prep. Alysheba’s first place finish in the race confirmed that he could finally breathe again. At the 1987 Kentucky Derby, he beat Bet Twice by a length. Alysheba went on to beat Bet Twice in the Preakness, but his rival got the best of him in the Belmont. Alysheba finished the series with wins in the Derby and Preakness. In 1988, Alysheba won the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs. Alysheba’s winning share of the $3,000,000 purse made him the world’s richest horse ever, with total earnings of $6,679,242.
Streakin Six
Streakin Six
He was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2011 as one of the top racehorses of his generation. He still is a major influence on the top racehorses of today’s generations. A bright chestnut son of major winner Easy Six out of the stakes-winning Little Request (TB) mare Miss Assured, Streakin Six was foaled in April 1977 on the Ted Wells’ ranch in Alex, Oklahoma. Sent to trainer Don Farris, who put future Hall of Fame jockeys Danny Cardoza and Jerry Nicodemus on him, Streakin Six during his first two seasons at the track ran 15 races against only top-flight competition and was never worse than third – and was that far back only once). He won the 1979 Rainbow Futurity (G1) and was second in 1979 in the All American Futurity (G1). Streakin Six was retired with a career record of 19-10-5-1 and $473,934 in earnings. As a sire for the 6666 Ranch, Streakin Six really hit his stride. He is the No. 6 American Quarter Horse sire of stakes winners and money-earners and the No. 3 broodmare sire. His offspring earned $17,348,666 on the track and five world championships. The stallion sired nearly 600 winners in 20 crops raced. Streakin Six also sired 32 AQHA point earners who won two performance world championships and two reserve world championships. The stallion is the latest in a long line of Hall of Fame horses, in a tail-male line from his paternal grandsire Easy Jet, great-grandsire Jet Deck, great-great-grandsire Moon Deck and great-great-great-grandsire Top Deck (TB), and through various stallions and mares to other Hall of Famers Three Bars (TB), Joe Reed and Peter McCue.