Also on the ballot are: 2010 champion 3-year-old filly Blind Luck (Pollard's Vision), eight-time Grade I winner Game on Dude (Awesome Again), three-time Eclipse champion Gio Ponti (Tale of the Cat), 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace (Saint Liam), 2000 champion sprinter Kona Gold (Java Gold), 2017 champion turf female Lady Eli (Divine Park), and Rags to Riches (A.P. Indy), one of only three fillies to win the GI Belmont S. and champion 3-year-old filly of 2007.

Trainers on the ballot are Christophe Clement, Kiaran McLaughlin, Graham Motion, Doug O'Neill, John Sadler and John Shirreffs.

The 58-year-old Clement trained three-time Eclipse Award winner Gio Ponti, as well as 2014 GI Belmont S. winner Tonalist.

McLaughlin, 63, won three Breeders' Cup races: the 2006 Classic (Invasor), 2007 Filly and Mare Turf (Lahudood), and the 2016 Dirt Mile (Tamarkuz) and trained three Eclipse champions: Invasor, Lahudood and Questing.

Motion, 59, won the GI Kentucky Derby and G1 Dubai World Cup with champion Animal Kingdom, trained two-time Eclipse Award winner Main Sequence, and has won four Breeders' Cup races.

O'Neill, 55, won the Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. in 2012 with I'll Have Another and added a second Derby in 2016 with Nyquist. O'Neill has trained five Eclipse Award winners: I'll Have Another, Maryfield, Nyquist, Stevie Wonderboy, and Thor's Echo. He has won five Breeders' Cup races.

Sadler, 67, won the GI Breeders' Cup Classic with Eclipse Award winner Accelerate in 2018 and with Horse of the Year Flightline in 2022. He also trained champion Stellar Wind.

Shirreffs, 78, is perhaps best known as the conditioner of Hall of Famer Zenyatta. He also trained 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo and Breeders' Cup winner Life is Sweet.

Jockeys Jorge Chavez and Joel Rosario are also finalists for this year's Hall of Fame class.

The 62-year-old Chavez earned the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in 1999. He won the 2001 Kentucky Derby aboard Monarchos and earned a pair of Breeders' Cup victories in his career.

The 39-year-old Rosario, in his first year of eligibility, has won 3,586 races with purse earnings of more than $316 million (fourth all time) in a career that begin in 2003. The Eclipse Award winner for Outstanding Jockey in 2021, Rosario has won 15 Breeders' Cup races (tied for fourth all time), as well as the Kentucky Derby in 2013 (Orb) and the Belmont S. in 2014 (Tonalist) and 2019 (Sir Winston).

To be eligible for the Hall of Fame, trainers must be licensed for 25 years, while jockeys must be licensed for 20 years. Thoroughbreds are required to be retired for five calendar years.

Hall of Fame voters may select as many candidates as they believe are worthy of induction to the Hall of Fame. All candidates that receive 50% plus one vote (majority approval) from the voting panel will be elected to the Hall of Fame. All of the finalists were required to receive support from two-thirds of the 15-member Nominating Committee to qualify for the ballot.

Ballots will be mailed to the Hall of Fame voting panel this week. The results of the voting on the contemporary candidates will be announced Apr. 23. That announcement will also include this year's selections by the Museum's Historic Review and Pillars of the Turf committees.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place Aug. 2 at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., at 10:30 a.m. The ceremony is open to the public and free to attend.

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“I am very grateful to all the trainers and owners who gave me an opportunity to ride so many great horses this year,” Kimura said. “I'd like to thank the grooms, exercise riders, hot walkers, gate crew, outriders, and everyone who makes our sport so great. And I would like to thank all the horses, the stars of our sport and the best athletes you will find.”

The 2019 Eclipse Award winner as North America's outstanding apprentice, Kimura also won the equivalent Sovereign Award in both 2018 and 2019. He was also the 2021 and 2022 Sovereign recipient as Canada's outstanding rider.

Casse recorded 113 wins at Woodbine in 2023 and his 24 stakes victories included the King's Plate, as well as the GI E.P. Taylor S., GII Nassau S. and GII Royal North S.

Bruno Schickedanz, last year's Sovereign winner as Canada's top owner, was Woodbine's leading owner for the 10th straight year with 58 wins.

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“The Venezia Memorial Award is about representing the sport we love so much in the best way possible,” said Alvarado. “I am thankful and proud to be chosen as this year's winner and I look forward to celebrating with my family and thanking the Venezia family here at Saratoga Race Course.”

The Mike Venezia Memorial Award is presented annually by the New York Racing Association to a jockey who displays the extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship that personified Venezia, who died as the result of injuries suffered in a spill in 1988. Venezia, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., won more than 2,300 races during his 25-year career.

“Junior is a true professional at what he does, both as a top jockey and as a role model,” said Terry Meyocks, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Jockeys' Guild. “The winners of the Venezia Award are ambassadors for Thoroughbred racing; they're champions on and off the track. We welcome Junior to the ranks of those who have previously been honored with the Venezia Award.”

A native of Barquisimeto, Venezuela and the son of jockey Rafael Alvarado, Junior Alvarado, 37, rode his first winner in 2005 at La Rinconada Hippodrome in Caracas before moving to the U.S. in 2007 when he rode his first winner at Gulfstream Park. After earning the 2009 riding title at Arlington Park, Alvarado moved to New York in 2010 and he has been a mainstay on the circuit ever since, winning the 2014 GI Whitney S. on Moreno and racking up more than 1,400 wins and more than $106 million in earnings at the NYRA tracks. For his career, Alvarado has more than 2,000 wins and more than $126.9 million in earnings.

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In the first start of her 4-year-old season–which was delayed by illness–in the GII Shuvee S., Nest is likely to face Clairiere (Curlin), the leader of the older female dirt division, and GI La Troienne winner Played Hard (Into Mischief).

“It's not the position we set out to be on at the beginning of this year, but it's kind of where we are,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said. “We've given up some recency to some really good horses, so hopefully she runs well and it brings her forward.”

Nest, co-owned by Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House, really strengthened her case for the 3-year-old filly championship last summer at Saratoga with emphatic victories over Secret Oath (Arrogate) in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks and the GI Alabama S. Secret Oath won the GI Kentucky Oaks by two lengths over Nest, the 2-1 favorite. In the showdowns at Saratoga after Triple Crown tests against males–Secret  Oath was fourth in the GI Preakness S., Nest was second in the GI Belmont S.–Nest left no doubt about who deserved to be at the top of the table. She won the CCA Oaks by 12 1/4 lengths and the 1 1/4-miles Alabama by 4 1/4.

In her first test against older horses, Nest crushed the field in the GII Beldame S. by 9 1/4 lengths. She was the 7-5 favorite in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, but ended up fourth, some 3 1/4 lengths behind stablemate Malathaat (Curlin), who nipped Blue Stripe (Equal Stripes {Arg}) and Clairiere. Malathaat clinched the older filly Eclipse Award with that performance. Pletcher said Nest had a less-than-ideal trip in the Distaff at Keeneland.

As scheduled, Nest was given the next few months off to recover from her eight-race, five-victory season. It turned out to be a much longer break than planned. Pletcher said that three hours after she made the cross-Florida trip from the farm in Ocala to his stable at Palm Beach Downs, she spiked a fever. She got in a three-furlong work Apr. 15, had another upper respiratory issue and did not breeze again until May 13 at Belmont Park.

“We missed a month,” Pletcher said. “She got a pretty good lung infection that took us a while to get under control. Our original plan was for maybe running the [Apr. 21 GIII] Doubledogdare at Keeneland or the [May 5 GI] La Troienne at Churchill as a prep for the [June 10 GI] Ogden Phipps. It took us too long to get ready, so here we are.”

Pletcher said he considered bringing Nest back in the GIII Molly Pitcher Saturday at Monmouth Park, but opted to ship her to Saratoga and walk her across Union Ave. to run in the Shuvee.

She worked nine times at Belmont Park before completing her preparation Sunday morning with a half-mile breeze in :50 in company over the Oklahoma training track.

After what was a routine pre-race work, Pletcher said the most impressive part of Nest's breeze happened after the timing ended in front of the clocker's stand.

“The gallop out,” he said. “She seems to keep going.”

Clairiere has been a top-notch homebred performer for Stonestreet Stables and Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. She has won eight of 19 starts and earned $3.1 million. Last year she handled Malathaat in the Shuvee, but was never a factor while finishing last of five in the GI Personal Ensign S. This year, she was second to Secret Oath in the GII Azeri S. and has won the GI Apple Blossom H. and Ogden Phipps. Played Hard was third in the Phipps, her 10th straight top-three finish since October 2021.

Considering the probables listed by NYRA, the Shuvee is likely to go off with a small, high-quality field. Pletcher said it figures to be a tough test.

“We expect big things from her always,” he said. “It's a lot to ask of her, but she ran well in her debut at a mile and a sixteenth and she's basically run well pretty much every start of her career. Hopefully we've got her fit enough to perform well and this is the first step towards bigger goals.”

Pletcher said he has not noticed any significant changes in Nest this season.

“She was so good last year that it's hard to see,” he said. “I think the main thing is she's filled out a bit, maybe carrying a little more condition than she was last year.”

What Nest has shown Pletcher in training is the running style that made her so effective during her championship season.

“It's what makes most of the good ones good, kind of a high cruising speed and the ability to carry it over a distance of ground,” he said. “As you saw last year, she has that ability on the dirt to accelerate, really quicken, the last part of a race. A lot of times, horses just have to keep grinding away but as we saw in the Coaching Club and the Alabama last year, she can cruise and then quicken.”

A few minutes after the workout Sunday, Pletcher said that gear-changing move was on display.

“If you saw the end of the gallop-out there,” he said, “she was all of a sudden 10 lengths in front of the other horse.”

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Local authors will be on hand at designated times throughout the day Wednesday to sign their books, with new copies available for sale. Josh Pons, Eclipse Award-winning writer of “Country Life Diary” and “Merryland” about the Pons family's farms in Harford and Baltimore Counties, as well as Baltimore native Alvin Stone, author of “Stoney: The Story of My Dad's Life, An African American Groom of Horse Racing,” will be on site from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Baltimore author and sportswriter John Eisenberg, author of, among other books, “Native Dancer: The Grey Ghost: Hero of a Golden Age,” as well as Baltimore journalist Jack Gilden, the author of the recently published “The Fast Ride: Spectacular Bid and the Undoing of a Sure Thing,” will be available from 1 to 3 p.m.

Photographer Patricia McQueen will do an author talk about her recently published “Secretariat's Legacy” at 4 p.m. May 18.

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Forte, who won last year's G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and G1 Hopeful S. before being honored with the Eclipse Award, has won both the GII Fountain of Youth S. and GI Curlin Florida Derby in both starts this year.

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“So far, Jesse is very optimistic,” James said of expectations for his March sextet. “We've got a nice New York-bred Laoban that he likes and we have a couple other horses that he calls push button. That's always a good word to hear around Jesse, that they are push button.”

A native of Louisville, James's interests in racing are multi-faceted. He purchased Benny the Bull (Lucky Lionel) for $38,000 at the 2004 Keeneland September sale. He sold a controlling interest in the future Eclipse Award winner to IEAH Stables and the speedy dark bay went on to win over $2.3 million. James also campaigned multiple graded stakes winner Victor Avenue (Avenue of Flags).

“I was involved in many facets of the game back in the '90s,” James said. “And I was attracted to some returns that I saw pinhookers getting. So I began to invest in different operations in Ocala. I have, off and on, been pinhooking probably about 25 years. My first venture, I think, with Jesse was all the way back in the late '90s. And we've been off and on doing business together since.”

The partnership scored a pair of pinhooking home runs last year when a filly by Shackleford, purchased as a yearling for $40,000, sold for $300,000 at the OBS March sale and a colt by Race Day, purchased for $42,000 as a yearling sold for $475,000 at the OBS April sale.

“It was probably my best year,” James said of the 2022 results. “My highest horse that I ever sold before was $300,000, so the Shackleford replicated that and then the Race Day was certainly my biggest hit ever.”

Asked if his success at the juvenile sales last year made him change his approach at the yearling auctions, James said, “Well, obviously it gives you optimism that success is out there if you partner with the right people and do the right thing. So for me, that's Jesse Longoria. Jesse has always been brutally honest and I think he has an impeccable eye for a horse. So I am quite comfortable letting him spend my money to fund this venture.”

On behalf of James, Longoria purchased 10 yearlings last fall. Following the six scheduled to sell at OBS March, four will be catalogued at the company's April sale.

Working on a budget, the partners focus on the individual over pedigree.

“Jesse and I, we are looking for athletes,” James said. “It's hard for us to buy the pedigreed horses that we want. But we buy athletes and we have had success doing it.”

The colt by Race Day who sold for $475,000 last April is a case in point. Now named Tshiebwe, he was a close-up third in a Feb. 26 Gulfstream Park maiden special weight for trainer Todd Pletcher.

“He just ran third in a maiden special weight going long,” James said of the colt. “So I think there is some future for that horse. He was a little slow getting started, but it looks like they've got him going now.”

The Shackleford filly was purchased by Hideyuki Mori last March and, named Ecoro Ai, she is stakes-placed in Japan.

The highest-priced yearlings in James's March contingent were purchased for $35,000; Hip 79 brought that price at the Fasig-Tipton October sale and at that same price from the same auction were a colt by Mor Spirit (hip 252) and a filly by Take Charge Indy (hip 782). The group also includes a colt by World of Trouble (hip 617) purchased for $30,000 at Fasig-Tipton October; a colt by Frosted (hip 569) purchased for $25,000 at October; and a colt by Anchor Down (hip 608) acquired for $8,000 at Keeneland September.

“I think the most we paid for any yearling was $50,000,” James said. “We have a nice Bolt d'Oro that we were able to get for $50,000 [who will sell at OBS April]. So we are looking for athletes, for racehorses, more than pedigree. If there is some pedigree there, that's great, but we are going to buy the horse first.”

While he enjoyed top-level success in racing in the '90s, James currently has just one horse in training, but that could change soon.

“I only have one horse in training right now, but with the purse structure, racing is becoming more attractive again to me,” James said. “I cut my teeth in this business with claiming horses. And I have been thinking about putting something together and maybe claiming a few more and going back into racing a little heavier because the purse structure allows it now. Racing is tough. We all know that. But if ever there were good opportunities, I think it's now.”

Looking long-term, he did admit to one concern about racing's future.

“My only worries are, are we cultivating new horse racing fans? Slots are great, they have added such great purse money, but I do worry if we are cultivating horse racing fans or just relying on purse money,” James said. “So that's a decision I will have to make as I go forward.”

For James, who owns Radisson Hotel Louisville North, racing and pinhooking provide a pleasing counterpoint to his day job.

“I am in the hotel and shopping center business,” he said. “So this is quite apart for me from what I normally do, but I have always been able to mix the two together and enjoy them. I spend a lot of time at the sales. Jesse has taught me a lot. And I've learned a lot about what a good horse looks like through the years. Bernie Flint trained for me, and in my mind, there is no better judge of horse flesh than Bernie Flint was in his day. I love being around it. The pinhooking gives me a chance to be around it more.”

After their standout 2022 results, can James and Longoria strike again in 2023?

“I don't know,” James said. “You never know in this game what you can do. You have to be good and you have to be lucky. And anybody who says differently is wrong. Because that's what this game takes. It takes good fortune and good hard work.”

The under-tack show for the OBS March sale begins Tuesday morning with hips 1-208 scheduled to breeze. Hips 209-416 will work Wednesday, followed by hips 417-624 Thursday and hips 625-833 Friday. Each session of the show begins at 8 a.m.

The March sale will be held next Monday through Wednesday, with bidding beginning each day at 11 a.m.

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Bred in Kentucky by Pope McLean, Sr., Pope McLean, Jr., Marc McLean and P. Feringa, the diminutive Xtra Heat sold for less than five figures as a weanling, yearling and 2-year-old, but won her first six races before tasting defeat for the first time in the 2000 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, her lone career foray around two turns.

She went nine-for-13 during her championship season in 2001, breaking through at the Grade I level with a victory over Above Perfection (In Excess {Ire}) and Harmony Lodge (Hennessy) in the Prioress S. ahead of a runner-up effort to Victory Ride (Seeking the Gold) in that year's GI Test S. Following three subsequent facile scores against her peers in the Mid-Atlantic region by a combined 22 3/4 lengths, Xtra Heat was given her chance against the boys in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, and the fleet filly cut out the running before being run down in the dying strides by Squirtle Squirt (Marquetry).

Wire-to-wire winner of her first two starts at four, including the GII Barbara Fritchie H. with 128 pounds on her back and spotting her rivals between 13 and 16 pounds, Xtra Heat ventured to old Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in Dubai and finished a creditable third behind the repeating Caller One (Phone Trick).

Following a sixth-place effort in the 2002 Sprint, Xtra Heat was offered at the Fasig-Tipton Night of the Stars sale and was led out unsold when bidding reached $1.7 million. Owners Kenneth Taylor and Harry Deitchman sold Xtra Heat to ClassicStar in a private transaction and she closed her career with a successful title defense in the Barbara Fritchie. She was retired with a mark of 35-26-5-2 and earnings of $2,389,635 and was trained throughout her career by John D. Salzman. Woodford Thoroughbreds purchased Xtra Heat privately through a ClassicStar dispersal in 2006. She was inducted into racing's Hall of Fame in 2015.

The first three foals out of Xtra Heat achieved black-type, including the stakes-winning and Grade III-placed Southwestern Heat (Gone West), who went on to a stallion career in Australia; the stakes-placed X Rated Cat (Storm Cat); and SW & GSP Elusive Heat (Elusive Quality), a $750,000 FTFFEB graduate who serves as the granddam of multiple Grade III winner Scalding (Nyquist), SW & GSP Tracksmith (Street Sense) and SW Hot and Sultry (Speightster). Woodford pensioned Xtra Heat from broodmare duties in 2019 and since that time, she has enjoyed her time in the Florida sun at Woodford's Reddick, Florida, farm, according to the release.

“Xtra Heat knows her place in the world and is always first at feed time,” Woodford owner John Sykes said in 2022. “Xtra Heat is confident in her bearing, but easy to be around. The little brown mare with a great big heart inspires our team to look for potential in every horse.”

With the news of the mare's passing having been made public, Sykes said, “I have always been proud to have the privilege of owning and being responsible for a Hall of Fame horse. She will be greatly missed on the farm and by the team.”

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In 1980, the Firestones won an Eclipse Award as the nation's top owners. Bert Firestone passed away in 2021.

“I can't say enough good things about her and Bert and the opportunity they gave me when I shifted from the Midwest to New York,” said Hall of Famer Bill Mott, who was hired by the Firestones to be their private trainer in 1986. “They gave me the opportunity to break into New York and they treated me like family. She was a wonderful person and a very good horse person herself. She was very knowledgeable about racing and breeding. She always conducted herself so well and was a very kind person.”

Firestone was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1932 and was the granddaughter of Robert Wood Johnson, the founder of the health products manufacturer Johnson & Johnson. She was the daughter of John Seward Johnson, an executive with Johnson & Johnson, and Ruth Dill Johnson, a native of Bermuda.

A lifelong equestrienne, Firestone learned to ride in England with her siblings. While in prep school in Washington, D.C., she rode hunters and jumpers and fox hunted across Virginia's northern landscape. After graduating from Bennett Junior College, Firestone had a renowned equestrian career, representing the United States in horse shows worldwide.

“Horses, with the single exception of my family, have been the most important thing in my life,” Firestone once said.

“She was an amazing mother and an amazing horse woman,” said Firestone's daughter Alison Robitaille. “Pretty much every animal loved her. Whether it was dogs, horses, whatever, when it came to animals she was like a magnet. She gave to me my love of horses and introduced me to them at an early age, which I am very grateful for.”

In recognition of Firestone's commitment to equestrian sports, the American Horse Shows Association awarded her the Walter B. Devereux Trophy for having exemplified the ideal of good sportsmanship through commitment, dedication and service.

The Firestones were perennially among the top owners in the sport in the 70s and 80s and horses running under their familiar green and white silks accounted for 51 graded or group stakes wins.

Teaming up with trainer Leroy Jolley, they landed their first Eclipse Award with Honest Pleasure, the champion 2-year-old of 1971. He was followed by 1977 champion sprinter What a Summer.

But the Firestones will always be best remembered for winning the Derby with Genuine Risk, who, at the time, became only the second filly to win the sport's most prestigious race. She finished second in a controversial running of the GI Preakness S. and was then second in the GI Belmont S. She is the only filly to win or place in all three Triple Crown races. In 1986, Genuine Risk was enshrined in the Racing Hall of Fame.

Two years after Genuine Risk, the Firestones had another Eclipse Award winner. Already a champion in France, April Run (Ire) won an Eclipse Award as the nation's outstanding turf mare in 1982. In 1987, the Firestone's Theatrical (Ire) won six Grade I races, including the GI Breeders' Cup Turf, and was named champion turf male. He was the first Breeders' Cup winner and Eclipse champion for Mott.

The Firestones were also active in Europe. In 1981, their Blue Wind (Ire) was named champion 3-year-old filly in both England and Ireland and April Run was named champion 3-year-old filly in France. That same year, Play it Safe (Ire) was named champion 2-year-old filly in France.

The Firestone homebred Winchester became the couple's final top-level victor with four Grade I wins from 2008 to 2011, and they completed the dispersal of their bloodstock in January 2020. The Firestones, who owned both Gulfstream Park and Calder Racecourse from 1989 to 1991, began scaling back their racing ventures in the late 1980s.

Firestone is survived by four children, Robitaille, Lorna Stokes, Christopher Stokes, Cricket MacDonald and three stepsons, Matthew Firestone, Ted Firestone and Greg Firestone. She is also survived by 16 grandchildren.

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Ortiz shares the Gulfstream record with four other jockeys: Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey (3/11/96), Tyler Gaffalione (7/4/17), Luis Saez (1/24/18; 3/29/18) and Paco Lopez (3/21/20).

Ortiz became the only jockey in Gulfstream history to win seven races in a row.

“It feels great. Everything worked out so good today. Everything came out perfect out there. It was one of those days where everything goes your way, so you enjoy it,” Ortiz said. “We had some live horses, and we always try to look on the positive side with them and ride them all with confidence. But every day doesn't work like today. It's hard, but today was one of those days.”

The 30-year-old jockey, who was recently awarded the Eclipse Award for the 2022 racing season, swept Races 2-8 on the nine-race card.

“It's my first time winning seven races in one day,” Ortiz said. “So, I feel great.”

The three-time Championship Meet titlist at Gulfstream guided Dignified ($7.20) to victory in Race 2 to start his streak before also scoring aboard Little Jewel ($4.20), Lakota Territory ($5.60), Riveting Spirit ($7), Tape to Tape ($4.20), Rhymes Like Dimes ($4.40) and Six Minus ($7.40) in Races 3-8, respectively.

Ortiz, who finished fifth aboard favored Maclin in Race 1, finished seventh aboard Turn On the Charm in Race 9.

Ortiz leads the Championship Meet standings with 44 winners, 10 more than defending champion Luis Saez.

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