Horse Betting - Derby Trainer Heads Hall of Fame Inductees

Two-time winning Kentucky Derby trainer Carl Nafzger will be among the inductees installed by the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame on Saturday at Retama Park.

Native Texans Nafzger and horseman Preston Carter, born in Plainview and Weatherford, respectively, will be honored along with scores of past historic tracks throughout the Lone Star State.

Nafzger grew up on a Texas farm near Olton and was fascinated by bulls raised by his father. That led to rodeo competition. He went to the national finals three straight years starting in 1963 when he was the third leading bull rider in the world.


"I had quite a bit of success on the tour during the '60s,"he said. "It was quite a grind. I traveled about 80,000 miles a year and worked about 10 months a year, day and night. I loved the rodeo, but it just gets to a point where you can't do it anymore."

So Nafzger turned to thoroughbreds and obtained his trainer's license in '68, the same year he and his wife Wanda were married in Cheyenne Wyo. "We did all our own work,"he recalled. "We groomed our own and I exercised and shod my own racehorses."

He hopes to duplicate the success of '90 when Unbridled won the Kentucky Derby and later captured the Breeders' Cup Classic. Nafzger's Street Sense his half way there after the triumph this year at Churchill Downs. Next stop: Monmouth Park and the 24th BC Classic.

Preston, a world-class polo player in the late '70s, has owned thoroughbreds and quarter horses. He remains active in the cutting horse industry.A key figure behind successful Texas legislation restoring pari-mutuel wagering in '87, Preston formed a partnership of horse owners, Lone Star Jockey Club, which was awarded a license in '92 to build a racetrack in Grand Prairie. He sold his interest just before Lone Star Park opened five years later.

Nafzger and Preston will attend the ceremony. Tommy Azopardi, executive director of the Texas Horsemen's Partnership for more than a decade, will represent historic tracks that include Alamo Downs, which operated from '33 to '37, in San Antonio.

The area did without a track until '95, when Retama opened a short gallop from the northwest city limits in Selma.

Some of the honored tracks date back more than 70 years, including Arlington Downs, between Dallas and Fort Worth, and Epsom Downs in Houston.

The annual Hall of Fame gala, which attracts racing interests from throughout Texas, is staged to raise money for a museum and Walk of Fame at Retama.

"We've collected $260,000 and another $278,000 has been pledged,"said Sharolyn Grammer, Hall of Fame administrative director.

"The Walk of Fame would go up first,"she pointed out. "It will be in front of the grandstand near the paddock. Alongside will be (upright) panels honoring inductees (dating back to '99)."

The special evening of racing will feature a half-dozen stakes worth $480,000, including a pair of six-furlong contests with purses of $125,000 each for 2-year-olds of each gender.