10 named as finalists for Md. Thoroughbred Hall of Fame * The Racing Biz

10 named as finalists for Md. Thoroughbred Hall of Fame

Two to join 38 already inducted

Press Release
August 5, 2026

Voting is underway for the 2026 Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame class. Ten horses, from classic winners to Eclipse Award winners to millionaires, are on the final ballot. The finalists (in alpha order) are Bee Bee Bee, Cherokee’s Boy, Eighttofasttocatch, Heartlight No. One, Heros Reward, Include, Shareef Dancer, Smarten, Ten Keys and Wide Country.

In order to be considered for induction into the Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame, a horse must have been bred in Maryland and be retired for at least five years. Voting is done by a committee of Maryland racing industry members and coordinated by the Maryland Horse Breeders Association and Maryland Racing Media Association, which jointly created the Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame in 2013. There are now 38 members of the Hall of Fame, ranging, alphabetically speaking, from Alma North to Youth. Most years two horses are added, although twice the class numbered three.

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This year’s inductees will be announced in the coming weeks, and an induction ceremony will take place at the Timonium meet, Friday, Sept. 4, in the grandstand.

A brief summary on each finalist follows:

BEE BEE BEE. The seventh Maryland-bred in history to win the Preakness when he took Pimlico’s 3-year-old classic in 1972 in an upset over overwhelming favorite Riva Ridge, he earned honors as 1972 Maryland-bred Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old, which followed a championship year at 2.

CHEROKEE’S BOY. A stakes winner each of the five seasons he raced, he retired a millionaire with 19 wins from 48 starts, while scoring 14 stakes wins and 14 stakes placings. The Maryland-bred champion juvenile of 2002, he was Maryland-bred Horse of the Year and champion older male of 2005. His career average-winning margin was more than four and a half lengths.

EIGHTTOFASTTOCATCH. Winner of a dozen stakes, including three victories in the Maryland Million Classic, even though he didn’t make his stakes debut until the fall of his 4-year-old season. He retired a millionaire after recording his fourth consecutive win in the historic Jennings Handicap in 2014.

HEARTLIGHT NO. ONE. A Grade 1 winner on both coasts in her only year of competition, Heartlight No. One was voted the Eclipse Award as the nation’s champion 3-year-old filly of 1983. Starting only seven times, she won five straight that summer, including the Grade 1 Hollywood Oaks and Grade 1 Ruffian, the latter over older rivals.

HEROS REWARD. Racing for nine years, he took home eight Maryland-bred championship titles, including Horse of the Year of 2007, and retired a millionaire. A three-time graded stakes winner, his most important victories came in Canada, in Woodbine’s Nearctic-G2 and Scotts Highlander Stakes-G3.

INCLUDE. Only the fourth Maryland-bred in history to win the Grade 1 Pimlico Special, he bankrolled $1,435,400 in 2001, with eight top-three finishes in nine starts, and earned the honors of Maryland-bred Horse of the Year and champion older horse. The three Maryland-bred Pimlico Special winners who came before him – Challedon, Vertex and Cigar – are all in the Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame.

SHAREEF DANCER. Although he raced only three times during his 3-year-old season, he earned championship honors as the top 3-year-old in England and Ireland. In a span of nine days in 1983 he won the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot and easily defeated English Derby winner Teenoso and French Derby winner Caerleon in the Irish Derby-G1.

SMARTEN. A two-time stakes winner at 2, he competed in six different states at 3 while making 17 starts (all but one in stakes competition) and finished on the board in 15. He recorded six straight stakes victories in 1979, four in consecutive Derbies — the Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio and American — and his earnings of $638,433 that year were just shy of the all-time Maryland-bred seasonal record.

TEN KEYS. Claimed at Laurel for $14,500 early in his 3-year-old season before he won his first race, Ten Keys found his calling on the turf. His 16 grass stakes wins from ages 3 to 6 included graded scores at Bay Meadows, Keeneland, Churchill Downs, Laurel, Meadowlands and Rockingham Park. Named Maryland-bred champion turf horse in 1989 and 1990, he retired as the fourth-leading Maryland-bred earner of all time with $1,209,211.

WIDE COUNTRY. A Maryland-bred champion at 2, Wide Country ran her win streak to eight races (all stakes at Pimlico and Laurel that began in the final months of ’90) into her 3-year-old season, counting among her victories the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes and Grade 3 Pimlico Oaks. She was named 1991 Maryland-bred Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old filly.