Hall of Fame announces 10 finalists for 2015 class

The results of the voting on contemporary candidates will be announced on

April 20. The induction ceremony will be held at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion

in Saratoga Springs, New York, on August 7 at 10:30 a.m. (EDT). The ceremony is

free and open to the public.

Antley won 3,480 races and had purse earnings of $92,261,894 in a career that

spanned from 1983 until his death in 2000 at the age of 34. He won 127 graded

stakes races and 293 overall stakes. The leading North American rider by wins in

1985 with 469, Antley was a two-time Kentucky Derby (G1) winner, taking the Run

for the Roses with Strike the Gold in 1991 and Charismatic in 1999. He also won

the Preakness (G1) with Charismatic. He ranked in the top 10 nationally in wins

each year from 1984 through 1987.

On October 31, 1987, Antley won nine races when he had four victories at

Aqueduct and five at the Meadowlands. He also had a streak of 64 consecutive

days with at least one win in 1989.

Espinoza, 42, began his career in 1993 and has won 3,188 races through Feb.

24. He ranks 19th all time in earnings with $171,130,260. A two-time winner of

the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, Espinoza has won 209 graded stakes and 412

overall stakes. He has ranked in the top 10 nationally in earnings six times

since 2000, including a peak position of No. 3 in 2004 and 2006. Espinoza won 19

graded stakes in 2014, including nine Grade 1s. He won the Kentucky Derby,

Preakness, Santa Anita Derby (G1), Hollywood Derby (G1) and San Felipe (G2) with

Horse of the Year California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit). His other Grade 1 wins in

2014 included the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Starlet with champion Take Charge

Brandi (Giant's Causeway) and the FrontRunner and Del Mar Futurity with champion

American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile).

In 2002, Espinoza won the first two legs of the Triple Crown with War Emblem.

At Del Mar, Hollywood Park and Santa Anita, Espinoza has won two riding titles

at each track. He won a Del Mar record seven races on September 4, 2006.

Nakatani, 44, has won 3,766 races and ranks 11th all time in earnings with

$224,484,846 through February 24. He began his career in 1988 and has won 332

graded stakes and 599 overall stakes. A winner of 10 Breeders' Cup races --

including three consecutive editions of the Sprint (G1) from 1996 through 1998

-- Nakatani ranks seventh all time in stakes wins at Santa Anita with 131 and

ninth in overall wins there with 1,031. During the 2006-07 Santa Anita meet,

Nakatani won 19 stakes, tying the record of Hall of Famer Laffit Pincay Jr. He

has ranked in the top 10 nationally in earnings nine times in his career.

Black Tie Affair was bred in Ireland by American businessman Stephen D.

Peskoff. Initially owned by Edward P. Swyer, Black Tie Affair was sold as a

three-year-old to Jeffrey Sullivan for $125,000. He was trained by Walter Reese

at age two and Ernie Poulos for the remainder of his career.

The Eclipse Award winner for Horse of the Year and champion older male in

1991, Black Tie Affair posted a career record of 18-9-6 from 45 starts with

earnings of $3,370,694. Black Tie Affair won a total of 12 stakes races,

including 11 graded events. In 1991, he closed his career with six consecutive

wins (all in graded races), including a victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic

(G1) in which he defeated Twilight Agenda, Unbridled, Strike the Gold and Summer

Squall. Black Tie Affair's wins that year also included the Stephen Foster H.

(G3), Michigan Mile and One-Eighth H. (G2), Cornhusker H. (G3), Philip H. Iselin

H. (G1) and Washington Park H. (G2) and the Commonwealth (G3).

Kona Gold was bred in Kentucky by Carlos Perez at Twilite Farm and sold for

$35,000 at Keeneland to a partnership that included trainer Bruce Headley, Irwin

and Andrew Molasky and Michael Singh's High Tech Stable.

The Eclipse Award winner for champion sprinter and runner-up for Horse of the

Year as a six-year-old in 2000, Kona Gold posted a career record of 14-7-2 from

30 starts with earnings of $2,293,384. During his championship year, Kona Gold

won the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), Ancient Title H. (G2), Bing Crosby H. (G2),

Potrero Grande H. (G2) and Palos Verdes H. (G2). In winning the Breeders' Cup

Sprint, Kona Gold broke the Churchill Downs and Breeders' Cup record for six

furlongs with a time of 1:07.77. A five-time Breeders' Cup Sprint participant,

Kona Gold won the Bing Crosby and Potrero Grande again in 2001. He also had

multiple victories in the El Conejo H. (G3), including a Santa Anita track

record in 1999. Kona Gold's other major wins included the San Carlos H. (G1) and

Los Angeles H. (G3).

Lava Man was bred in California by Lonnie Arterburn, Eve Kuhlmann and Kim

Kuhlmann. Arterburn trained Lava Man until he was claimed during his

three-year-old season for $50,000 by trainer Doug O'Neill for STD Racing Stable

and partner Jason Wood.

Leatherbury, 81, won his first race at Florida's Sunshine Park in 1959 and

currently ranks fourth all time with 6,449 wins. He has won 52 training titles

in Maryland (26 each at Pimlico and Laurel) and four at Delaware Park and has

career purse earnings of $62,792,375. Leatherbury led all North American

trainers in wins in 1977 and 1978 and won 300 or more races each year from 1975

through 1978. He ranked in the top three in North American wins each year from

1975 through 1980 and has finished in the top 10 nationally in wins 18 times and

in earnings four times. Leatherbury has won 23 graded stakes races and 153

overall stakes.

In 1987, Leatherbury won the Hempstead H. (G1) with Catatonic and in 1994 won

the Philip H. Iselin with Taking Risks. Leatherbury also bred, owns and trains

Ben's Cat, a winner of $2.3 million. Ben's Cat has won 22 stakes to date,

including four graded events. Other top winners trained by Leatherbury include

Ah Day (winner of 10 stakes) and Thirty Eight Paces (winner of six stakes).

Whiteley, 70, the son of Hall of Fame trainer Frank Whiteley Jr., trained the

champions Revidere, Waya and Just A Game II and won 678 races in a career that

spanned from 1970 through 1995. He won 33 percent of his starts (678-for-2,068)

and had purse earnings of $11,837,823. Whiteley won 45 graded stakes races and

62 overall stakes. He won the 1979 Belmont S. with Coastal, thwarting the Triple

Crown hopes of Spectacular Bid.

Other notables trained by Whiteley included Highland Blade, Tiller, French

Colonial, Instrument Landing and Bailjumper.

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