Gallant Man, Real Delight Make Racing Hall of Fame

Gallant Man and Real Delight, two of the outstanding thoroughbreds from the 1950s, have been voted into the Racing Hall of Fame along with trainers LeRoy Jolley and Mack Miller and jockey Walter Blum.

The results, based on a national poll of turf writers, were announced in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where the plaques of the new inductees will be installed on Aug. 13 at the National Museum of Racing.

Both Gallant Man and Real Delight began their careers in California, then established reputations in the East.

Gallant Man, bred by the Aga Khan and Prince Aly Khan, was sold in a 12-yearling package to Texas oilman Ralph Lowe for $220,000.

In 1957, Gallant Man was part of a 3-year-old crop that has been considered perhaps the strongest ever. Gallant Man lost the Kentucky Derby by a nose to Iron Liege after Bill Shoemaker mistook the 16th pole for the finish line and stood up in the irons for an instant before he resumed riding.

After skipping the Preakness, Gallant Man won the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes in a record time of 2:26.60, which wasn’t broken until Secretariat came along in 1973.

Gallant Man beat older horses in the Nassau County Handicap and the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Bold Ruler was voted Horse of the Year, but in 1958, Gallant Man beat him under 130 pounds in the Metropolitan Handicap.

After returning to California and winning the Hollywood Gold Cup with 130 pounds and the Sunset Handicap with 132, Gallant Man ran one more time and then was retired with 14 wins in 26 starts and earnings of $510,355. The sire of 44 stakes winners, Gallant Man’s last breeding season was 1981, and, at 33, he is now at Spendthrift Farm near Lexington, Ky.

Calumet Farm’s Real Delight won 11 of 12 starts in 1952 to become champion 3-year-old filly. Her wins included the Ashland, the Kentucky Oaks, the Black-Eyed Susan, the Coaching Club American Oaks, the Beldame and the Arlington Matron. She also won the Arlington Matron the next year before being retired. She died in 1970.

Both Jolley, 49, and Miller, 65, are active New York trainers who have trained 55 stakes winners each.

Jolley won the Kentucky Derby in 1975 with Foolish Pleasure and repeated in 1980 with Genuine Risk, only the second filly to win the race. Jolley’s other champions include Honest Pleasure, What a Summer and Manila, who was the top male grass horse last year.

Miller, long associated with Paul Mellon’s Rokeby Stable, trained three grass champions--Assagai, Hawaii and Snow Knight. Other Miller standouts have been Winter’s Tale and Fit To Fight, who in 1984 became only the fourth horse to sweep the handicap series of the Metropolitan, the Suburban and the Brooklyn.

Blum, 52, competed with sight in only one eye, the result of a childhood accident. He rode for 22 years, retiring in 1975, and had 4,382 winners and $26.4 million in purses. Some of his top horses were Gun Bow, Pass Catcher, Affectionately, Priceless Gem and Royal Beacon II. Blum is now a state steward for three tracks in the Miami area.