Corey Nakatani, 52, a native of Covina, Calif., won 3,909 races with purse earnings of $234,554,534 in a career that spanned from 1988 through 2018. His 341 graded stakes victories included 10 Breeders’ Cup races. Nakatani ranks No. 14 all time in career earnings and finished in the top 20 in annual earnings 16 times, including 11 times in the top 10. A winner of 10 riding titles on the Southern California circuit, Nakatani ranks in top 10 in overall wins and stakes wins at both Santa Anita and Del Mar. He won 1,033 races at Santa Anita (No. 9 all time), including 131 stakes (No. 8), and 705 races at Del Mar (No. 6), including 104 stakes (No. 2).

Arrogate (Unbridled’s Song—Bubbler, by Distorted Humor) compiled a record of 7-1-1 from 11 starts while racing from 2016 through 2017. His earnings of $17,422,600 represent the highest total in history for a horse with at least one start in North America. Winner of the Eclipse Award for Champion 3-Year-Old Male in 2016, Arrogate was bred by Clearsky Farms and purchased for $560,000 by Juddmonte Farms at the 2014 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Arrogate finished third in his career debut in April 2016 at Los Alamitos before winning seven consecutive races, including the Travers Stakes, Breeders’ Cup Classic, Pegasus World Cup, and Dubai World Cup.

California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit—Love the Chase, by Not For Love) was bred and owned by Perry Martin and Steve Coburn. Taylor Made Farm later joined in the ownership, purchasing Coburn’s share. Trained by Art Sherman, California Chrome raced from 2013 to 2017 with a record of 16-4-1 from 27 starts and earnings of $14,752,650. He was voted Horse of the Year in 2014 and 2016 and earned additional Eclipse Awards for Champion 3-Year-Old Male in 2014 and Champion Older Male in 2016.

Songbird (Medaglia d’Oro—Ivanavinalot, by West Acre) was bred by John Antonelli and purchased for $400,000 by Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farm at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale. Trained by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, Songbird raced from 2015 through 2017 with a record of 13-2-0 from 15 starts and earnings of $4,692,000. Winner of Eclipse Awards for Champion 2-Year-Old Filly in 2015 and Champion 3-Year-Old Filly in 2016, Songbird won a total of 12 graded stakes, including nine Grade 1 events.

Fernando Toro, 82, a native of Santiago, Chile, won 3,555 races with purse earnings of $56,299,765 during his North American riding career of 1966 through 1990. Toro won his first race in his native country at the age of 15 in 1956 and topped the Chilean national jockeys standings twice. Before arriving in America, Toro won three editions of the prestigious Gran Premio, as well as the 1964 Clasico St. Leger, a race in the Chilean Triple Crown series. Based in Southern California, Toro won 80 graded stakes in North America. At the time of his retirement, he ranked in the top 10 in stakes wins at Del Mar (No. 6), Hollywood Park (No. 8), and Santa Anita (tied at No. 8).

John W. Hanes II (1892  ̶  1987), a native of Winston-Salem, N.C. played a key role in the revitalization of New York racing in the 1950s. He was elected a steward of The Jockey Club in 1953 and tasked by the organization to chair a special committee to improve New York’s tracks and quality of racing. Along with committee members Christopher T. Chenery and Harry F. Guggenheim, Hanes secured $109 million to revitalize Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga. He also helped obtain legislation to establish the management corporation that eventually became the New York Racing Association. Hanes served as the organization’s president from 1954 through 1960 before transitioning to the role of NYRA chairman. He remained a NYRA trustee until 1973.

Leonard W. Jerome (1818  ̶ 1891) in 1866 bought the 230-acre estate and mansion of James Bathgate in what was then rural Westchester County, N.Y. Jerome and August Belmont I built Jerome Park on that land and held the inaugural Belmont Stakes there in 1867. The Belmont was contested at Jerome Park until 1890. Other key races inaugurated at Jerome Park include the Champagne Stakes, Juvenile Stakes, and Ladies Handicap.

Jerome established the Coney Island Jockey Club in 1879. The organization held race cards at Prospect Park in New York City while constructing the Sheepshead Bay Race Track, which opened in 1880. Jerome was backed in the Sheepshead Bay endeavor by such racing luminaries as Belmont, Travers, Pierre Lorillard IV, and William K. Vanderbilt. Sheepshead Bay was the home to numerous premier events, including the Suburban Handicap, first contested in 1884, and the Futurity Stakes, which debuted in 1888 and featured the richest purse in American history to that date. 

Stella F. Thayer, 82, a native of Tampa, Fla., purchased Tampa Bay Downs with her brother, Howell Ferguson, in 1986. She currently serves as the track’s president. Thayer was elected the ninth president of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2005. The first woman to hold the position in the institution’s history, Thayer served as Museum president until 2014. She has been a Museum trustee since 1994.