Ten Inducted Into Hall Of Fame

Sat 14 Apr

Dual Melbourne Cup winning jockey Jim Cassidy was last night announced as one of ten inductees into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. Affectionately known as ‘Pumper’, Cassidy joins an esteemed list of inductees across the categories of jockey, horse, trainer and associate and fittingly has been inducted at a ceremony in his home town of Sydney. Cassidy joins modern day contemporaries Damien Oliver and Darren Beadman in the Hall of Fame as jockeys who currently still ply their trade today and is the only jockey to be inducted still competing in Australian racing.
The official induction ceremony was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney in conjunction with the 2012 Australian Racing Conference. In the jockey category, Casssidy joins Bernborough’s rider Athol Mulley among this year’s inductees while the 2012 trainer inductees are Melbourne Cup winning trainer Grahame Heagney and two-time Victorian trainers premiership winner Theo Lewis. For the first time since 2005, the Australian Racing Hall of Fame has inducted five of the sports equine heroes. International hero and ‘bargain buy’ Takeover Target joins 1991 Caulfield and Melbourne Cup heroine Let’s Elope, ten-time G1 winner Octagonal, the Tommy Smith-trained Redcraze and multiple G1 victor High Caste are the five horse inductees for 2012. One of the men synonymous with the legendary Phar Lap, his famous strapper Aaron Treve ‘Tommy’ Woodcock, is the inductee in the associate category in 2012.