My condolences to all. A very sad event. It's too early to consider anything but this tragedy for the families right now, imo.

So as not to be accused of redboarding, Jack Van Berg and Jerry Hollandorfer should also be in the Hall.

This accident happened 5 minutes from my house, a very sad event.

to win over 9000 races as a trainer is one remarkable feat.

God Bless Dale Baird

R.I.P.

Not that I'm tryin to start anything here, but I see a lot of a bias against lower level tracks, etc (mainly when I talk about my preference for betting crap claimers over Grade 1s, I take some guff for it every time). Whether it be betting, or speaking of the people that are the big timers at these tracks. Give Dale Baird some million-dollar yearlings, and I bet he can run with Pletch. It's about taking what you have, and winning with it. HE DID THAT. Is it better to win a bunch of 5k claiming races, or be like Jamie Sanders where you can barely win anything at any level?

"to win over 9000 races as a trainer is one remarkable feat.

God Bless Dale Baird

R.I.P."

Amen Eaj... 'nuff said.

Low level still doesnt change the fact that he was there every morning and every night and he worked 365 days a year cause thats what they race there.

Exactly.

Now is watching the same as betting to you? As far as betting goes, When mountaineer has 8-10 horse fields almost every race, I love bettin that track. Eventhough the quality of the horse isn't very good, they fields are usually very competitive.

Hmm. Ya gotta point.

Les Onaka should be in the Hall of Fame as well. Might as well throw in Mike McDowell because he was a pretty good jockey at Ellis Park.

And you made a great point too... you obviously declared your stance on Russel Baze. Don't try to tell me that Nor-Cal is loads better than the places you mentioned... So are you gonna tell me Baze doesn't deserve to be in the HOF?

King Leatherbury too...

My point is, these guys take what's given to them, why shouldn't they be rewarded for it? So they got a bunch of wins with not very good horses. They still won at their level. If Baird never made that Asmussen-like rise from the crap tracks to stardom, he shouldn't deserve to be in the HOF?

As I said in the first reply to my thread... I'm not tryin to start an argument over a dude's death.
R.I.P.

Mountaineer Park is a shithole compared to NorCal and Maryland when Leatherbury was at his prime.

But really I say put him in the Hall of Fame. That place is a joke anyways. It's arguably the worst Hall of Fame for any sport on the planet because people in racing don't know how to define greatness.

And yet is paradise compared to the days when Baird racked up a large number of his wins at the old Mountaineer, Waterford Park.

Baird also owned all -- or nearly all -- of the winners he trained. So, he's not just the leading all tme trainer for number of wins but it's very likely he is also leading owner for all-time wins (maybe one of the industry-types here have access to a list of historical # of wins by owner).

He is in the HBPA Hall of Fame.

We certainly have different perspectives on what greatness is. Not everyone can have the kind of horses that Pletch and Frankel and the big tymers get... So Baird should be penalized because Godolphin isn't sending him a million-dollar baby that could get to the Derby ever? So you're saying success in Grade 1s and total wins at Belmont is the only thing that is HOF worthy? What do you think about Russell Baze? He's not as good as Pincay IMO, because Pincay did it on a bigger stage, but still Baze is HOF worthy.

Yes!! You got it!! Baird should be penalized because Godolphin isn't sending him $4000 claimers!!

Whoo hoo!!!!

*head explodes*

We agree to disagree... Have fun bettin your 6-horse field grade 1s. That 5/2 shot you'll hit is really nice value...

R.I.P. Dale Baird.

Good for you. Maybe one day you can move into a house that doesn't have power lines over it.