The Canterbury Park Hall of Fame Committee today announced the Class of 2015 inductees. The four newest members, who will be honored in a Sept. 5 ceremony, include former jockey Tad Leggett; Minneapolis Star Tribune sports reporter Rachel Blount; state veterinarian Dr. Richard Bowman; and thoroughbred Wally’s Choice. These inductees join a group of more than forty individuals and horses that comprise the best of Minnesota racing.
Leggett was the leading quarter horse jockey each season from 2003 to 2006 and is second in all-time earnings and third in wins. He won 94 races during his career at Canterbury with a 32 percent rate, including multiple stakes races. In 2010, Leggett was paralyzed as a result of a riding accident at Fair Meadows in Tulsa, Okla.
Blount has covered horse racing for the Star Tribune since 1995. The University of Notre Dame graduate, who grew up in Iowa, has shared her love of the sport for two decades by telling the stories of the people and horses involved in thoroughbred and quarter horse racing.
Dr. Bowman has been a Minnesota Racing Commission veterinarian since 1986. He is best known among horsemen for operating Bowman’s Second Chance Ranch at his cattle ranch in North Dakota where he has provided a temporary refuge for hundreds of retired racehorses. Bowman assists with finding new homes and second careers for those horses.
Wally’s Choice, campaigned by Canterbury Park Chairman of the Board Curtis Sampson of Hector, Minn. and Wally and Joyce McNeil of Plymouth, Minn., is third in all-time earnings at the Shakopee, Minn. racetrack. The Minnesota-bred won both the Minnesota Classic Championship and the Blair’s Cove Stakes twice, and also won the Minnesota Derby. Wally’s Choice became one of four Minnesota-breds to win a graded race by winning the 2004 Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park.
The Canterbury Hall of Fame was founded in 1995 to recognize people and horses that have made important and lasting contributions to the racing industry within the state. The selection committee consists of representatives of local horsemen organizations, local media, and Canterbury Park.
