Quarter Horse Hall of Famers to be honored November 21 at Lone Star Park during Texas 
Classic Night at the Races

SAN ANTONIO (OCTOBER 22, 2026) – The Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame Board of Directors and its 
Hall of Fame Selection Committee announced today that it will induct its 2026 Hall of Fame Class on 
Saturday, November 21, 2026, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, as part of the 
Texas Classic Futurity (G1) and Texas Classic Derby (G1) race day.
The 2026 inductees are W.B. Jones, Dr. Robert "Bobby" Lewis, Roger Daly and two-time AQHA World 
Champion Tailor Fit. Longtime Quarter Horse racing journalist Richard Chamberlain will receive the 
JoAnn Weber Distinguished Service Award.
"Every one of this year's honorees has spent a lifetime making Texas a place where great Quarter 
Horses are bred, raised, prepared, cared for, raced and remembered," said Tommy J. Azopardi, 
Chairman of the Board. "It is a privilege to welcome them into the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame, 
and there is no better stage to do it than Texas Classic Day at Lone Star Park."
One Hall of Fame, Two Celebrations
For 2026 and 2027, the Hall of Fame will hold two induction galas, each dedicated to a family of breeds 
that built Texas racing. The 2026 Class celebrates Quarter Horse racing and will be honored alongside 
one of the biggest Quarter Horse race days in the state. A Class celebrating Thoroughbred racing will 
be inducted at a spring 2027 Gala at Sam Houston Race Park. Nominations for the 2027 Class open 
November 23, 2026.
"We will be dedicating a gala to our Thoroughbred community next spring and believe this new format 
will give each breed and its inductees the spotlight they have earned,” said Azopardi. “We will be 
announcing the 2027 nomination process, so horsemen have ample time to put forward the 
Thoroughbred figures who belong in the Hall of Fame."
2026 Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame Class
W.B. Jones
San Antonio's W.B. Jones has been one of the steadiest hands in Texas Quarter Horse racing for 
decades. A past President of the Texas Quarter Horse Association, Jones served as longtime chairman 
of the TQHA Sales Futurity and annual TQHA Yearling Sale, helping lead its move to the Freeman 
Exposition Hall in San Antonio after Texas race dates shifted in 2011 and keeping the sale a vital 
marketplace for Texas breeders through challenging years. His family's leadership in TQHA continued 
when his daughter later served as the association's President. 
Dr. Robert "Bobby" Lewis
Dr. Bobby Lewis of Elgin, president of Elgin Veterinary Hospital, is one of the most respected equine 
practitioners in the country. A graduate of the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine, 
he is a past President of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) and has served as 
board chair and AAEP representative for the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium. Dr. Lewis has 
also served as President of the Texas Horse Racing Association and the Texas State Board of Veterinary 
Medical Examiners, and on the Breeders' Cup Board of Directors.
Roger Daly
Since founding Roger Daly Horses in Aubrey in 1976, Roger Daly has become one of the industry's 
leading names in colt starting and sale preparation. Each year his operation prepares and presents 
roughly 300 horses for major Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred sales and starts more than 100 young 
horses under saddle. A native of Weedsport, New York, Daly came to Texas in his early twenties, where 
his first job breaking colts was for J.J. Pletcher, father of Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Among the 
many runners to pass through his hands is Falling In Love Again, whom he prepped and sold before she 
won the 1998 All American Futurity.
Tailor Fit (QH) – Horse Inductee
Tailor Fit was the AQHA World Champion in 1999 and 2001, winning the Champion of Champions (G1) 
at Los Alamitos both years and retiring as one of the breed's top money earners with more than $1 
million in career earnings. Raced by Betty Jane Burlin of Navasota, Texas, he was trained by the late 
Steve VanBebber and by Janet VanBebber and was a fixture in stakes company across the Southwest, 
including wins at Sam Houston Race Park and Lone Star Park.
Richard Chamberlain – JoAnn Weber Distinguished Service Award
Few people have told the story of Quarter Horse racing as thoroughly or as long as Rich Chamberlain. 
Raised on his family's ranch near Cameron, Texas, and a graduate of Texas A&M University, 
Chamberlain spent more than four decades with the American Quarter Horse Association, writing for 
the Quarter Horse Journal and helping launch the Quarter Racing Journal in 1988. Known across the 
industry as a walking encyclopedia of the breed's racing history, he was recently inducted into the 
Ruidoso Racing Hall of Fame.
Gala Tickets, Sponsorships and Auction Items
The 2026 Hall of Fame Gala will be held Saturday, November 21, 2026, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. at Lone 
Star Park, 1000 Lone Star Parkway, Grand Prairie, Texas. Tickets, tables and sponsorships are available 
at txhof.com/gala. Anyone wishing to donate an item to the Gala silent auction should contact 
Executive Director Melinda Pettigrew.
ABOUT THE TEXAS HORSE RACING HALL OF FAME
The Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to preserving the history and 
heritage of horse racing in Texas. As the only Hall of Fame honoring all horse racing breeds in the state, 
it celebrates the owners, breeders, trainers, jockeys, industry leaders and horses who have made a 
lasting impact on the sport. Follow the Hall of Fame at txhof.com, on Facebook (facebook.com/TXHoF) 
and on Instagram (@texas_horse_racing_hof).
Media contact: Melinda Pettigrew, Executive Director, [email protected], 817-825-1381 (mobile) / 
210-504-7022 (office)