Country boys Romero, Pierce ride into Hall of Fame

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Trainer Bob Baffert called his Hall of Fame induction last year "the greatest and most emotional day of my life." On Friday, Randy Romero and Don Pierce got misty-eyed while entering racing's promised land.

They came up as country boys riding bush tracks, Romero in Cajun land and Pierce out west. Romero, 52, thanked the late trainer Clement Hebert, who ran Cajun Downs in Abbeville, La. Pierce, a 73-year-old native of Oklahoma, marveled as he recalled his early days.

"When I was 12 years old riding match races in county fairs in Oregon and Northern California," Pierce said, "I never thought it could lead to something like this."

Pierce, who rode from 1954-84, made his mark in Southern California in a jockey colony that included Laffit Pincay Jr. and the late Bill Shoemaker, Four of Pierce's 3,546 victories were in the Santa Anita Handicap. He shared a passion for golf with Shoemaker, and they became best friends. "That's my only regret," Pierce said. "I wish Shoe could have been here."

Hall of Fame jockey John Rotz has known Pierce "almost 50 years," so Pierce asked him to introduce him Friday. "When I called John," Pierce said, "he told me, 'Pierce, I can't think of anything good to say about you.' "

He had plenty. "Don was confident in everything he did in life," Rotz said, "but he was a super-confident rider. Every horse he got on, he thought he could win with. Don was a funny guy who was great to hang around with. Everybody in the jocks' room liked him, and he loved being a racetracker."

Romero rode the unbeaten Personal Ensign in 12 of her 13 races. Their desperate rally to get up by a nose in the 1988 Distaff remains the greatest Breeders' Cup race ever. In a 26-year career that ended in 1999, Romero won 4,294 races and meet titles at 10 different tracks.

When Romero was 17, he told his brother Gerald he wanted to win the Kentucky Derby, ride an undefeated horse and make the Hall of Fame. Only the Derby eluded him in a star-crossed career. His spleen and a kidney have been removed, his liver functions at 25-percent capacity and he needs dialysis three times a week.

"I'm so excited," Romero said. "I've been waiting for this day for a long time. I'm so thankful I'm on this side of the dirt instead of the other side."

Kenny Dunn, former president of Calder Racecourse, introduced Romero, a longtime friend. "Randy had tremendous talent and could outwork anybody," Dunn said. "He was the Pete Rose of racing. The only difference is that Randy only bet on Randy."

Notes & quotes: Also inducted were Buster Millerick (1905-86), who trained Hall of Famer Native Diver; the Baffert-trained Point Given, Horse of the Year in 2001, when he swept the Preakness, Belmont, Haskell and Travers; the mare Azeri, winner of four Eclipse Awards, including 2002 Horse of the Year; the gelding Best Pal, the leading California-bred earner, and 19th century Belmont Stakes winner Harry Bassett.