The All American Ruidoso Downs Foundation has announced its inductees for the annual Ruidoso Downs Hall of Fame ceremony, which will be held at the track on June 27, 2024.

The inductees are:
Horse: Danjer
Owner/Breeder: MJ Farms
Trainer: Mike Joiner
Jockey: Chris Zamora
Special Achievement: Billy G. Smith
Racing Official: Tom Dawson

The inductees will by honored at a dinner to be held June 27. Tickets for the event will be available soon at www.raceruidoso.com. The Ruidoso Downs Hall of Fame honors people and horses who have made significant impacts in the horse racing industry at Ruidoso Downs and nationwide.

DANJER: A winner of 12 Grade-1 stakes, Danjer won a total of 22 races and was the sport’s 2020 champion aged horse and ’21 world champion. The late son of champion FDD Dynasty currently ranks third on the all-time earnings list at $2,499,432. Danjer died unexpectly of an aneurysm last summer while in training for the All American Gold Cup (G1) for owners Dean Frey, Pat Guthrie of Downtime Enterprises, and Billy G. Smith.

MJ FARMS: Located at Veguita, New Mexico, and owned by Mac Murray and Dr. Janis Murray (pictured), MJ Farms is home to prominent New Mexico-bred sires Big Daddy Cartel and Eye Am King. The farm also has owned or managed several other major sires, including Dash Ta Fame, Jesse James Jr and Woodbridge. Major stakes winners from the MJ Farms breeding program include AQHA champions Astica and Alice K White, and Bigg Daddy, Mister Riptide, Bella De Ball, Wild Six, and Kendall Jackson.

MIKE JOINER: The trainer of 2023 All American Futurity (G1) winner Cowboys Gun Z, Mike Joiner has trained the earners of more than $30 million during his career, which began in the 1970s. Top horses from his barn include AQHA champions Flash And Roll and FDD Dynasty, and major stakes winners Bodacious Eagle and First Valiant Sign.

CHRIS ZAMORA: One of the top New Mexico-based jockeys for more than 20 years, Chris Zamora won more than 2,000 wins during a career which stretched from the late 1980s through 2011. Zamora won riding titles at Albuquerque Downs, Ruidoso Downs, and Santa Fe Downs, and he was Quarter Horse racing’s leading rider in mount earnings in 1994. His top mounts include Quarter Horses Noblesse Six, Blazin N Shakin, Namehimastreaker, Rabbit Revival, Kama Shootin and Chicks Are Streakin. He also won 1,027 Thoroughbred races.

BILLY G. SMITH: Smith currently serves as a member of the New Mexico Racing Commission, but he has been a part of the state’s racing industry as an owner and breeder since the late 1970s. Smith has also served on several AQHA committees. He is best known for his involvement in 2021 AQHA world champion Danjer and leading sire FDD Dynasty. Other major stakes winners owned or co-owned by Smith include Kates Dynasty, Terrific Synergy and Breakin Rules, and he continues to manage the FDD Dynasty Syndicate, during which time the stallion’s progeny has earned more than $36 million.

TOM DAWSON: For more than 50 years, Dawson has been the primary voice of Quarter Horse racing’s major televised events. His career in the racing industry began as a racing secretary at Ruidoso Downs, Sunland Park, and Albuquerque Downs in the early 1970s. He first appeared as an analyst during the first live broadcast of the All American Futurity in 1974, and he has appeared on various horse racing telecasts on ESPN, NBC, Fox Sports, RIDE TV, and the Cowboy Channel. Dawson continues to be the host of the Cowboy Channel’s coverage of Triple Crown racing at Ruidoso Downs, as well as top quarter horse stakes at Remington Park, Lone Star Park, and Albuquerque Downs.