The announcement that he had been elected to the Racing Hall of Fame stirred a lot of emotions in trainer Nick Zito, who had been eligible for eight years. They included relief, pride, and humility.

Zito's election, announced during a national teleconference May 31, came in the first year of a revamped voting procedure, by which anyone from flat racing had to be named on 75 percent of the ballots to get into the Hall. He was the only inductee from among 20 nominees to meet the standard.

"The Hall of Fame is a tough thing to get in," said Zito, 57. "I'm not going to be a jerk -- of course, I want to be in the Hall of Fame. I think [Hall of Fame committee chairman Edward Bowen] knew that I was frustrated, but you have to wait your turn and be humble and try to realize that you're in a great game that is bigger than anyone.

"Put it this way, I'm not ancient, so that's good. I'm just gratified I did get this honor."

Nominees who failed to get 75 percent of the vote included trainers Dale Baird, Gary Jones, Mel Stute and John Veitch; jockeys Eddie Maple, Randy Romero, Jose Santos, Craig Perret and Ismail Valenzuela; contemporary male horse finalists Silver Charm, Housebuster, Best Pal, Lure, and Manila; and contemporary female horses Inside Information, Mom's Command, Open Mind, Silverbulletday and Sky Beauty.

Inductees from steeplechasing were chosen by a committee. They included trainer Sidney Watters Jr., former jockey-turned-trainer Thomas Walsh and five-time champion 'chaser horse' Lonesome Glory.

Zito has won two Kentucky Derbies, a Preakness, a Belmont, and a Breeders' Cup and trained champions Storm Song and Bird Town.

"I must have had some pretty good days, but nothing tops this," he said.

"It's very special to me. It's humbling. You get a chance like this once in a lifetime. It comes around once."

Zito recalled his mother was opposed when he announced as a teenager that he wanted to go to the racetrack to work. "My brothers and my dad [an exercise rider] said 'Let him go, let him go.' Every time I won a race from that day, she had every single clipping until the day she died at 89. Pretty cool. I owe a lot to her, and I owe a lot to the man upstairs, too."

He also said he learned much from the trainers he worked for or watched along the way, including former bosses LeRoy Jolley and John Campo.

"All of them I've learned something from, but the only thing I have done is try to have my own style," he said. "I think that's the only way to be a successful horse trainer. It's good to emulate somebody, but you can make it much, much better if you do your own thing, take a little bit of everyone and put it in my own way of doing things."

Jockey shorts

Jockey Eddie Castro won nine races in 11 rides on a 13-race card at Calder Race Course June 4 -- a record for victories in one day at the same track. The late Chris Antley also once won nine races in one day but his came at two tracks: four at Aqueduct during the day and five at the Meadowlands at night Oct. 31, 1987. Castro, 20, a native of Panama, is leading rider at Calder. He was the Eclipse Award champion apprentice in 2003.

Hall of Fame jockey Russell Baze, whose collarbone was broken in a racetrack spill this past week, notched his 9,000th career victory June 2 aboard Queen of the Hunt in the eighth race at Golden Gate Fields. Baze, 46, is the second jockey to pass 9,000. Laffit Pincay, Jr. won 9,530 during his career.

Apprentice Anna Rosie Napravnik, 17, won her first race in her first mount Thursday aboard Ringofdiamonds in the first race at Pimlico. Napravnik had been working as an exercise rider.

Tragic accident

Assistant starter William Steward was killed at the start of the fourth race at Penn National Race Course Wednesday when he fell off the gate and it ran over him. Steward had worked at the track for 22 years. Penn National canceled the rest of Wednesday's card and that of Thursday to mourn his death.