Trainer Tony McEvoy will be given one of the greatest honours in SA racing when he’s inducted into the South Australian Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame at the Sportsbet SA Racing Awards on September 6 at Morphettville.

Legendary race caller Bruce McAvaney is on the Hall of Fame selection panel and says the distinction is well deserved.

"Tony boasts a special place in Australian racing history, having won a Group 1 as a jockey and trainer.

"That Group 1 as a jockey was almost 50 years ago and came coincidentally in the same race that he won his first Group 1 as a trainer – the Oaks at Morphettville," said McAvaney.

"His 16 Group 1 wins as a trainer include five with his son Calvin. His two biggest stars were the hero of the Cox Plate - Fields of Omagh, and more recently, the mighty filly Sunlight.

"In being inducted, Tony joins his nephew Kerrin, his mentor Colin Hayes, and contemporary David.

"Tony's the epitome of a high-class horse trainer: talented, patient, ambitious and always optimistic," he said.

After growing up in Streaky Bay, Mcevoy was mentored by C.S. Hayes when he started out as a foreman at the iconic Lindsay Park stables at Angaston and worked his way up to assistant trainer and then head trainer in his own right.

McEvoy's first Group 1 as a trainer came in 2003 with Larrocha, 26 years after he won the SA Oaks as a jockey.

Along with champions Fields of Omagh (Dual G1 Cox Plate winner) and Sunlight (G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes, G1 Newmarket Handicap and G1 William Reid Stakes), McEvoy's other notable winners include Hey Doc (G1 Australian Guineas, dual G1 Manikato Stakes, G1 Winterbottom Stakes), Xtravagant Star (G2 Inglis Millennium), Despatch (G1 The Goodwood), Veight (G1 George Ryder) and most recently Coco Sun (G1 South Australian Derby).

McEvoy has won six Adelaide metropolitan premierships and teamed up with his son Calvin in 2019. They moved their training base from Angaston to Ballarat in 2022.

"The South Australian Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame is the highest honour for racing identities in this state, and Tony continues to fly the flag for SA racing," said Racing SA CEO Nick Bawden.

"From growing up in Streaky Bay on the Eyre Peninsula, to promoting the merits of the beautiful Barossa Valley, he's a proud South Australian who's influenced countless careers during his five decades in the industry.

"This is a fitting honour for the McEvoy family who've played such a big part in the racing landscape in this state," he said.

The South Australian Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame selection panel consists of Bruce McAvaney, Clare Lindop, Terry McAuliffe, Leon Macdonald, Adrian Hancock and Racing SA's Greg Rudolph and Aron Quinton, plus Craig Kutcher as an advisor.

South Australian star colt Sometime joins McEvoy in being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The 1963 Caulfield Cup winner, trained by Les Patterson, won over 47,440 pounds in prizemoney (equivalent to approximately $9,829,515 in today's value). His career record of 60 starts includes 22 wins, 10 seconds and nine thirds.

"Sometime's rise to fame heralded the most successful decade in South Australian racing history," said McAvaney.

"His spring of 1963 was epic and highlighted by a dominating victory as the hot favourite in the Caulfield Cup.

"He'd won the Feehan, the Turnbull and the Caulfield Stakes on his way to the Cup, all under the hands of trainer Les Patterson and Hall of Fame jockey Billy Pyers.

"I'm lucky enough to have seen him race and he remains an all-time favourite," said McAvaney.

As a Spring 3yo, Sometime won three races in SA, including the Port Adelaide Guineas, followed by placings in the Hill Stakes, Caulfield Guineas, 4th in the Caulfield Cup and 3rd in the Victoria Derby. In the Autumn, he won 3 races, including the St Leger, and then was runner up in the 1962 Adelaide Cup.

As a 4yo, he won the Alistair Clark, Fisher Handicap (Now Lord Reims Stakes) and dead-heated in the Ipswich Cup, along with placings in the Feehan Stakes, Easter Cup, Adelaide Cup, PJ O'Shea Stakes and 4th in the Brisbane Cup.

Sometime came to the fore as a 5yo in the Spring of 1963, where he placed in the Memsie Stakes and then won the Feehan Stakes, followed by running 2nd in the Underwood Stakes and then winning the Turnbull Stakes, Caulfield Stakes and the Caulfield Cup in succession. In testimony to his stamina, he then went on to run 3rd in the W.S. Cox Plate, 2nd in the McKinnon Stakes, before finishing 5th in the Melbourne Cup a few days later, his sixth start in a month.

In the Autumn of 1964, he won his second Alistair Clark Stakes, followed up with the St George Stakes along with placings in the Queen's Plate, Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Flemington and the Autumn Stakes at Randwick, before being sold to Japan in 1965.