Late Trainers Clement, Shirreffs Among HOF Nominees

Seven racehorses and six trainers account for the 13 finalists that will comprise the National Museum of Racing's 2026 Hall of Fame ballot, as chosen by the Museum's Hall of Fame Nominating Committee. The finalists are racehorses Blind Luck, Game On Dude , Groupie Doll , Havre de Grace, Kona Gold, Lady Eli , and Rags to Riches; and trainers Christophe Clement, Kenny McPeek, Graham Motion, Doug O'Neill, John Sadler, and John Shirreffs.

Hall of Fame voters may select as many candidates as they believe are worthy of induction to the Hall of Fame. All candidates who receive 50% plus one vote (majority approval) from the voting panel will be elected to the Hall of Fame. All the finalists were required to receive a minimum of 10 votes from the 15-member nominating committee to qualify for the ballot.

Ballots will be emailed Feb. 26 to the 154-member Hall of Fame voting panel. The results of the voting on the contemporary candidates will be announced April 23. That announcement will also include this year's selections by the Museum's Historic Review, Steeplechase, and Pillars of the Turf committees. The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place Aug. 7, at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., at 10:30 a.m ET. The ceremony is open to the public and free to attend.

To be eligible for the Hall of Fame, trainers must be licensed for 25 years, while jockeys must be licensed for 20 years. Thoroughbreds are required to be retired for five calendar years. All candidates must have been active within the past 25 years. The 20- and 25-year requirements for jockeys and trainers, respectively, may be waived at the discretion of the Museum's executive committee. Candidates who have not been active within the past 25 years are eligible through the historic review process.

Blind Luck

A chestnut filly bred in Kentucky by Fairlawn Farm, Blind Luck (Pollard's Vision—Lucky One, by Best of Luck) won the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old filly in 2010. A multiple grade 1 winner at ages 2 and 3, Blind Luck was also a grade 1 winner at 4.

Trained by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer and owned by Hollendorfer in partnership with Mark Dedomenico, John Carver, and Peter Abruzzo, Blind Luck posted a career record of 12-7-2 from 22 starts and earnings of $3,279,520 from 2009 through 2011. She won a total of 10 graded stakes, including six grade 1s: the Kentucky Oaks, Oak Leaf Stakes, Hollywood Starlet Stakes, Las Virgenes Stakes, Alabama Stakes, and Vanity Handicap. Throughout her career, Blind Luck defeated the likes of Havre de Grace (three times), Life At Ten, Unrivaled Belle, Evening Jewel, Devil May Care, and Switch.

Game on Dude

A dark bay or brown gelding bred in Kentucky by Adena Springs, Game On Dude (Awesome Again—Worldly Pleasure, by Devil His Due) won 14 graded stakes, including eight grade 1s. Racing from 2010 through 2014, he compiled a record of 16-7-1 from 34 starts and earnings of $6,498,893.

Owned by Joe Torre's Diamond Pride, Lanni Family Trust, Mercedes Stable, and Bernie Schiappa, Game On Dude was trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. He is the only horse to win the Santa Anita Handicap (G1) three times (2011, 2013, 2014), setting a stakes record in the 2014 edition by covering 1 1/4 miles in 1:58.17. Game On Dude also won the Hollywood Gold Cup Handicap (G1) and San Antonio Stakes (G2) twice each, as well as single editions of the Pacific Classic Stakes (G1), Californian Stakes (G2), Charles Town Classic Stakes (G2), Lone Star Derby (G3), and Native Diver Stakes (G3). He won the Goodwood Stakes (G1) in 2011 and won the same race when it was renamed the Awesome Again in 2012. In 2013, Game On Dude swept the three signature grade 1 races for older horses in California—the Santa Anita Handicap, Hollywood Gold Cup, and Pacific Classic—becoming only the second horse to win those three events in a single year, joining Hall of Famer Lava Man.

Groupie Doll

A chestnut filly bred in Kentucky by Fred Bradley and William "Buff" Bradley, Groupie Doll (Bowman's Band—Deputy Doll, by Silver Deputy) won consecutive Eclipse Awards for champion female sprinter in 2012 and 2013. In those same years, she won back-to-back editions of the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1).

Campaigned by the Bradleys in partnership with Brent Burns and Carl Hurst, Groupie Doll was trained throughout her career by Buff Bradley. Following her second Breeders' Cup win, Groupie Doll was sent to the 2013 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale and sold for $3.1 million to Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm. She started twice more in Pope's colors before her retirement. Groupie Doll won nine graded stakes overall, including four grade 1s, and posted a lifetime record of 12-4-4 from 23 starts with earnings of $2,648,850. She raced from 2011 through 2014.

Havre de Grace

A bay filly bred in Kentucky by Nancy Dillman, Havre de Grace (Saint Liam—Easter Bunnette, by Carson City) won the Eclipse Awards for Horse of the Year and champion older female in 2011. Trained by Anthony Dutrow at ages 2 and 3 and by Larry Jones thereafter, Havre de Grace was campaigned by Rick Porter's Fox Hill Farms throughout her career.

After finishing second to champion Blind Luck in thrilling editions of the Delaware Oaks (G2) and Alabama Stakes (G1) in 2010, Havre de Grace earned her first graded stakes victory later that year in the Cotillion Stakes (G2). In her 2011 Horse of the Year campaign, she beat Blind Luck in the Azeri Stakes (G3) and went on to win the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1), Woodward Stakes (G1) against males, and Beldame Invitational Stakes (G1) over Hall of Famer Royal Delta. Havre de Grace made one start as a 5-year-old in 2012, winning the New Orleans Ladies Stakes before being retired with a career record of 9-4-2 from 16 starts and earnings of $2,586,175.

Kona Gold

A bay gelding bred in Kentucky by Carlos Perez, Kona Gold (Java Gold—Double Sunrise, by Slew o' Gold) won the Eclipse Award for champion sprinter in 2000. That year, he set a 6-furlong track record at Churchill Downs in his Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) victory. Campaigned by Bruce Headley (who also served as his trainer), Irwin and Andrew Molasky, and Michael Singh's High Tech Stable, Kona Gold raced from 1998 through 2003 with a record of 14-7-2 from 30 starts and earnings of $2,293,384.

He set a track record for 5 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita Park and won a total of 10 graded stakes. Kona Gold won multiple editions of the Bing Crosby Breeders' Cup Handicap (G2), Potrero Grande Breeders' Cup Handicap (G2), and El Conejo Handicap (G3). He registered Beyer Speed Figures of 110 or higher 17 times. On 10 occasions, his Beyer Figure was 115 or higher, including a career-best of 123. Kona Gold made five consecutive appearances in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Lady Eli

A dark bay or brown filly bred in Kentucky by Runnymede Farm and Catesby W. Clay, Lady Eli (Divine Park—Sacre Coeur, by Saint Ballado) won the 2017 Eclipse Award for champion turf female. Trained by Chad Brown for Sheep Pond Partners, Lady Eli won her first six starts, including victories in the 2014 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) and 2015 Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T). A battle with laminitis then kept her away from the races for more than a year.

Upon her return in 2016, Lady Eli finished second in the Ballston Spa Stakes (G2T) then won the Flower Bowl Stakes (G1T) and finished second in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T). She finished second in the Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1T) in her 2017 debut then won the Gamely Stakes (G1T), Diana Stakes (G1T), and Ballston Spa in succession. Lady Eli was retired after finishing off the board in the 2017 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Overall, she posted a record of 10-3-0 from 14 starts with earnings of $2,959,800. Lady Eli won a total of eight graded stakes, including at least one grade 1 in each of her four years on the track.

Rags to Riches

A chestnut filly bred in Kentucky by Skara Glen Stables, Rags to Riches (A.P. Indy—Better Than Honour, by Deputy Minister) won the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old filly in 2007, a campaign highlighted by an historic victory in the Belmont Stakes (G1).

Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher and Michael McCarthy for owners Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, Rags to Riches broke her maiden in her second career start in January 2007, at Santa Anita. That 6-length victory was the beginning of a five-race win streak. The next four wins were all grade 1s: the Las Virgenes Stakes, Santa Anita Oaks (by 5 1/2 lengths), Kentucky Oaks (by 4 1/4 lengths), and the Belmont. In winning the third jewel of the Triple Crown, Rags to Riches defeated eventual two-time Horse of the Year and Hall of Famer Curlin   by a head to become the first filly in 102 years to win the event. Rags to Riches remains one of only three fillies to win the Belmont.

She finished second in her next race, the Gazelle Stakes (G1), and a right front leg injury was discovered after the race. A 4-year-old campaign was being planned for Rags to Riches, but she reinjured her right front pastern and was retired with a record of 5-1-0 from seven starts and earnings of $1,342,528.

Christophe Clement

Clement, who died in 2025 at the age of 59, was a native of Paris, France. He won 2,576 races with purse earnings of $184,127,449 million (12th all time) in a career that spanned from 1991 through 2025. He trained three-time Eclipse Award winner Gio Ponti, winner of four straight grade 1s on the turf in 2009, as well as 2014 Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist  , who also won consecutive runnings of the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) in 2014 and 2015. Clement won 286 graded stakes.

His grade 1 wins include multiple editions of the Beverly D. Stakes (2001, 2007, 2008), Del Mar Oaks (2007, 2013), Diana Handicap (2003, 2015), Manhattan Handicap (2001, 2009, 2010), Man o' War Stakes (2009, 2010), Turf Mile Stakes (2010, 2011), and Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap (1999, 2011, 2021, 2022, 2024).

Clement began his career in the United States by winning with the first horse he saddled, Spectaculaire, on Oct. 20, 1991, at Belmont Park. He trained 24 horses that earned $1 million or more. Other grade 1 winners trained by Clement include Discreet Marq, Far Bridge , Forbidden Apple, Gufo  , Mauralakana, Relaxed Gesture, Rutherienne, Voodoo Dancer, and Winchester, among others. Clement won the 2021 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Pizza Bianca .

Kenny McPeek

McPeek, 63, who was born in Arkansas and grew up in Lexington, has won 2,209 races to date with purse earnings of more than $145 million (18th all time) in a career that began in 1985. He won both the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Kentucky Oaks (G1) in 2024 with Mystik Dan   and subsequent Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna , respectively, to become the first trainer to sweep both races in the same year since Hall of Famer Ben Jones in 1952. The Derby win gave McPeek a career sweep of the Triple Crown races, as he had previously won the Belmont Stakes in 2002 with 70-1 longshot Sarava  and the Preakness Stakes (G1) in 2020 with champion 3-year-old filly Swiss Skydiver . Thorpedo Anna concluded her 2024 campaign by giving McPeek his first Breeders' Cup win in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1).

McPeek has won 133 graded stakes, including multiple editions at the grade 1 level in the Spinster Stakes (2002, 2003), Ashland Stakes (2002, 2014, 2023), Blue Grass Stakes (2002, 2013), Gulfstream Park Breeders' Cup Handicap (2004, 2005), Alcibiades Stakes (2008, 2018, 2020), Breeders' Futurity (2009, 2021), and Alabama (2018, 2020). He has won five training titles at Keeneland, where he ranks No. 5 all time in wins (276). McPeek has also won four training titles at Churchill Downs, where he ranks No. 4 all time in wins (593). He has trained 15 horses that have won $1 million or more.

Graham Motion

Motion, 61, a native of Cambridge, England, has won 2,846 races to date with purse earnings of more than $165 million (15th all time) in a career that began in 1993. He won the Kentucky Derby and Dubai World Cup (G1) with champion Animal Kingdom , trained two-time Eclipse Award winner Main Sequence, and has won four Breeders' Cup races. His first Breeders' Cup victory took place in the 2004 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) with 10-time stakes winner Better Talk Now at odds of 28-1. Motion won the 2010 Filly and Mare Turf at odds of 46-1 with Shared Account, was victorious in the Turf for a second time four years later with Main Sequence, and won his fourth Breeders' Cup race with Sharing  in the 2019 Juvenile Fillies Turf at 14-1 odds.

Motion has won 216 graded stakes, including multiple editions at the grade 1 level of the Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (2024, 2025), Del Mar Oaks (2011, 2022), Manhattan Handicap (2007, 2017, 2018), Man o' War (2005, 2022), Matriarch Stakes (2010, 2016), Sword Dancer (2004, 2014), and United Nations Stakes (2005, 2014). His grade 1 wins also include the Alcibiades (2016), Frank E. Kilroe Mile Stakes (2015), Hollywood Derby (2022), Hollywood Turf Cup Stakes (2011), Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes (2014), Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes (2026), Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (2003), Rodeo Drive Stakes (2015), Spinster (2011), Whitney Handicap (2009), and Wood Memorial Stakes (2011). Motion has ranked in the top 15 among North American trainers in earnings 10 times. He has trained 15 horses that have earned $1 million or more, including Miss Temple City, who defeated males in both the Turf Mile and Mile Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland in 2016. Motion has won training titles at Keeneland and Pimlico Race Course and ranks fifth all time with 39 stakes wins at Keeneland.

Doug O'Neill

O'Neill, 57, a native of Dearborn, Mich., has won 3,068 races to date with purse earnings of more than $174 million (14th all time) in a career that began in 1988. He won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 2012 with I'll Have Another  and a second Derby in 2016 with Nyquist  . O'Neill has trained five Eclipse Award winners—I'll Have Another, Maryfield, Nyquist, Stevie Wonderboy, and Thor's Echo—and has won five Breeders' Cup races. O'Neill won nine graded stakes with Hall of Fame member Lava Man , including three editions of the Hollywood Gold Cup (2005, 2006, 2007), two runnings of the Santa Anita Handicap (2006, 2007), and one each in the Pacific Classic (2006) and Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap (2006), all grade 1 events. O'Neill has won six training titles at Del Mar, where in 2015 he became the first trainer to win five races on a card there. He has also won five training titles at Santa Anita, including a record 56 wins during the 2006-07 winter meeting.

O'Neill has trained 15 horses that have earned $1 million or more and has multiple victories in grade 1 races such as the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (2005, 2015), Alcibiades (2010, 2015), Pacific Classic (2006, 2024), FrontRunner (2013, 2015), Santa Anita Derby (2012, 2013), and Triple Bend (2004, 2017), among others. Other grade/group 1 wins include the Breeders' Futurity (2006), Del Mar Futurity (2015), Del Mar Oaks (2015), Donn Handicap (2008), Florida Derby (2016), Hopeful (2015), Malibu Stakes (2024), Metropolitan Handicap (2025), Pennsylvania Derby (2021), Secretariat (2007), Stephen Foster (2018), and Vosburgh (2013). O'Neill, who has won 148 graded stakes, ranks No. 3 all time with 1,237 wins at Santa Anita and No. 4 at Del Mar with 495.

John Sadler

Sadler, 69, a native of Long Beach, Calif., has won 2,907 races with purse earnings of more than $159 million (17th all time) in a career that began in 1978. He has won 194 graded stakes, including the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) with Eclipse Award winner Accelerate  in 2018 and Horse of the Year Flightline   in 2022. He also trained champion Stellar Wind . Sadler has conditioned 12 horses that have earned $1 million or more: Accelerate, Catapult, Flagstaff, Flightline, Full Serrano , Hard Aces, Healthy Addiction, Higher Power  , Iotapa, Stellar Wind, Super Corredora , and Switch. He won his fourth Breeders' Cup race in 2025 with Super Corredora in the Juvenile Fillies.

At the grade 1 level, Sadler has won four editions of both the Pacific Classic (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022) and Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (2014, 2016, 2017, 2019), as well as three runnings each of the Santa Anita Handicap (2018, 2019, 2020) and La Brea Stakes (2007, 2009, 2010). Other grade 1 races he has won multiple editions of include the Gold Cup at Santa Anita (2015, 2018), Santa Anita Derby (2010, 2021), Santa Anita Oaks (2010, 2015), and Vanity Handicap (2004, 2014). Sadler won four training titles at Hollywood Park and has won two each at Del Mar and Santa Anita. He ranks No. 2 all time in wins at Santa Anita with 1,256 and No. 4 with 155 stakes wins. At Del Mar, he ranks No. 2 in both wins (566) and stakes wins (86).

John Shirreffs

Shirreffs, who died earlier this month at the age of 80, was a native of Leavenworth, Kan. He won 596 races, including 113 graded events, with purse earnings of more than $58,581,916. Although he had a few starters as early as 1976, Shirreffs did not train full time until 1994. Best known as the conditioner of Hall of Famer Zenyatta , Shirreffs conditioned the four-time Eclipse Award winner to 19 consecutive victories, including 13 grade 1s, from 2007 through 2010. Named Horse of the Year in 2010 and champion older female each year from 2008 through 2010, Zenyatta's grade 1 wins included the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic in 2008 and the Classic the following year. In 2009, Shirreffs also won the Ladies' Classic with Life Is Sweet, becoming the first trainer to win both Classics in the same year. Shirreffs won the 2005 Kentucky Derby with Giacomo  at odds of 50-1.

At the grade 1 level, Shirreffs won five editions of both the Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap (1999, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010) and Vanity Handicap (1999, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010); three runnings of both the Lady's Secret (2008, 2009, 2010) and Santa Anita Derby (2007, 2017, 2020); and two renewals of the American Oaks Stakes (2010, 2011), Apple Blossom (2008, 2010), Clement L. Hirsch (2009, 2010), and Santa Maria (2000, 2003). Shirreffs trained nine horses that earned more than $1 million: Baeza , Express Train , Giacomo, Gormley , Hollywood Story, Life Is Sweet, Manistique, Tiago, and Zenyatta.

The 2026 Hall of Fame Nominating Committee is comprised of chairman D.G. Van Clief, Caton Bredar, Steven Crist, Tom Durkin, Bob Ehalt, Tracy Gantz, Teresa Genaro, Jane Goldstein, Steve Haskin, Jay Hovdey, Alicia Hughes, Dick Jerardi, Tom Law, Jay Privman, and Michael Veitch.

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