The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame has unveiled 13 finalists for its 2026 induction class, featuring seven racehorses and six trainers who made their marks on thoroughbred racing. According to the museum, ballots have already been sent to the 154-member voting panel, with results expected Thursday, April 23.

The racehorse finalists are Blind Luck, Game On Dude, Groupie Doll, Havre de Grace, Kona Gold, Lady Eli, and Rags to Riches. The trainer finalists are Christophe Clement, Kenneth McPeek, H. Graham Motion, Doug O'Neill, John Sadler, and John Shirreffs. All finalists earned at least 10 votes from the 15-member Nominating Committee to qualify for the ballot.

Any candidate who receives 50 percent plus one vote from the voting panel will be elected to the Hall of Fame.

Two of the trainer finalists will not be present to celebrate a potential honor. As reported by the Thoroughbred Daily News, Clement passed away in the spring of 2025 at age 59, and Shirreffs passed away earlier this year at age 80. Clement trained Eclipse champion Gio Ponti and 2014 Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist. Shirreffs is best remembered as the conditioner of Zenyatta, the four-time Eclipse Award winner who won 19 consecutive races from 2007 through 2010 and was named Horse of the Year in 2010. Shirreffs also won the 2005 Kentucky Derby with 50-1 longshot Giacomo.

Among the racehorse finalists, Rags to Riches stands out for her historic 2007 Belmont Stakes victory, when she became the first filly in 102 years to win that race, defeating two-time Horse of the Year Curlin by a head. Lady Eli, who won the 2017 Eclipse Award for Champion Turf Female, overcame a serious battle with laminitis to return to Grade 1 competition. Kona Gold won the Eclipse Award for Champion Sprinter in 2000 and set a six-furlong track record at Churchill Downs in his Breeders' Cup Sprint victory that year.

Among the living trainer finalists, McPeek became the first trainer since Hall of Famer Ben Jones in 1952 to win both the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks in the same year, doing so in 2024 with Mystik Dan and Thorpedo Anna, respectively. As noted by NEWS10 ABC, Motion won the Kentucky Derby and Dubai World Cup with champion Animal Kingdom and has four Breeders' Cup victories to his credit. O'Neill won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 2012 with I'll Have Another and added a second Derby in 2016 with Nyquist. Sadler trained Horse of the Year Flightline to a Breeders' Cup Classic victory in 2022 and won the same race with Accelerate in 2018.

To be eligible, trainers must hold a license for 25 years, and thoroughbreds must be retired for five calendar years.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place Friday (August 7) at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, beginning at 10:30 a.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Christa Cooper