Kona Gold joins Clement, Shirreffs in Racing Hall of Fame class

Kona Gold made the Hall of Fame on speed, while Christophe Clement and John Shirreffs entered on the weight of a lifetime in the game. Together, the three Contemporary Category selections gave the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame class a sharp contrast in how excellence is measured in American racing, from a front-running sprinter’s brilliance to the steady production line of two elite conditioners.

The museum announced the 2026 class on April 23, with 11 new members elected overall and 143 of 154 eligible voters participating, a 92.8% turnout. The class will be enshrined at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 7, at Fasig-Tipton’s Humphrey S. Finney Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, New York, in a public ceremony that will be free to attend and streamed live. Along with Kona Gold, Clement and Shirreffs, the class includes Historic Review selections Gulch, Mongo and David A. Whiteley, plus Pillars of the Turf honorees Prince Khalid bin Abdullah, Dr. Robert Copelan, Seth W. Hancock, G. Watts Humphrey Jr. and Joseph E. Widener.

Kona Gold’s case was built on the kind of raw speed that leaves a permanent mark on a racecourse. He won the Eclipse Award for Champion Sprinter in 2000, captured that year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint and set the Churchill Downs six-furlong track record of 1:07.77 in the process. From 1998 through 2003, he finished with a 14-7-2 record in 30 starts, earned $2,293,384 and won 10 graded stakes. Hall of Fame jockey Alex Solis rode him in all 14 victories, and Kona Gold made five consecutive Breeders’ Cup Sprint appearances, a level of durability that matched his burst of acceleration.

Clement and Shirreffs represent a different kind of Hall of Fame argument: the long view. Clement, born in Paris in 1965 and who died in 2025, won 2,576 races and earned $184,127,449 in purses from 1991 through 2025. His stable produced horses such as Gio Ponti, a three-time Eclipse Award winner who swept four straight Grade 1 turf races in 2009, and Tonalist, winner of the 2014 Belmont Stakes and back-to-back Jockey Club Gold Cups in 2014 and 2015. Shirreffs, who also died in 2025, won 596 races, including 113 graded stakes, and banked $58,581,916 in purses. He trained 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo and Zenyatta, the 2010 Horse of the Year, giving the class two late horsemen whose influence reached far beyond one season or one marquee race.

That is what made this class feel larger than a routine honors list. The Hall of Fame did not just recognize one unforgettable horse, or two accomplished trainers. It drew a line through sprint speed, classic success and sustained training mastery, then stamped all three into the sport’s permanent record.