champions

The winners in 10 equine and seven human categories will be revealed beginning around 7:30 Thursday evening at the 53rd Annual Eclipse Awards at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida. A who's who of the American Thoroughbred industry will be dressed to the nines as the newest group of champions is announced. Of the equine divisions--as is frequently the case--the majority feature little suspense, while there exists a fair bit of intrigue and arguments to be made for multiple horses in the older dirt male division, the female sprint division,...

The finalists for the 2023 Eclipse Awards will be announced live on FanDuel TV Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at noon ET, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB) and Daily Racing Form (DRF) announced Thursday. Eclipse Award ballots were due by Jan. 3. The awards, which honor excellence in Thoroughbred racing, are voted upon by the NTRA, represented by member racetrack racing officials and Equibase field personnel, NTWAB and DRF, and are produced by the NTRA. The announcement of the Eclipse Awards finalists on...

Connections from champions Dayatthespa (City Zip), Mind Your Biscuits (Posse) and Saratoga Dew (Cormorant) will be honored by the New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. during their Showcase Day program after the sixth race on Sunday, Aug. 27 at Saratoga Race Course, the organization said in a release Thursday. The trio were chosen by a panel of New York turf writers and represent the second class of honorees, joining last year's inaugural group of Fio Rito (Dreaming Native), Commentator (Distorted Humor), Fourstardave (Complicance), Funny Cide (Distorted Humor) and Tiz The Law...

Flightline was clearly the star among stars at the Eclipse Awards ceremonies held Jan. 26 in Palm Beach, Florida, but a trio of stallions that call the rustic environs of John Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa home stole the show from a sires' perspective, accounting for half of the evening's 10 winners among the Flat divisions. Success at the Eclipse Awards is obviously directly correlated with horse racing on its biggest stages, and the results from the first weekend of November, not far away from Xalapa at Keeneland Race...

The finalists in 11 equine and five human divisions for the 2022 Eclipse Awards will be announced live on FanDuel TV Saturday, Jan. 7 at 11:30 a.m. ET, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, National Turf Writers And Broadcasters (NTWAB), and Daily Racing Form announced Thursday. Eclipse Awards are voted on by members of the NTRA, represented by member racetrack racing officials and Equibase field personnel, NTWAB, and Daily Racing Form, and are produced by the NTRA. The announcement of the Eclipse Awards finalists on FanDuel TV is sponsored by Keeneland...

Keeneland has cataloged 3,691 horses for its 79th November Breeding Stock Sale, which will begin Monday, Nov. 7 after Keeneland hosts the Breeders' Cup World Championships over the weekend prior. The sale runs through Wednesday, Nov. 16. Click here for the catalog for the sale, which features proven producers, broodmare prospects who were successful racehorses and royally bred weanlings. The catalog includes more than 1,800 broodmares and broodmare prospects and 1,523 weanlings. Print catalogs are to arrive the week of Oct. 17. "The euphoria of the recent record-breaking Keeneland September...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - By far, the most enthusiastic applause during the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame induction ceremony Friday morning was for a video clip of race that everyone in the audience likely had seen many times. Beholder's (Henny Hughes) career-capping victory by a nose over the previously unbeaten champion Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro) in the 2016 GI Breeder's Cup Distaff was nearly as gripping on the big screen at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion as it was live at Santa Anita Park. For sheer drama it ranks with...

Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) joined the likes of Hong Kong legends Fairy King Prawn (Aus), Silent Witness (Aus), Ambitious Dragon (NZ) and Beauty Generation (NZ) in being named Horse of the Year in Hong Kong for the second consecutive season during ceremonies held Friday evening at the Hong Kong Jockey Club's Happy Valley Clubhouse. The 6-year-old won his first two starts of the year, including a facile defence of his title in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile in December, but suffered just the second loss of his career...

Finneus (Stay Thirsty), Lieutenant Dan (Grazen) and The Chosen Vron (Vronsky) are the three finalists for California-bred Horse of the Year for 2021, to be announced at the annual CTBA Awards Dinner and Annual Meeting Mar. 28, 2022 at Le Meridien Arcadia. The business meeting begins at 4 pm., the cocktail reception at 5 p.m. and the awards dinner at 6 p.m. Other Cal-bred champions to be recognized at the banquet: Champion California-bred 2-Year-Old Male - Finneus Champion California-bred 2-Year-Old Female - At the Spa (Outwork) Champion California-bred 3-Year-Old Male...

Knicks Go (Paynter) was one of a dozen winners at the 2021 Breeders' Cup meeting at Del Mar in early November to be named Eclipse Award finalists, as the candidates in 11 equine and five human categories were announced Saturday morning on TVG. While the finalists for 2021 were not revealed--they will be announced at the conclusion of the Eclipse Award ceremony at Santa Anita Feb. 10--it is a fait accompli that Knicks Go will take home the evening's most coveted award. The grey, winner of the 2020 GI Breeders'...

Next year's 51st annual Eclipse Awards dinner and ceremony, honoring Thoroughbred racing's champions of 2021, will be held at Santa Anita Park, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters announced Tuesday. Held in conjunction with the Stronach Group, the Eclipse Awards dinner and ceremony at Santa Anita will take place Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, prior to the NFL's Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium on Sunday, Feb. 13. Additional information will be announced in the coming weeks. The Stronach Group hosted the...

St George Stables' Letruska (Super Saver) completed an ascent from the humblest of humble beginnings to the highest of highs in the Thoroughbred game, fighting back willingly inside of multiple Eclipse Award winner and two-time GI Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) to take Saturday's $1-million GI Apple Blossom H. by half a head. Reigning 3-year-old champion Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) couldn't go with the top two late and settled for third. The contrarians were out in force all across social media since the Apple Blossom was drawn Tuesday, reasoning...