Horse of the Year

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...

What I wrote in Monday's TDN, that Idiomatic (Curlin) should be Horse of the Year, well, never mind. It took the tragic news of the passing of Cody Dorman for me to wake up and realize that while Idiomatic had a terrific year, voting for her for Horse of the Year would mean not voting for Cody's Wish (Curlin), and what a mistake that would be. Everything I had to say about the on-track credentials of the two remains the same. Both won a Breeders' Cup race, both won three...

More often than not, when the horses hit the finish line for the last Breeders' Cup race of the day, we know who the Horse of the Year is. Usually, someone has done enough to separate themselves from the pack: Flightline (Tapit), Knicks Go (Paynter), Authentic (Into Mischief). Or no one stepped up to unseat the leading contender going in. We have nothing of the kind this year. There were plenty of standout performances on Breeders' Cup Day, but that's part of the problem. The leading contenders are so evenly...

2001 Horse of the Year and winner of both the GI Preakness S. and the GI Belmont S., Point Given (Thunder Gulch), passed away Sept. 11 at 25 years old. In 2017, the champion Thoroughbred became a resident of the Kentucky Horse Park's Hall of Champions, making him the fifth Horse of the Year to occupy the famous barn. "Point Given was a special horse, loved by all, and a wonderful ambassador for the Kentucky Horse Park," said Kentucky Horse Park President Lee Carter. "We are saddened by his passing...

A colt from the first crop of Horse of the Year Authentic was hammered down to Donato Lanni, agent for SF Bloodstock, Starlight Racing and Madaket Stables for $875,000 as the first night of trade at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga reached its midpoint. Hip 56, consigned by Four Star Sales as agent, was bred by Spendthrift Farm--who raced Authentic with Starlight and Madaket and stands him as well--and is the second foal out of the Grade III-placed Golden Domer (Quality Road), who was knocked down to Spendthrift for $340,000 in foal to...

During a season that saw him become the richest-ever horse and most prolific winner of Group 1 races in Hong Kong history, Stanley Chan Ka Leung's Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) was named Horse of the Year in the jurisdiction for an unprecedented third straight season during a black-tie affair held Friday evening at the Grand Ballroom of the Rosewood Hotel. The son of Gaudeamus (Distorted Humor) won four of his five trips to the post during a well-managed 7-year-old campaign, his only loss coming at the hooves of the...

Caravel (Mizzen mast), winner of the 2022 GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, was named the 2022 PA-Bred Horse of the Year, Older Female, Female Sprinter and Turf Female at the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association's annual Iroquois Awards held Friday, May 12. Racing in 2022 for Qatar Racing, Marc Detampel and Madaket Stables LLC and trained by Brad Cox, Caravel won five of eight starts during her 5-year-old season while racing exclusively in stakes. She was also Pennsylvania's richest state-bred of the year, with $930,983, which pushed her over the million-dollar...

Havre de Grace (Saint Liam--Easter Bunnette, by Carson City), the 2011 Horse of the Year and Eclipse Award-winning older mare who sold to Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm for $10 million at the 2012 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, passed away in the early morning hours of Apr. 30. Wayne Sweezey, who boarded Havre de Grace at his Timber Town Farm, confirmed that the 16-year-old mare hemorrhaged multiple times and died after producing a colt by Into Mischief the afternoon of Apr. 28. "She was just so smart, she fought all the...

The Kentucky Thoroughbred Association (KTA) and the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders (KTOB) awards dinner Apr. 5 in Lexington named Dreaming of Julia (A.P. Indy), dam of Grade I winner Malathaat (Curlin) and Grade II winner Julia Shining (Curlin), the 2022 Broodmare of the Year. Summer Wind Equine was awarded a bronze mare and foal as the breeder of Flightline (Tapit), who was crowned Champion Kentucky-Bred Horse of the Year and Champion Kentucky-Bred Older Dirt Male. Godolphin received multiple bronzes as the recipient of the P.A.B. Widener Trophy, best known...

The most exciting and highest-priced horse to go to stud in 2023, at a fee of $200,000, Flightline has amassed a book of mares as deep as any in recent memory for a first-season sire. We sat down with Lane's End Bloodstock's David Ingordo to hear about just 10 of those famous mares--a tough number to narrow down in a book so full of riches. "We've got a ton of great support for the horse, from Eclipse Award-winning owner-breeders to successful commercial breeders," said Ingordo. "We went out and bought...

Flightline not only garnered the Older Dirt Male Eclipse Award, but his impressive performances throughout 2022 earned him the right at this coveted prize—Horse of the Year. FLIGHTLINE We may never see another one quite like him again. Crowned as Longines World's Best Racehorse in London last week, Flightline, to absolutely no one's surprise, added Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male honors at Thursday evening's Eclipse Awards. The unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' ran to his unworldly reputation and then some by concluding his six-for-six career with a...

The 52nd annual Eclipse Awards will air live on FanDuel TV and Racetrack Television Network (RTN) Thursday from The Breakers Palm Beach in Florida. The Keeneland red-carpet show will begin at 6:30 p.m. ET, with the ceremony following at 7:30 p.m. ET. The evening will culminate with the announcement of the 2022 Horse of the Year. The ceremony will also be streamed live on multiple outlets including: NTRA.com, americasbestracing.net, bloodhorse.com, equibase.com, and NTRA's Youtube channel.