Horse of the Year

All eyes will be on Santa Anita for their opening weekend feature in the GI Awesome Again S. as Bob Baffert trainees Maximum Security (New Year's Day) and Improbable (City Zip) go head to head for the first time since that consequential first Saturday in May last year. The $300,000 Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" contest could mark the emergence of an unusual stablemate rivalry. Over two decades ago, the race's namesake was part of a different rivalry-- one for 1998 Horse of the Year. Awesome Again had gone...

Whether you choose to believe them or not, people always said that she knew where the finish line was. And there was never any denying the intelligence of four-time Eclipse champion and Horse of the Year Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}). She was quirky and a bit high-strung, and she made a hobby out of throwing exercise riders in the mornings. Her dance when she hit the track during warmup, whether it was to toy with her fans or to release adrenaline, and her ability to switch gears as she weaved...

Exultant (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) was named 2019/2020 Horse of the Year in Hong Kong Thursday in a virtual ceremony, as stricter social distancing protocols within the context of a third wave of coronavirus in the region put pay to the scheduled live proceedings. Bred by Ballygallon Stud, Exultant won four of his seven trips to the post during the season, calling on all his class and stamina for victories in the G1 FWD Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2000m) and a successful defence of his title in the G1 Standard Chartered...

Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen surpassed Dale Romans as the winningest trainer in the history of Churchill Downs Friday, sending out Drop Dead Gorgeous (Strong Mandate) to win the opening race on the program. The victory was his 738th at the historic Louisville oval. "If anyone knows American horse racing, they know what Churchill Downs means to the sport," Asmussen said. "This is a very significant honor. I know the people who have been in this spot before, and been here consistently, and for us to have won the most...

Horse of the Year and GI Breeders' Cup Classic heroine Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}-Vertigineux, by Kris S.) foaled a chestnut filly by Lane's End resident Candy Ride (Arg) Sunday morning at 5:40 a.m. at the Versailles, Kentucky farm, www.Zenyatta.com announced. The three-time Eclipse Champion Older Mare and her latest offspring, her sixth, are both doing well following the delivery. This 148-pound filly is her first foal since the unraced Zellda (Medaglia d'Oro) was foaled in 2017. Her first foal, Cozmic One (Bernardini), and her second, Ziconic (Tapit), failed to win....

Two-time leading sire and 1992 Horse of the Year A.P. Indy (Seattle Slew--Weekend Surprise, by Secretariat) has died at the age of 31. The legendary Lane's End Farm stallion sired 30 Grade I winners, 12 champions, 89 graded winners and 156 stakes winners. "It is with extreme sadness that we today announce the passing of our beloved A.P. Indy, he was 31 years old," a statement from Lane's End Farm read. "A.P. Indy passed away peacefully in his stall at the Lane's End stallion complex, the barn he called home...

Having been nursed back to health over much of calendar year 2018 after being treated for a potentially career-ending case of stringhalt, Bricks and Mortar was an unstoppable force last year and became the first Horse of the Year for trainer Chad Brown Thursday evening. He was also a unanimous winner of the Eclipse Award for older turf male, the third in five years for a Brown trainee (Big Blue Kitten, 2015; Flintshire {GB}, 2016). Underfoot conditions were of no concern to the $200,000 Keeneland September graduate last season, as...

The 49th annual Runhappy Eclipse Awards, presented by Daily Racing Form, Breeders' Cup and The Stronach Group, will air live on TVG, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced Wednesday. Hosted by Acacia Courtney, Britney Eurton, and Gabby Gaudet and highlighted by the announcement of the 2019 Runhappy Horse of the Year, the Eclipse Awards ceremony will be held Thursday, Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. ET in the Sport of Kings Theatre at Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino in Hallandale Beach, Florida. A livestream of the ceremony will be available online...

Officials at the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) announced that the 49th annual Eclipse Award Dinner and the night's highest honor, 2019 Horse of the Year, will be sponsored by Claiborne stallion Runhappy (Super Saver), the 2015 Eclipse Award-winning sprinter. "The Eclipse Awards are the most prestigious awards in North American Thoroughbred racing. I know because we won one for Champion Male Sprinter in 2015," said James McIngvale, who campaigned Runhappy to three Grade I victories, including the Breeders' Cup Sprint. "It was the culmination of an unforgettable year and...