Horse of the Year

Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), winner of five Group 1 races in three different jurisdictions in 2023-2024, was named Hong Kong's Horse of the Year during a black-tie ceremony held Friday evening in the Grand Ballroom of the Rosewood Hotel in Hong Kong. The human connections of the champion 4-year-old and two-time champion middle distance horse--owner Peter Lau and trainer Danny Shum--made the G1 W S Cox Plate their early-season objective and the 300,000gns Tattersalls October graduate was a sound fourth in the G1 Turnbull Stakes at Flemington before willing...

Cody's Wish (Curlin) was crowned both 2023 Horse of the Year and Older Dirt Male champion at Thursday night's 53rd annual Eclipse Awards ceremony, and when Kelly Dorman, the father of the late Cody Dorman, accepted the evening's highest honor on behalf of owner/breeder Godolphin, the crowd at The Breakers Palm Beach in Florida met his brief pause to shed a few bittersweet tears with a standing ovation that gave him time to collect his thoughts and let the gravity of the moment sink in. On the track, Cody's Wish...

It was an evening to remember for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's Godolphin team, as the worldwide operation accumulated no fewer than five statuettes over the course of the evening at Thursday's 53rd Annual Eclipse Awards Presented by FanDuel TV, John Deere, Keeneland and The Jockey Club, honoring and recognizing excellence in Thoroughbred racing. And they saved the best for last, as Cody's Wish (Curlin), whose story resonated with nearly every fan of Thoroughbred racing and beyond, was named Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male for...

Cody's Wish (Curlin), whose attachment to 17-year-old Cody Dorman attracted followers from well outside the horse racing world, was crowned Horse of the Year Thursday night at the 53rd annual Eclipse Awards Ceremony at The Breakers Palm Beach in Florida. Cody's Wish scored an emotional second win in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile with a gritty display at Santa Anita in November and the victory was made even more poignant when Dorman, who suffered from a rare genetic disorder and after whom the colt was named, died the following...

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...

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...