The finalists for the 2024 Eclipse Awards were announced on Sunday, except for the identities of the Horse of the Year candidates. Champions in all the equine and human categories will be honored during a Jan. 23 gala at The Breakers Palm Beach.
Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) star Thorpedo Anna, a lock for the title in her own three-year-old filly division, is expected to be the leading contender for Horse of the Year. Her chief opposition for the golden statuette likely comes from within the ranks of the three-year-old males, led by divisional award finalists Sierra Leone and Fierceness, who ran one-two in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).
All three met in the Travers (G1) at Saratoga, where Fierceness just staved off the closing Thorpedo Anna by a head, and Sierra Leone was third. Their battle for year-end honors could be viewed as a virtual renewal of rivalry.
So dominant was Thorpedo Anna among sophomore fillies that no other dirt performers in her demographic garnered enough votes to become finalists. Instead, voters reached for a pair of turf fillies, Cinderella’s Dream and She Feels Pretty, as her understudies. Both of them are also finalists in the turf female division.
Thorpedo Anna’s trainer, Kenny McPeek, and breeder, Judy Hicks, are likewise finalists in their respective categories. So are Sierra Leone’s trainer, Chad Brown, and jockey, Flavien Prat.
The Eclipse electorate comprises members of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, and Daily Racing Form. A total of 87% (208 of 240 eligible voters) cast ballots for their top three choices in each category. While finalists were tabulated by points on a 10-5-1 scale for the top three, only first-place votes decide the Eclipse Award winners.
The awards take their name from the great 18th-century racehorse Eclipse, unbeaten on the British turf and one of the essential foundation sires of the Thoroughbred.
2024 Eclipse Awards finalists, in alphabetical order by division:
Two-year-old male: Chancer McPatrick, Citizen Bull, Gaming
Two-year-old female: Good Cheer, Immersive, Lake Victoria
Three-year-old male: Dornoch, Fierceness, Sierra Leone
Three-year-old female: Cinderella’s Dream, She Feels Pretty, Thorpedo Anna
Older dirt male: Full Serrano, National Treasure, Straight No Chaser
Older dirt female: Adare Manor, Idiomatic, Raging Sea
Male sprinter: Cogburn, Straight No Chaser, The Chosen Vron
Female sprinter: Society, Soul of an Angel, Ways and Means
Turf male: Carl Spackler, Johannes, Rebel’s Romance
Turf female: Cinderella’s Dream, Moira, She Feels Pretty
Steeplechaser: Carloun, L’Imperator, Snap Decision
Owner: Godolphin, Juddmonte, Klaravich Stables
Breeder: Calumet Farm, Godolphin, Judy Hicks
Trainer: Chad Brown, Brad Cox, Kenny McPeek
Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione, Irad Ortiz Jr., Flavien Prat
Apprentice jockey: Erik Asmussen, Gabriel Maldonado, J.G. Torrealba
In addition, Mike Gillum will receive the Eclipse Award for Horseplayer of the Year, by virtue of winning the NTRA National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) in Las Vegas last March, and winners of the various media Eclipse Awards will also be honored.
