Winners of the 2014 Eclipse Awards, selected by voters from Daily Racing Form, the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association were announced on Saturday 17 January at the 44th Annual Eclipse Awards dinner at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida.
Horse of the Year:
California Chrome
California Chrome proved as popular with Eclipse Award voters as he was with the general public, earning titles as both Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male at the 44th annual Eclipse Awards dinner Saturday night at Gulfstream Park. View Full Profile »
Voting: California Chrome, 143; Main Sequence, 53; Bayern, 36; Shared Belief, 12; Untapable, 11; Wise Dan, 6; Adelaide (IRE), 1; Take Charge Brandi, 1. Voter Abstentions, 2.
3-year-old male:
California Chrome
On April 1, 2009, in an $8,000 claiming race going one mile at Golden Gate Fields, the 3-year-old filly Love the Chase finished last in a field of eight, beaten more than 13 lengths at odds of 28-1. It was the final start of a career that saw the daughter of Not For Love win once in six starts, for total earnings of $7,020. View Full Profile »
Voting: California Chrome 193, Bayern 56, Shared Belief 15, Voter abstentions 1
3-year-old female:
Untapable
Looking back with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, 4-1 was quite possibly the overlay of the year when Eclipse Award finalist Untapable made her 3-year-old debut in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes.View Full Profile »
Voting: Untapable 265
Jockey:
Javier Castellano
Javier Castellano set a high standard in 2013, when he won his first Eclipse Award for outstanding jockey after establishing a North American record for mount earnings in a year. Castellano again managed to reach significant heights in 2014, and because of his accomplishments, he is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding jockey for the fourth time.View Full Profile »
Voting: Javier Castellano 203, John Velazquez 34, Mike Smith 8, Joel Rosario 8, Rosie Napravnik 5, Victor Espinoza 4, Irad Ortiz Jr, 2, Alexis Batista 1
Apprentice jockey:
Drayden Van Dyke
Drayden Van Dyke jumped right into a career in racing following his high school graduation, traveling to Southern California from his home in Arkansas to work for trainer Tom Proctor. His ambitious move has paid dividends, as Van Dyke, 20, is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding apprentice jockey of 2014. View Full Profile »
Voting: Drayden Van Dyke 225, Juan Saez 11, Trevor McCarthy 6, Taylor Rice 6, Voter abstentions 17
2-year-old male:
American Pharoah
As he glanced at the board following the running of the fifth race at Golden Gate Fields on Oct. 19, track announcer Michael Wrona was taken aback by the fact that the debuting 2-year-old he had just called to victory had run six furlongs in 1:09.53. View Full Profile »
Voting: American Pharoah, 126; Texas Red, 111; Hootenanny, 16; Carpe Diem, 7; Dortmund, 3; Ocho Ocho Ocho, 2.
2-year-old female:
Take Charge Brandi
She danced almost every dance at six different racetracks from coast to coast. She was very much the embodiment of the philosophy that trainer D. Wayne Lukas has demonstrated for four decades – that racehorses are meant to race. And the combination of her innate ability and Lukas’s faith in her enabled Take Charge Brandi to mount a late-season charge that made her the heavy favorite to win an Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old filly. View Full Profile »
Voting: Take Charge Brandi, 236; Lady Eli, 23; Condo Commando, 3; Sunset Glow, 3
Trainer:
Todd Pletcher
In what has become a yearly tradition, Todd Pletcher topped all North American trainers in three key categories in 2014: earnings, stakes wins, and graded stakes victories. View Full Profile »
Voting: Todd Pletcher 100, Chad Brown 64, Art Sherman 45, Bob Baffert 20, Graham Motion 13, Jerry Hollendorfer 11, Steve Asmussen 6, D. Wayne Lukas 3, Karl Broberg 1, Edward Graham 1, Mike Maker 1
Owner:
Ken and Sarah Ramsey
Owners and breeders Ken and Sarah Ramsey are in familiar territory as Eclipse Award finalists. View Full Profile »
Voting: Ken and Sarah Ramsey 179, Midwest Throughbreds 21, Kaleem Shah Inc. 20, Others: Flaxman Holdings Ltd 18, Steven Coburn and Perry Martin 6, Maggie Moss 2, John Oxley 1, Robert Evans 1, voter abstentions 5
Older male:
Main Sequence
When a horse loses a race and the loss, which was only a plain, simple, happens-every-race kind of defeat, is news in itself, we are talking about a horse of real fame and accomplishment. We’re talking about a horse like Wise Dan. And yes, Wise Dan lost a race. On Oct. 5, he finished second in the Shadwell Turf Mile, a misnomer for a race that had been rained off grass. Wise Dan, wide on both turns, chased Silver Max all the way around Keeneland’s Polytrack and never caught him. For the first time since a narrow defeat June 16, 2012, in the Stephen Foster Handicap, Wise Dan returned to his stall after a race without first stopping to get his picture taken. It was news. And it opened a vein of skepticism that was mined for the three weeks between the Shadwell and the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
Voting: Main Sequence 127, Palace Malice 103, Wise Dan 25 Goldencents 9, Game on Dude 1
Older female:
Close Hatches
Expectations were high for Close Hatches in 2014. She entered the year ranked among the leaders of the older female division following a 2013 campaign at age 3 that included Grade 1 wins and a runner-up finish in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. View Full Profile »
Voting: Close Hatches 155, Dayatthespa 64, Don’t Tell Sophia 19, Judy the Beauty 15, Iotapa 7, Beholder 5
Male sprinter:
Work All Week
In the span of three years, 2011-13, the Midwest Thoroughbreds operation of Rich and Karen Papiese won 1,362 races: 418 in 2011, 542 in 2012, and 402 in 2013. View Full Profile »
Voting: Work All Week 184, Goldencents 52, Palace 12, Private Zone 11, Bobby’s Kitten 2, Bayern 1, Big Macher 1, Secret Circle 1, Shared Belief 1
Female sprinter:
Judy the Beauty
One year after coming within a half-length of winning the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, Judy the Beauty followed through in the 2014 renewal to put herself in a prime position to reign atop her division in Eclipse Award balloting. View Full Profile »
Voting: Judy the Beauty 261, Midnight Lucky 1, Living the Life (IRE) 1, La Verdad 1, Awesome Baby 1
Breeder:
Ken and Sarah Ramsey
Owners and breeders Ken and Sarah Ramsey are in familiar territory as Eclipse Award finalists. View Full Profile »
Voting: Ken and Sarah Ramsey 129, Adena Springs 43, Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC 43, Others: Flaxman Holdings Ltd. 29, Steven Coburn and Perry Martin 6, Helen Alexander 3, Winstar Farm 3, Darley 1, Midwest Thoroughbreds Inc. 1, voter abstentions 7
Steeplechase horse:
Demonstrative
North America’s Grade 1 steeplechase schedule includes just six races. They range from 2 1/16 miles to 3 miles, May to November, Tennessee to New York, flat/fast racetracks to hilly/taxing racecourses. Demonstrative made all six – putting up three wins, a second (by a nose), a third, and a sixth. The three Grade 1 wins led all 2014 steeplechasers. The $362,500 in earnings, the second-highest total for a season in history, did as well. View Full Profile »
Voting: Demonstrative 206, Divine Fortune 12, Decoy Daddy (IRE) 5, Makari 2, Voter abstentions 40
Male turf:
Main Sequence
The sharp bend into the homestretch on the tight Monmouth Park turf course is no place for a horse to hit peak stride while racing wide. What usually happens is this: The horse becomes unbalanced, loses momentum, and lacks time to recover before the finish wire pops up on a relatively short straightaway. View Full Profile »
Voting: Main Sequence 243, Wise Dan 18, California Chrome 2, Karakontie (JPN) 1, Adelaide (AUS) 1
Female turf:
Dayatthespa
The New York-bred mare Dayatthespa long ago outgrew her roots. There were clues from the beginning that it could happen. View Full Profile »
Voting: Dayatthespa 260, Crown Queen 2, Coffee Clique 1, Room Service 1, voter abstentions 1
Handicapper:
Jose Arias
As a part of the Eclipse Awards festivities and to salute horseplayers throughout North America, Jose Arias, of Bell Gardens, Calif., will be recognized as the winner of the $750,000 first-place prize, an Eclipse Award, and the title of 2014 DRF/NTRA Handicapper of the Year for capturing the 15th annual Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship last January at Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. View Full Profile »
A Special Eclipse Award of Merit was presented to Tom Durkin, and California Chrome’s win in the Kentucky Derby was acknowledged as the NTRA Moment of the Year.
Media Eclipse Awards
John Scheinman for The Bloodhorse (feature writing), Joe Clancy of Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred (news writing), Barbara Livingston of DRF(photography), NBC (live television), NBC (television feature), and The Bloodhorse (multi-media).
www.drf.com
