“The Horse of the Yr has to do one thing extraordinary.”
That forceful decree from D. Wayne Lukas after Girl’s Secret dominated from begin to end within the 1986 Breeders’ Cup Distaff rang true then for the coveted Eclipse Award and stays a actuality at the moment.
Six females have been honored as Horse of the Yr because the inception of the Eclipse Awards in 1971. Every was distinctive. Their legacies reside endlessly within the Racing Corridor of Fame.
Thorpedo Anna galloped to the precipice of becoming a member of this choose group of feminine Eclipse Award winners as Horse of the Yr by successful six of seven begins in 2024. The three-year-old filly received 5 Grade 1 races, together with the Longines Kentucky Oaks and the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff. She misplaced as soon as, by a head, to champion Fierceness when difficult males within the 1 ¼-mile Draftkings Travers Stakes.
The Distaff win elevated Thorpedo Anna into the Horse of the Yr dialogue. Two begins in a while Del Mar’s Nov. 2 World Championships card, she turned the logical front-runner when Sierra Leone reeled in Fierceness to win the Longines Basic by 1 ½ lengths.
“To repeat these performances all 12 months, it’s implausible. It’s a pleasure to see her run,” stated coach Patrick Biancone, whose All Alongside turned the primary feminine Eclipse Award winner as Horse of the Yr in 1983. “[Thorpedo Anna] deserves it.”
Ought to Thorpedo Anna be topped 2024 Horse of the Yr Jan. 23, 2025, at The Breakers Palm Seashore in Florida, she’s going to be a part of All Alongside, Girl’s Secret (1986), Azeri (2002), Rachel Alexandra (2009), Zenyatta (2010), and Havre de Grace (2011) on this unique membership.
All Alongside proved a trendsetter in additional methods than one. Not solely was she the primary feminine Horse of the Yr, All Alongside additionally was the primary foreign-based winner and the primary to race solely on grass.
All Alongside’s 4 wins in 1983 got here throughout 42 days, beginning Oct. 3 when she defeated 25 horses to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. The Targowice filly had taken her time returning to peak kind after successful a Group 1 in France at 3 and ending second by a neck within the 1982 Japan Cup, so she had one thing left within the tank after the Arc.
Biancone urged to proprietor Daniel Wildenstein that they ship to the U.S. and take a look at for the “Worldwide Basic Sequence” and a shot at a $1 million bonus. All Alongside barnstormed by way of the primary two legs of the collection, successful the Rothmans Worldwide Stakes by two lengths at Woodbine and the Turf Basic by 8 ¾ lengths at Aqueduct.
“It was a loopy, loopy interval, , particularly after she received the second leg over right here, the Turf Basic,” Biancone stated. “She was on ESPN day-after-day and it was the sports activities story of the 12 months on the time.”
All that stood between All Alongside, her connections, and a seven-figure test was the Washington, D.C., Worldwide Nov. 12. Jockey Walter Swinburn urged All Alongside to the entrance on the backstretch and opened up a commanding lead getting into the stretch of a 3 ¼-length win, her fourth Grade 1 in opposition to males in six weeks.
It took 13 years for the primary feminine Horse of the Yr Eclipse Award winner, however racing’s “Iron Girl” ensured the anticipate a second was temporary. Girl’s Secret’s steamrolled by way of a 1986 season that was each a tour de drive – 15-10-3-2 file, $1,871,053 in earnings – and a stark reminder of how a lot the sport has modified in 4 many years.
The grey filly by Secretariat received the Grade 3 El Encino Stakes in January at Santa Anita Park to kick off her 4-year-old season for Lukas and amassed eight Grade 1 wins amongst her 10 graded stakes victories over the subsequent 11 months. She swamped older males together with her pace over the Saratoga slop in a 4 ½-length Whitney Handicap romp and dominated her personal division by 2 ½ lengths in a season-ending drubbing within the Distaff. Profitable proprietor Eugene Klein heaped reward upon his star filly whereas sipping Champagne after the Distaff. “She’s one of the best that ever ran,” he informed BloodHorse. “There isn’t any different Horse of the Yr.”
Sixteen years handed earlier than one other feminine proved as much as Horse of the Yr requirements. Azeri had however a pair of dash victories to her credit score initially of 2002 and had not but competed in a stakes for coach Laura de Seroux. She ran second by a size within the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes Feb. 9 at Santa Anita in her second begin of the season, however jockey Mike Smith discovered quite a bit about her in her first profession defeat after she bobbled initially.
“That’s once I actually knew I used to be on one thing particular,” Smith informed BloodHorse in 2003. “I knew at that time she may beat Grade 1 horses nevertheless she needed to. I didn’t care if she acquired left, broke crooked, hopped, broke in entrance, it didn’t matter.”
Azeri had arrived and subsequently ripped off seven straight victories – 5 Grade 1s and two Grade 2s – by open lengths to provide a magical 4-year-old season for the Allen E. Paulson Dwelling Belief.
The exclamation level got here in a front-running, five-length runaway within the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, however the turning level got here earlier within the 12 months. Fixing her beginning gate points led to Azeri’s breakout and 5 straight front-running wins to conclude her marketing campaign.
“That’s once I realized she was on her technique to turning into unbeatable,” de Seroux informed BloodHorse in 2003. “They had been cooked in the event that they tried to go together with her they usually couldn’t catch her in the event that they left her alone. How are you going to beat that?”
The top of the primary decade of this century marked the beginning of an unforgettable period of nice racemares, highlighted (however definitely not restricted to) three straight Horses of the Yr in Rachel Alexandra, Zenyatta, and Havre de Grace from 2009 to 2011.
Maybe probably the most essential part of Rachel Alexandra’s excellent 8-for-8 Horse of the Yr season in 2009 got here in Might. Homeowners Dolphus Morrison and Mike Lauffer of L and M Companions and coach Hal Wiggins indicated after her 20 ¼-length Kentucky Oaks romp that they’d little curiosity in testing the budding star in opposition to males. Jess Jackson of Stonestreet Stables organized the personal buy of the sensible Medaglia d’Oro filly, transferred her to coach Steve Asmussen, and supplemented her to the Preakness Stakes. The ball was now in Rachel’s courtroom. To say she held serve could be the understatement of a lifetime.
Rachel Alexandra defeated Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Chicken by a size because the 9-5 favourite within the Preakness, crushed fillies by 19 ¼ lengths within the Grade 1 Mom Goose Stakes, and dominated 3-year-old males in a six-length Haskell Invitational Stakes runaway.
“I don’t suppose sufficient might be stated about the truth that not solely did she win a basic within the Preakness, she modified barns and did that,” Asmussen stated.
Rachel Alexandra closed out an unbeaten season with an exciting and decided victory by a head over older males within the Woodward Stakes.
“It’s onerous to outline,” Asmussen stated when requested what made Rachel Alexandra so particular. “It’s straightforward to say simply her capability, however I believe it’s excess of that when it got here to Rachel. She’s simply past perception particular, and virtually magical.”
Few racehorses made as many desires come true as the good Zenyatta, who constructed a voracious fanbase whereas amassing 19 consecutive wins to begin her profession and three straight Eclipse Awards as champion older feminine for house owners Jerry and Ann Moss.
Zenyatta had a aptitude for the dramatic together with her late-rallying model. She was a finalist for Horse of the Yr in 2008 and 2009, each undefeated seasons capped by Breeders’ Cup wins, the latter as the primary and solely feminine to win the Breeders’ Cup Basic. But it surely was her 6-year-old marketing campaign that ended with a heartbreaking defeat to Blame within the 2010 Basic that garnered Zenyatta Horse of the Yr honors after 5 Grade 1 wins and a second in six races.
For Dottie Ingordo-Shirreffs, spouse of Zenyatta’s coach, John Shirreffs, Zenyatta’s legacy extends far past her 19 wins in 20 begins on the racetrack.
“What she did for the game, uniting individuals, bringing individuals to the racetrack, bonding individuals collectively, friendships had been made… and she or he was the impetus for all of it,” she stated, her voice cracking with emotion. “She sort of put the entire sport on her again and carried it alongside together with her for 3, 4 years.”
Certainly, “60 Minutes” spent per week on the barn for a nationwide phase that shined a lightweight on Zenyatta, her racing household, and her followers.
“She had performed a lot for the game, that’s above and past racing. She was a fundraiser, so many charities she helped make cash for, she was simply the whole package deal so to see that be honored by the game was actually beautiful,” Ingordo-Shirreffs stated of the Horse of the Yr recognition. “She was a lot greater than only a racehorse.”
Fox Hill Farms’ Havre de Grace, who accomplished the three-year Horse of the Yr run by these implausible females, had received the center of coach Larry Jones earlier than her banner 12 months started in 2011.
“I stated it earlier than we even raced her this 12 months: I assumed she was one of the best one we ever had, and we’ve had some superb horses,” Jones informed BloodHorse in September 2011.
Havre de Grace’s 5 graded stakes from seven begins in 2011 included the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap, Grade 1 Beldame Invitational Stakes, and Grade 1 Woodward Stakes in opposition to males. Jones described Havre de Grace on the 2011 Eclipse Awards as “the right racehorse.”
Perfection, in fact, is just not a requirement for Horse of the Yr, however as Lukas affirmed … extraordinary is predicted. Racing followers will discover out Jan. 23 if Thorpedo Anna will be a part of All Alongside, Girl’s Secret, Azeri, Rachel Alexandra, Zenyatta, and Havre de Grace on this pantheon of feminine Horse of the Yr winners.
“I believe nice horses,” Asmussen stated, “are like nice individuals, they do it for the way it makes them really feel and we’re simply lucky sufficient to be alongside for the experience.”
