Only a courageous runner-up effort behind ‘TDN Rising Star‘ and 3-year-old male Eclipse finalist Fierceness (City of Light) in the GI Travers Stakes this past August stood between Brookdale Racing Inc, Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks and Magdalena Racing’s ‘TDN Rising Star‘ Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) and a perfect season in 2024. But the enormously talented dark bay filly was utterly dominant against her own sex in 2024 and became the first female since Havre de Grace (Saint Liam) in 2011 to take home the coveted Horse of the Year statuette at the conclusion of Thursday’s Eclipse Awards ceremonies at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida.

Bred by Hicks–a meritorious second in the voting for champion breeder–and trained by Ken McPeek, who narrowly missed out on an Eclipse of his own when finishing a close runner-up to Chad Brown (101 first-place votes to 88), the $40,000 Fasig-Tipton October yearling easily scooped the four most important Grade I contests for the sophomore filly set and rounded out a six-for-seven season with a 2 1/2-length defeat of older female Eclipse finalist Raging Sea (Curlin) in the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar Nov. 2.

Thorpedo Anna, the unanimous selection as champion 3-year-old filly, is set to train on at four, with the GI Apple Blossom Handicap a potential jumping-off spot. She is the first American champion for her late sire.

The sophomore colts’ division was expected to come down to a battle between the aformentioned Fierceness, brilliant at his very best in races like the GI Curlin Florida Derby and the Travers, but a no-show in the GI Kentucky Derby; and ‘TDN Rising Star‘ Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), who matched Fierceness’s number of top-level tallies, but was more of a work in progress over the course of the season. The latter, who topped the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale on a bid of $2.3 million, admittedly had the race run to suit in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic Nov. 2 and he put it all together when it counted most, taking the Classic over an extremely game Fierceness, and with it, top 3-year-old honors by a surprisingly lopsided margin (169-34).

There was also little drama in the two juvenile divisions, as the champions each proved best on Breeders’ Cup Friday. Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) became the ninth champion for his all-conquering sire and garnered 204 of the possible 208 first-place votes to become the seventh Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old male trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. It was mostly a one-horse affair in the 2-year-old filly category, as Godolphin’s undefeated Immersive (Nyquist) gave her successful young sire a second winner of the Juvenile Fillies to complete her own championship season. She was denied a unanimous Eclipse by ‘TDN Rising Star’ Lake Victoria (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), very impressive winner of the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf, who received six first-place votes.

Breeders’ Cup Saturday winners swept the Turf and Sprint divisions as well. Though he was making his lone American appearance in 2024, Godolphin’s Rebel’s Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) was deemed to have done enough by virtue of his victory in the Turf to edge GISW and GI Breeders’ Cup Mile runner-up Johannes (Nyquist) by a count of 89 votes to 81 in what was the night’s closest contest. It was a second championship in three years for the globetrotting 6-year-old after winning in 2022 and helped his owner/breeder to a fifth consecutive title as outstanding owner and fourth as champion breeder.

Rebel’s Romance won his second Eclipse Thursday | Horsephotos

Canadian-based Moira (Ghostzapper) was given a peach of a ride by Flavien Prat to win the Filly & Mare Turf and was a clear winner of the female turf Eclipse. After years of knocking on the door, the record-setting Prat–also the rider of Sierra Leone for the bulk of the season–was a richly deserving winner of the Eclipse as outstanding jockey. Erik Asmussen, son of Hall of Fame trainer and two-time Eclipse Award winner Steve Asmussen, was the runaway winner of the Eclipse Award as apprentice jockey.

Though neither amassed a particularly imposing resume in 2024, Straight No Chaser (Speightster) and Soul of an Angel (Atreides) took home the titles in the male and female sprint categories Thursday evening off their upset wins at the Breeders’ Cup. Each could make their respective first starts of 2025 in Riyadh next month: Straight No Chaser in the G2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint and Soul of an Angel in the G1 Saudi Cup.

The older dirt Eclipse Awards were won by horses that were forced to miss championship weekend, but made the most of their opportunities during the season to reign supreme Thursday evening.

National Treasure (Quality Road) kicked off the season in style in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational and, after a gutsy effort when fourth and not beaten far in the Saudi Cup, rebounded to thrash the competition by better than a half-dozen lengths in the GI Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap in June at Saratoga, with Prat at the controls. Though he was just touched off in the inaugural running of the GI California Crown and though a foot issue ruled him out of the GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, his resume over the course of the season could not be denied.

National Treasure winning the Met | Sarah Andrew

Idiomatic (Curlin) played the role of the hunted in 2024, having been crowned champion dirt female of 2023, but she nevertheless managed three wins from five starts, including a romping defense of her title in the GI Spinster Stakes sponsored by her owner. She joins the likes of Bayakoa (Arg), Paseana (Arg), Azeri, Zenyatta, Royal Delta and Beholder as repeat Eclipse winners.

After making the list of finalists for a remarkable fifth straight season, the Phipps-bred Snap Decision (Hard Spun) was finally recognized with the Eclipse Award for champion steeplechase horse on the strength of a victory in the American Grand National.

As previously announced, this publication was proudly represented by a pair of Media Eclipse Award winners. TDN Publisher and CEO Sue Finley took home the Eclipse in the Multimedia category for her piece entitled: “After Saving Two Horses from a Kill Pen, Stewart Aims to do More to End Slaughter.” Columnist Chris McGrath won the Media Eclipse for his piece “Lunching With Legends at Lil’s.”

Eclipse Awards voting is conducted by members of the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB), Daily Racing Form, National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) member racing officials and Equibase field personnel. Vote totals are first-place votes only. A total of 208 of a possible 240 (86.7%) ballots were returned.