Photo:

Eclipse Sportswire – composite

As we get ready to draw the curtains on another memorable year on the racetrack, I cannot help but to look back at the many stars who had their collective days in the sun in 2024.

In a way of celebrating them, I am going to open up a proverbial can of worms and decide upon three very strong candidates for older dirt female champion. Adare Manor, Idiomatic or Raging Sea. Who is most deserving of an Eclipse Award this year? Let’s explore.

I would argue no mare was more brilliant this season than Adare Manor. The accomplished daughter of Uncle Mo was a graded-stakes winner early in her sophomore season, but as a fully mature 5-year-old she became the undisputed Queen of the West Coast.

We saw the Bob Baffert-trained runner at her absolute best in what turned out to be her 18th and final career race. Shuffled back early, she was able to show a new dimension by rallying powerfully down the Del Mar stretch to win the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch going away. Able to overcome a less than ideal trip and easily run down a talented filly like Scylla was impressive.

Not only was it her second Grade 1 win of the season, but it also was her third impressive victory in a row. After a good second-place finish in the Beholder Mile (G1) to start the year, Adare Manor rattled off romping scores in the Apple Blossom (G1) at Oaklawn and the Santa Margarita (G2) at Santa Anita.

Unfortunately, her season was cut short before even bigger tests could be taken. Scratched out of the Pacific Classic (G1) against the males and retired before a chance at the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, she finished off an excellent career going 4: 3-1-0 with $1,095,000 in earnings in her final season of racing.

Perhaps the favorite for an Eclipse Award for older dirt female is the same horse who won it last year. Trained by Brad Cox, Idiomatic never once finished out of the money in 17 career races. Perhaps she was not as dominant this year as last, but it’s hard to argue with her consistency once again.

Wins in the La Troienne (G1) at Churchill Downs and Molly Pitcher (G3) at Monmouth Park were early-season highlights for the daughter of Curlin, but a pair of heartbreaking losses in Grade 1 races at Saratoga prevented it from being another special season. Still, what she showed in defeat in the Ogden Phipps and Personal Ensign were further proof of her overall class.

Left to her own devices in the Spinster (G1) at Keeneland, the big mare won in a laugher in what was supposed to be her prep for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Scratched out of the big one because of a sore knee, she retired having run very well in all five races in 2024. The two she lost were both valiant performances.

Idiomatic admirably backed up her championship season with another very good one. The 5-year-old Curlin mare finished 2004 with a record of 5:3-2-0 and $1,487,350 in the bank. She didn’t get a chance to defend her crown at the Breeders’ Cup but fittingly went out a winner in the Spinster.

Finally, there is Raging Sea. The daughter of Curlin may lack the sizzle of the other two, but with four graded-stakes wins this year, no American older female had a more complete season. Good enough to be third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in her third career start, she put it all together as a 4-year-old.

Beginning in April with a romping win in the Doubledogdare (G3) at Keeneland, she was the only one of the top three to still be around to contest the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. She could not match strides with the soon-to-be horse of the year Thorpedo Anna, but there’s no shame in that. Much the best of the rest, she gets credit for running another good race on the big stage.

A decisive win in the Shuvee (G2) at Saratoga was a prelude to her biggest career win when she reeled in Idiomatic at that same track five weeks later in the Personal Ensign (G1). Idiomatic no doubt was softened by pace pressure, but Raging Sea was the only one to come in what can easily be called the race of the division this year.

The Chad Brown charge bounced back from that important victory to gamely win the Beldame (G2) at Aqueduct before shipping west to be runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Her season stats concluded with a record of 6:4-1-0 and $1,073,850.

Adare Manor, Idiomatic and Raging Sea are three top-class mares who all had very good seasons in 2024. None was able to distance herself from the other two in the race for an Eclipse Award, however. So this one will come down to the voters.

Who is my choice? I’ll go with Raging Sea in a tight, three-horse photo finish because of her overall body of work, but personally I don’t think any answer is wrong.