2018 Eclipse Awards: Optimus Prime

When Optimus Prime arrived at Richard Hendriks’s stable last summer, the trainer saw the gelding for the first time. Hendriks and owner George Mahoney purchased Optimus Prime on the advice of Irish jockey Noel Fehily, who had ridden Optimus Prime to three consecutive wins fall 2017 and in January.

Hendriks and Mahoney, who races as Rosbrian Farm, were looking for a prospect for the late-season Grade 1 races in the United States. They found more than a suitable candidate in Optimus Prime.

By the end of October, Optimus Prime had won 2 of 3 starts in the United States, with both wins in graded stakes, and had become a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding steeplechaser of 2018.

Optimus Prime won at one of the most prestigious jump meetings in the United States – Saratoga in August – and later at Great Meadow in Virginia in October. In between, Optimus Prime was third to Zanjabeel in the Grade 1 Lonesome Glory Hurdle at Belmont Park.

Optimus Prime had a six-race campaign in 2018. Trained in the first half of the year in England by rising star Dan Skelton, Optimus Prime won his first start of 2018 in a novice steeplechase at Leicester Racecourse in January, his third consecutive victory. Three months later, Optimus Prime was a well-beaten second to 2-5 Footpad in a novice chase at the Punchestown Festival in Ireland.

In his final start in Europe, Optimus Prime was fourth in the $135,400 Swinton Handicap Hurdle in May at Haydock Park, one of England’s top hurdle races. Shortly after that start, Hendriks and Rosbrian Farm bought Optimus Prime.

“We bought him sight unseen,” Hendriks said in late summer. “We watched the video. I met with George. He said, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘We need this horse. He’s a good horse.’ ”

They saw their hopes materialize when Optimus Prime won his American debut in the Grade 1 New York Turf Writers Cup at 2 3/8 miles on Aug. 23 at Saratoga. Ridden by Ross Geraghty in his 100th career win in the United States, Optimus Prime closed from fifth in a field of eight to win by 1 1/4 lengths at 7-1.

“The future is bright for him,” Geraghty said that day. “He’s the real deal, that horse.”

:: 2018 Eclipse Finalists: Profiles and photos for all categories

Optimus Prime was the 9-5 second choice in the Grade 1 Lonesome Glory Handicap at 2 1/2 miles on Sept. 20 at Belmont Park. He encountered trouble in early stretch and finished third behind stablemate Zanjabeel and Hinterland.

A 6-year-old in 2018, Optimus Prime was favored in the Grade 2 Zeke Ferguson Memorial Handicap Hurdle at 2 1/8 miles on Oct. 27 at Great Meadow. He ran as expected for an even-money favorite, winning by 18 lengths, for his ninth win in 31 starts.