2024 Eclipse Awards: Johannes

Johannes never departed Southern California during a six-start 2024 campaign. He didn’t need to.

Johannes had gone to Kentucky for the Grade 2 American Turf in May 2023, caught a wet course, ran far below his best form, and didn’t start again for the better part of the year. Not ready for the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile in March, Johannes still had available a Grade 3, two local Grade 2s, and a pair of Grade 1 turf races hitting his sweet spot, all between one mile and 1 1/8 miles. Why travel?

Staying home has its advantages, but beating up on California turf competition, as Johannes did throughout the year, does not mean a middle-distance turf horse like he can compete at an international level. And despite winning the Grade 3 American, the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile, the Grade 2 Eddie Read, and the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile, Johannes came into the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile still with something to prove.

:: Full list of 2024 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

He proved it. Johannes did not win the Breeders’ Cup Mile, More Than Looks coming like a comet on his outside with a withering stretch run, but he did finish a strong second, beating out crack English 3-year-old Notable Speech for place, an admirable and validating showing.

Trainer Tim Yakteen, with Johannes unsaddled and headed back to the Del Mar stables and a brief discussion with jockey Umberto Rispoli complete, did not have the expression or bearing of someone pleased with a consolation prize. Yakteen evidently did not view the Breeders’ Cup as a proving ground: He appeared to believe his horse would win. And Johannes took the toughest race of his career well enough that Yakteen brought him back for the Grade 2 San Gabriel on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita, a furlong farther than the Breeders’ Cup Mile. In the San Gabriel, Johannes slipped into the clear and comfortably, professionally dispatched eight rivals.

Johannes, owned and bred by Cuyathy LLC, returns for more racing as a 5-year-old in 2025. This time, his campaign begins in Florida, with the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational. Connections will consider a trip overseas for the Dubai Turf in April. Johannes isn’t staying home this year, but the Breeders’ Cup Mile returns to Del Mar in November, and this time, Johannes will have nothing to prove.

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