Sovereignty, the dual-classic winner, Thorpedo Anna, the 2024 Horse of the Year, and 12 of the 14 winners of Breeders’ Cup races were among those announced Sunday as finalists for Eclipse Awards, which honor the 2025 champions of Thoroughbred racing. Three finalists for Eclipse Awards in 11 equine and five human categories were announced Sunday. The award winners will be announced and honored Jan. 22 at a black-tie ceremony held at The Breakers Palm Beach, a luxury resort in Palm Beach, Fla. The Horse of the Year finalists will be announced during the course of the ceremony, with the winner being crowned at night’s end. Sovereignty, the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers Stakes winner, is considered the front-runner for the award though it is not clear-cut who will join him as finalists for that honor. The Eclipse Awards are voted on by members of Daily Racing Form, the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters Association, and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, which is comprised of member racetrack racing officials and Equibase field personnel. Out of 240 eligible voters, 221 ballots were returned, according to the NTRA. Finalists were determined based on the top three vote-getters in each division. Horses accrue points on a 10-5-1 basis for a first-, second-, or third-place vote. However, champions are determined based solely on first-place votes. The only requirement for a horse to be eligible to receive votes is that he or she makes at least one start in North America. In a year when many divisions lacked a true standout or depth, the results of the Breeders’ Cup played a major role for voters when selecting finalists. In the older dirt male division, Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Forever Young, who made one start in North America, is a finalist along with Classic runner-up Sierra Leone, whose lone victory in 2025 came in the Grade 1 Whitney, and Nysos, a four-time graded stakes winner who won the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Mindframe, despite winning two Grade 1 stakes including victories over Nysos in the seven-furlong Churchill Downs Stakes and Sierra Leone in the nine-furlong Stephen Foster, was not a finalist for older dirt male. Mindframe also won the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile, but he finished fifth in the BC Classic one race after losing his rider at the start of the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup. Nysos, whose lone sprint victory came against three opponents in the Grade 3 Triple Bend, also earned a finalist spot in the male sprint division. He is joined in that category by Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Bentornato, who made just two starts in 2025, and Book’em Danno, a three-time graded stakes winner who did not run in the Breeders’ Cup. :: Full list of 2025 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories Sovereignty (3-year-old male), Thorpedo Anna (older dirt female), Deterministic (male turf), and Good Cheer (3-year-old filly) joined Book’em Danno as horses who did not run in the Breeders’ Cup but were chosen as finalists in their divisions. Sovereignty is a finalist in the 3-year-old male division along with Journalism, a three-time Grade 1 winner including the Preakness, and Baeza, the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby winner. Journalism and Baeza finished second and third behind Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. Thorpedo Anna, the 2024 Horse of the Year and 3-year-old filly champion, won two Grade 1 stakes and two other graded stakes before being retired following her fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Spinster. She is a finalist in the older dirt female division with Scylla, whose lone 2025 victory came in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, and Splendora, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner. Not selected in that division was Cavalieri, who went 3 for 3 in 2025 including a victory in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile. Splendora, whose lone graded victory in 2025 was the BC Filly and Mare Sprint, also is a finalist for female sprinter. She is joined in that category by Shisospicy, who beat older males in the BC Turf Sprint, and Kopion, who posted impressive early season victories in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff and Grade 2 Santa Monica. Ag Bullet, who beat males in the Grade 1 Jaipur at Saratoga and who was second to Shisospicy in the BC Turf Sprint, did not make the cut. Shisospicy, a four-time stakes-winning turf sprinter, earned finalist status in two other divisions. She is a finalist in the 3-year-old filly division along with Nitrogen, a multiple graded stakes winner on two surfaces, and Good Cheer, the Kentucky Oaks winner. Not selected in this division – nor the female turf division – was Fionn, a four-time graded stakes winner who beat Nitrogen in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks. Shisospicy also is a finalist in the female turf division along with She Feels Pretty, a two-time Grade 1 winner and runner-up to Gezora, the other finalist, in the BC Filly and Mare Turf. Gezora’s Breeders’ Cup victory as a 3-year-old was her lone start in North America. Ethical Diamond’s lone U.S. start, an upset victory in the BC Turf, was not enough to make him a finalist in the male turf division. Rebel’s Romance, last year’s male turf champion and runner-up to Ethical Diamond in the BC Turf was a finalist along with his Godolphin-owned stablemate Notable Speech, who won two Grade 1 stakes in North America including the BC Mile. Deterministic, a two-time Grade 1 winner in 2025, is the third finalist. Not selected as a finalist in this division were two-time Grade 1 winner Spirit of St Louis or Formidable Man, a three-time graded stakes winner and runner-up in the BC Mile. Ted Noffey, a three-time Grade 1 winner including a victory in the BC Juvenile, heads the list of finalists in the 2-year-old male division. He is joined by Grade 1 winner and BC Juvenile third-place finisher Brant, and BC Juvenile Turf winner Gstaad. Super Corredora, the BC Juvenile Fillies winner, Cy Fair, who twice beat males including in the BC Juvenile Turf Sprint, and Explora, a Grade 2 winner who finished second in two Grade 1s, including the BC Juvenile Fillies, are the finalists in the 2-year-old filly division. Balantina, the European-based upset winner of the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, was not selected in this category. Cool Jet, Swore, and Zanahiyr – each a Grade 1 winner – are the finalists in the steeplechase division. Chad Brown (5), Brad Cox (2), and Bill Mott (4) have combined to win 11 Eclipse Awards as outstanding trainer. One of them will add to their total for 2025. Cox led all trainers in purse-money won ($30.2 million) and stakes wins (59) and was third in overall victories (277) and graded wins (26). He has one Eclipse finalist in Good Cheer. Brown tied Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher – neither of whom made the cut – with 10 Grade 1 stakes wins. Brown, who has one Eclipse finalist (Sierra Leone), finished second in graded wins and was third in stakes wins and earnings. Mott is a finalist based on his magnificent handling of Sovereignty, who went 5 for 6 in 2025. Mott also won with his lone Breeders’ Cup starter, Scylla. Baffert led all trainers in graded stakes wins (35), had 10 individual Grade 1 winners, won two Breeders’ Cup races, and has four Eclipse finalists but is not a finalist himself. Pletcher, who won 10 Grade 1 stakes and should have at least one champion (Ted Noffey), also is not a finalist. Pletcher had two multiple Grade 1 winners – Mindframe and the 2-year-old filly Tommy Jo – who were not finalists. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum’s Godolphin operation is looking to sweep the owner and breeder categories for a fifth straight year. Godolphin, for the fifth consecutive year, set a single-year record for purse earnings with $22,395,556, eclipsing the $20.2 million mark it achieved in 2024. Led by Sovereignty, Godolphin campaigned 13 North American graded stakes winners in 2025. Other finalists in the owner category are Klaravich Stables and Spendthrift Farm. Joining Godolphin as finalist for champion breeder are Don Alberto Corp. and WinStar Farm. Irad Ortiz Jr., who led all riders in wins and purse-money won, Flavien Prat, who led all riders in wins in graded stakes, Grade 1 stakes, and overall stakes, and John Velazquez, who was third in graded stakes wins, are the finalists for champion jockey. Jose Ortiz, third in money won and stakes wins, is not among the finalists. Christopher Elliott, Yedsit Hazlewood, and Pietro Moran are the finalists for apprentice jockey. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.