Breeders' Cup pinpoints probables for Horse of the Year, Eclipse Awards

ARCADIA, Calif. – The results of the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita left at least three candidates who could lay claim to Horse of the Year honors.

Cody’s Wish, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile; White Abarrio, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic; and Idiomatic, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, all have legitimate arguments for the honor, but all have some flaws as well. An argument also could be made for Up to the Mark, who fell just short in the $4 million Turf but has three Grade 1 victories.

Cody’s Wish has three Grade 1 wins to his credit this year – the Churchill Downs, Metropolitan Handicap, and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile – as well as the Grade 2 Vosburgh. His lone defeat from five starts came in the Grade 1 Whitney when he couldn’t see out the 1 1/8 miles and was beaten 10 1/4 lengths by White Abarrio. Thus, all of his wins have come in races contested up to one mile.

White Abarrio validated his victory in the Whitney on Aug. 5 by winning Saturday’s $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic by one length over Derma Sotogake. Those were his only two stakes wins of the year. He finished eighth in the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park in January and was third to Cody’s Wish in the Met Mile.

Cody’s Wish and White Abarrio also will vie for older dirt male champion honors.

Idiomatic, a 4-year-old filly, won 8 of 9 starts this year, including three Grade 1s – the Personal Ensign, Spinster, and Distaff. Idiomatic also won the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap, the Grade 3 Shawnee, and the listed Latonia Stakes. She won at six different tracks.

:: Get ready for Santa Anita racing with DRF PPs, Clocker Reports, Picks, and more. Shop Now.

Idiomatic’s flaw might be she does not have a win against males on her résumé. In 2010, the year Zenyatta was voted Horse of the Year, Zenyatta went 5 for 6 – the five wins came against females – with a head loss to Blame in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Up to the Mark won the Old Forester Turf Classic at Churchill Downs, the Manhattan at Belmont Park, and the Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland before finishing second, beaten three-quarters of a length, by Auguste Rodin, arguably the top European turf horse.

Besides Horse of the Year and older dirt male, here is a look at the other divisions:

2-year-old male: Fierceness defeated four Grade 1 winners in Friday’s $2 million Juvenile, a race he won by 6 1/4 lengths in a very fast time. The Juvenile winner has won the Eclipse Award 31 times in the previous 39-year-history of the race.

2-year-old female: Just F Y I completed a 3-for-3 season with a neck victory in the $2 million Juvenile Fillies. She also won the Grade 1 Frizette. Thirty-five of the 39 Juvenile Fillies winners have won the Eclipse.

3-year-old male: Despite having to miss the Breeders’ Cup Classic due to a hind foot issue, Arcangelo’s victories in the Belmont Stakes and Travers make him the most accomplished runner in this division. He also won the Grade 2 Peter Pan. Mage won the Kentucky Derby, but nothing else. National Treasure won the Preakness and came within a head of Cody’s Wish in the Dirt Mile. Arabian Knight won the Pacific Classic and was fourth in the Classic.

3-year-old female: Pretty Mischievous won the Kentucky Oaks, Acorn, and was the acknowledged winner of the Test, a résumé that figures to carry her to a championship. Randomized made a late-season push with victories in the Grade 1 Alabama and Grade 2 Beldame. She was beaten a half-length by Idiomatic in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Older dirt female: Idiomatic, the Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner, should be a slam dunk here. She went 8 for 9 with five graded stakes victories, three Grade 1s. Clairiere won two Grade 1s earlier in the year but went 0 for 3 the remainder of the season.

:: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets.

Male sprinter: Elite Power, last year’s champion, looks like a repeat winner after his 1 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s BC Sprint capped a 4-for-5 campaign, his lone loss coming to Gunite in the Grade 1 Forego. Elite Power won the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt, the Grade 2 True North, and Group 3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint.

Female sprinter: Goodnight Olive won the BC Filly and Mare Sprint for a second consecutive year, which added to her victories in the Grade 1 Madison and Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses.

Echo Zulu missed the Breeders’ Cup due to injury. She was 3 for 3 before that with a 2 1/2-length victory over Goodnight Olive in the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga.

Male turf: Up to the Mark fell three-quarters of a length short of the rail-hugging Auguste Rodin in the $4 million BC Turf or else he might have won the race and clinched Horse of the Year as well as champion turf male. Still, his three Grade 1 victories make him the clear choice in this category. Master of The Seas won the Woodbine Mile and BC Mile, sandwiched around a nose defeat to Up to the Mark in the Coolmore Turf Mile.

Female turf: In Italian has two Grade 1 wins and narrow defeats in two other Grade 1s – a nose loss in the Diana and a head defeat in First Lady. She finished fifth to Inspiral in the BC Filly and Mare Turf.

Inspiral has just the one start in North America, but displayed an electric turn of foot.

War Like Goddess beat the boys in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic and filllies and mares in the Grade 3 Bewitch. She has won the Bewitch three years in a row.

Fev Rover won two Grades 1 races – the Beverly D. and E.P. Taylor.

Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr. has won 322 races and with $36.6 million in purse earnings is likely to surpass his earnings record of $37,020,792 from a year ago and potentially win this fifth straight Eclipse Award. His 322 wins are just 24 fewer than his personal best of 346 in 2018.

Oritz holds a 61-52 advantage over Flavien Prat in stakes wins and leads Prat 39-37 in graded wins.

:: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures

Javier Castellano, a four-time Eclipse Award winner, won the Kentucky Derby on Mage and the Belmont and Travers on Arcangelo. He has a total of seven Grade 1 stakes wins.

Trainer: Perhaps the most intriguing category of all. Brad Cox leads all trainers in purse money won ($27,834,725), stakes wins (62), and Grade 1 stakes wins (12) and has one likely champion in Idiomatic.

Chad Bown leads all trainers in graded stakes wins (35), 10 of which are Grade 1s, including two Breeders’ Cup races, and has likely champion sprinter Goodnight Olive as well as potential female turf champion In Italian.

Bill Mott has won 10 Grade 1s, including three Breeders’ Cup races, and could have as many as three champions (Just F Y I, Elite Power, and Cody’s Wish).

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.