Led by multiple Grade 1 winners Flightline, Malathaat, Goodnight Olive, and a bevy of European-based runners who fired a singular sensational shot at the Breeders’ Cup in November, the finalists for the Eclipse Awards in 11 equine and five human categories were announced Saturday. Flightline, who capped a 3-for-3 campaign with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, is the clear favorite in the older dirt male category. Joining him as finalists in that category are Life Is Good, a three-time Grade 1 winner, and Olympiad, who won five graded stakes and finished second in the Classic. Flightline also is considered the favorite to be crowned Horse of the Year when all the Eclipse Awards – honoring excellence in Thoroughbred racing – are announced at a ceremony at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla., on Jan. 26. The finalists for Horse of the Year will be revealed the night of the ceremony. Three Eclipse finalists were announced in 16 categories on Saturday. The winners will be the individuals with the most first-place votes. Voting closed Tuesday. The Eclipse Awards are voted upon by the NTRA, represented by member racetrack racing officials and Equibase field personnel, the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters Association, and Daily Racing Form. Flightline was one of 13 Breeders’ Cup race winners on Nov. 4-5 at Keeneland who were recognized as a top-three vote-getter in their division. Two Breeders’ Cup winners – Goodnight Olive (Filly and Mare Sprint) and Modern Games (Mile) – are finalists in two divisions. :: Full list of 2022 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories Goodnight Olive, who is expected to be crowned female sprint champion, is a finalist in the older dirt female division along with BC Distaff winner Malathaat and multiple Grade 1 winner Clairiere. Blue Stripe, a Grade 1 winner who was beaten a nose by Malathaat in the Distaff, did not make the cut. Joining Goodnight Olive as finalists in the female sprint division were Caravel, winner of the BC Turf Sprint, and Echo Zulu, the 2021 champion 2-year-old filly who was second in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint. Modern Games, who won the BC Mile and the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile in his only two North American starts, was a finalist for the Eclipse Award in the 3-year-old male division and turf male division. In the 3-year-old division, Modern Games is a finalist along with three-time Grade 1 winner Taiba and Epicenter, who won the Grade 1 Travers and three Grade 2 stakes and was second in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. Cyberknife, a two-time Grade 1 winner, did not make the final three. In the turf male division, Modern Games joins fellow Godolphin-owned runners Rebel’s Romance, whose lone start in North America was a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, and Nations Pride, a two-time North American graded stakes winner against 3-year-olds. Two-time North American Grade 1 winners Count Again, Casa Creed, and Santin did not make the final three. That Godolphin had all three finalists in the turf male division was an example of the dominance the operation – headed by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum – displayed in 2022. Overall, Godolphin had 10 individual horses win 13 Grade 1 stakes, including four Breeders’ Cup races. Naturally, Godolphin is a finalist to win a third straight owner’s award. Godolphin is joined in that category by Peter Brant and Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables. Godolphin, which bred all 10 of those Grade 1 winners, is a finalist in the breeder category along with Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings and Summer Wind Equine. Summer Wind, the racing and breeding operation of Jane Lyon, was the breeder and part-owner of Flightline. Neither her fellow owners of the horse – Hronis Racing, Sienna Farm, Woodford Racing, and West Point Thoroughbreds – nor trainer John Sadler were recognized as Eclipse finalists. The finalists for trainer are Chad Brown, who won 18 Grade 1 stakes and led all trainers in graded stakes wins and purse-money won; Todd Pletcher, who won 17 Grade 1 stakes, was second in graded stakes wins and purse-money won but who is likely to have three divisional champions; and Steve Asmussen, who led North America in races won and was third in purse-money won. Bill Mott, who won nine Grade 1 stakes, including two Breeders’ Cup races, and Charlie Appleby, a six-time Grade 1 winner who won three Breeders’ Cup races, did not make the final three. :: DRF Bets players have exclusive access to FREE DRF Past Performances - Classic or Formulator! Join today.  Pletcher’s three likely divisional champions are Forte (2-year-old male), Nest (3-year-old female), and Malathaat (older female). Forte, a three-time Grade 1 winner, is a finalist with Cave Rock and Victoria Road. Nest is a finalist along with Secret Oath and Tuesday, who, like Victoria Road, won a Breeders’ Cup race in their lone North American start. In addition to Goodnight Olive, in the female sprinter category, Brown trained two of the three finalists in the female turf category – Regal Glory and In Italian. They are joined as a finalist by War Like Goddess. Elite Power, who beat Jackie’s Warrior in the BC Sprint, and his Mott-trained stablemate Cody’s Wish, who beat Jackie’s Warrior in the Grade 1 Forego, are finalists in the sprint category along with defending sprint champion Jackie’s Warrior, who won two Grade 1 stakes earlier in the year. Wonder Wheel and Leave No Trace, the 1-2 finishers from the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, along with Meditate, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner, are the finalists in the 2-year-old filly division. Down Royal, Hewick, and Snap Decision are the finalists in the steeplechase category. Irad Ortiz Jr., a three-time Eclipse Award-winning rider who set a one-year record in purse money won with $37 million, is a finalist in the jockey category along with reigning Eclipse winner Joel Rosario and Flavien Prat, the jockey of Flightline. Jerion Barbosa, Vicente Del-Cid, and Jose Gomez are the finalists in the apprentice jockey category. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.