2014 Eclipse Awards: Crown Queen
Fittingly for a filly with royal bloodlines, Crown Queen was perfect in four starts in 2014, earning a nomination for the Eclipse Award as champion turf female.
Steve AndersenJan 06, 2015
Fittingly for a filly with royal bloodlines, Crown Queen was perfect in four starts in 2014, earning a nomination for the Eclipse Award as champion turf female.
Less meant slightly more during Hawthorne Race Course’s fall-winter meeting that ended Saturday, as a reduction in racing days compared with the previous year was accompanied by an increase in all-sources average daily handle.
Chad Brown didn’t win the most money among North American trainers in 2014, or the most graded stakes races. But on racing’s championship days at the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, Brown won more of those prestigious races than any other trainer.
Angel Cruz ranked among North America’s leading first-year riders in 2014, with 119 wins from 781 starts for mount earnings of $2,586,378. On the strength of such numbers, he is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding apprentice jockey. The recognition is not lost on Cruz, a 19-year-old native of Puerto Rico.
There could not possibly have been many three-race winning streaks in 2014 as enthralling as the one compiled by Artemis Agrotera during a two-month summer period.
Condo Commando’s primary niche in racing history could have been based on being the answer to a trivia question: Who won the last race called by legendary New York Racing Association announcer Tom Durkin?
From Lexington to Baltimore, England to France, and finally Southern California, Hootenanny racked up more frequent-flier miles in 2014 than perhaps any horse based in North America.
Sometimes you look at a horse in competition and wonder: How much of this is pure instinct? Is this creature just running fast because its genes urge it onward? And then you watch Wise Dan and think: Well, this guy, at least, really wants to do it. This horse wants the competition. This horse is not just running fast. This horse is racing.
Winchell Thoroughbreds purchased Tapit for $625,000 as a yearling and later retained an interest in the Grade 1 winner when he retired to stud at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Ky. That investment has paid dividends, as Tapit became North America’s leading sire with a record-shattering 2014 season, fueled by several Winchell colorbearers.
John Velazquez is chasing after his third Eclipse Award as outstanding jockey after a 2014 season in which he led all riders in Grade 1 wins. He collected three in a row Oct. 4 at Keeneland as part of a five-win day marked by Wise Dan’s score in the Shadwell Turf Mile, Carpe Diem’s victory in the Breeders’ Futurity, and Dayatthespa’s score in the First Lady.