Tyler Gaffalione achieved two significant career firsts in 2023 that played a role in him being voted an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding jockey.
Gaffalione won his first Kentucky Oaks in May, when he guided Pretty Mischievous to a neck victory in the filly classic. By year’s end, Gaffalione had compiled $29,980,952 in mount earnings, which represented his highest total since he began riding in 2014.
Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet again showed its quality at the top levels of the sport in 2023, finishing second to fellow finalist Godolphin by both Grade 1 wins and overall graded stakes wins in North America.
Stonestreet bred and raised Goodnight Olive, who is a favorite to repeat as Eclipse Award champion female sprinter. The mare scored a repeat victory in the PNC Bank Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita to line herself up for the honor.
Under the stewardship of Brad Kelley, historic Calumet Farm perennially ranks among the nation’s leading breeders by earnings. That was again the case in 2023 as the farm ranked second to Godolphin by breeder earnings and tied for fourth in the nation by graded stakes wins, with those statistics catching the eye of voters to again earn an Eclipse Award finalist nod.
Calumet-bred runners in 2023 were led by a pair of Grade 1 winners in War Like Goddess and Far Bridge, both by the late turf champion and Calumet stallion English Channel.
Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables enjoyed another consistent year in 2023 to again place the stable among the Eclipse Award finalists for leading owner.
Klarman, 66 and a native of Massachusetts, was known for a long ownership partnership with William Lawrence, with whom he campaigned 2019 Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar. The duo won the Eclipse Award as outstanding owner that season. However, Lawrence was in the process of exiting the business, and Klarman kept on.
Klaravich was second in earnings and graded stakes wins to the massive Godolphin operation in 2023.
The international Juddmonte operation founded in 1980 by the late Prince Khalid bin Abdullah has continued on at a high level following his 2021 death, with family members taking leadership roles within the outfit. The racing stable had a particularly strong season in North America in 2023 and is a finalist for another Eclipse Award in the breeder and owner divisions.
Juddmonte has previously been voted outstanding owner in 1992, 2003, 2016, and 2017, and outstanding breeder in 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2009.
Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum’s international Godolphin operation is yet again a finalist for both the Eclipse Award for outstanding owner and outstanding breeder, looking to sweep both categories for the third year in a row.
Godolphin or its Darley banner – the brand that it stands its stallions under – has won or tied for the outstanding owner award six times, in 2006, 2009, 2012, 2020, 2021, and 2022, and has been honored as outstanding breeder three times, in 2012, 2021, and 2022.
The 2023 jump racing season was typical of recent years – Snap Decision was very much part of the discussion among the game’s best performers.
Major stakes wins in the spring and fall have left Snap Decision among the finalists for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding steeplechaser for a remarkable fourth consecutive year.
Owned by the Bruton Street-US partnership of Mike Hankin, Charlie Fenwick, and Charlie Noell and trained by Jack Fisher, Snap Decision won 2 of 5 starts in 2023, bookending the season with wins in Virginia.
On the final circuit of the Grade 1 Lonesome Glory Hurdle at Aqueduct in September, Merry Maker crossed the last obstacle trailing the field of seven.
The position was not a major concern for jockey Parker Hendriks, who assessed that Merry Maker was in contention with a half-mile remaining.
“My guy just kept grinding to the wire,” Hendriks said.
Merry Maker’s sustained rally resulted in a 15-1 upset win in the most prestigious victory of his career. The $150,000 Lonesome Glory at 2 1/2 miles is New York’s top jump race of the autumn.
A gelding who began the season as a maiden race winner with plenty to prove did that and much more in 2023.
Awakened won the first Grade 1 race of his career at the famous Saratoga meeting in August and ended the season as a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding steeplechaser of the year.
A wildly successful three-continent campaign in 2023 left the young filly Mawj as a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the outstanding turf female as well as champion 3-year-old filly of 2023.
Mawj was only a nose away from a perfect five-race season through the year. In the end, the only runner to beat her was a stablemate also owned and bred by Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing.
