When Optimus Prime arrived at Richard Hendriks’s stable last summer, the trainer saw the gelding for the first time. Hendriks and owner George Mahoney purchased Optimus Prime on the advice of Irish jockey Noel Fehily, who had ridden Optimus Prime to three consecutive wins fall 2017 and in January.

Hendriks and Mahoney, who races as Rosbrian Farm, were looking for a prospect for the late-season Grade 1 races in the United States. They found more than a suitable candidate in Optimus Prime.

With a purse of $450,000, the Grade 1 Grand National at Far Hills was the nation’s richest hurdle race in 2018. Appropriately, the popular event in the New Jersey countryside on Oct. 20 drew an international field and was a showcase for the Irish runner Jury Duty.

Sent off as the 6-5 favorite, Jury Duty won the Grand National at 2 5/8 miles by 3 1/4 lengths over Tornado Watch in his only American start of the year. The win was enough to earn Jury Duty a spot as a finalist for an Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding steeplechaser of 2018.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – For most riders, their biggest decision is whether to go inside or outside. For apprentice jockey Reylu Gutierrez, his biggest decision may be which career path to choose.

For now, this jockey gig is working out nicely for Gutierrez, whose 109 victories in 2018 have made him a finalist for an Eclipse Award as North America’s champion apprentice jockey. If, however, success proves fleeting, Gutierrez has a backup plan: to become a physical therapist.

Barbara D. Livingston, the staff photographer for Daily Racing Form, has been selected for her record fourth Eclipse Award for photography, according to the Eclipse Award administrators, which announced all six media winners on Friday.

For more than three decades, the Triple Crown had seemingly become unreachable. After Affirmed became the third horse in the 1970s to win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont, there were 13 horses who won the first two legs but couldn’t finish off the Belmont. They lost narrowly like Real Quiet and Smarty Jones, ugly like Big Brown and War Emblem, and in the case of I’ll Have Another, couldn’t even answer the bell.

Justify should be Horse of the Year.

Accelerate should be Horse of the Year.

Justify should be Horse of the Year because since 1936 no Triple Crown winner has ever not been Horse of the Year.

Accelerate should be Horse of the Year because since 1950 (Noor was robbed!) no older horse with a similarly stellar record has ever not been Horse of the Year.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – On a night that celebrated the best achievements in racing on the track, it was the reflection on life-changing events off the track that provided the most poignant moments at the 47th annual Eclipse Awards dinner at Gulfstream Park on Thursday.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The wave of support for Gun Runner has reached from sea to shining sea. An award he secured at Del Mar in the Breeders’ Cup Classic more than two months ago was officially made his on Thursday night at Gulfstream Park, when Gun Runner was announced as the Horse of the Year for 2017 at the 47th annual Eclipse Awards dinner.

Gun Runner also was named champion older dirt male, downing Arrogate – the only horse to finish in front of him in 2017 – in both categories.

Well, at least it will sound different.

Nick Luck and his spotless elocution will be at the helm of the 47th Eclipse Awards dinner at Gulfstream Park on Thursday evening, when the two-legged representatives of the industry enjoy their annual orgy of back-patting while the real stars of the show languish in the barns.

Luck will be the first non-American (as opposed to un-American) Eclipse emcee in the history of the event, unless you count Kenny Mayne, who was beamed here from another planet and turned his hosting of the awards into a edgy exercise in abstract expression.

The administrators of the Eclipse Awards have voted to issue a Special Eclipse Award this year to the people who responded to two disasters affecting the racing community in 2017 – the hurricane in September that put more than 800 horses at risk in Puerto Rico, and the wildfire in December that killed 46 horses at San Luis Rey Downs training center.