Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. set a single-season record for mount earnings in 2025 as part of a long list of accomplishments the rider amassed in pursuit of his sixth Eclipse Award as North America’s outstanding jockey.

Ortiz also led all his peers in wins with 351 from 1,621 mounts. In addition, he ranked second in graded stakes victories with 36 – winning a minimum of one such race every month in 2025. Ortiz also won three sprint championship races during the Breeders’ Cup and took down riding titles at Saratoga, Churchill Downs, and Keeneland.

One month before the Breeders’ Cup, trainer Bob Baffert knew that Splendora could handle the bright lights.

By convincing her connections that she was ready, Baffert was offering a bold vote of confidence for a 4-year-old filly who had never won in graded stakes company. But with a Hall of Fame trainer in her corner, it was only so surprising when she hustled forward from fifth under jockey Flavien Prat and surged past stablemate Hope Road to win the Grade 1 PNC Bank Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint by 4 3/4 lengths.

WinStar Farm, one of the most prolific breeding and stallion operations in Kentucky, was led on the track in 2025 by a multi-generation homebred who showed off the strength of the program’s bloodlines and stallion roster. The outfit, which owns three prior Eclipse Awards – as outstanding owner in 2010 and outstanding breeder in 2016 and 2020 – is again a finalist for outstanding breeder for these accomplishments.

Don Alberto Corp., which already had a good deal of success at its base in Chile, purchased its U.S. farm in 2013. In less than a dozen years, the international outfit, headed by principals Liliana Solari and her son Carlos Heller, has done what a number of solely U.S.-based operations have sought to do for generations. The farm bred its first American classic winner in 2023 and in 2025 struck with its second, Eclipse Award finalist Journalism.

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 for the fifth consecutive year after breakthrough accomplishments.

Shisospicy was red-hot in 2025. The front-running gray won four stakes and made history by becoming the first 3-year-old filly to win the Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. Her gate-to-wire win produced the biggest margin in the 18-year history of the race.

The 2 1/2-length win capped an ambitious campaign by Shisospicy, an Eclipse Award finalist as champion 3-year-old filly, female sprinter, and female turf horse.

Sovereignty ruled the 3-year-old division in 2025.

A Godolphin homebred son of Into Mischief trained by Bill Mott, Sovereignty won five graded stakes in 2025, including the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve, the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, and the DraftKings Travers Stakes – all Grade 1 races run at 1 1/4 miles. Those wins, coupled with victories in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and Grade 2 Jim Dandy, not only make him the favorite to be voted champion 3-year-old male but make him a top contender for Horse of the Year.

From the time the Breeders’ Cup was first run in 1984 through 2024, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner has earned her divisional title 37 times. Super Corredora, who went from a maiden to the 2025 NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner in less than a month, is now a candidate to join that list as an Eclipse finalist.

Before she launched her 3-year-old campaign in 2025, Good Cheer already was famous. After all, she won all four starts in 2024 and was an Eclipse Award finalist for champion 2-year-old filly. The award went to Good Cheer’s 4-for-4 stablemate Immersive.

Roles reversed in 2025. Good Cheer rose to the head of the class for trainer Brad Cox and owner-breeder Godolphin. Following a 2025 campaign highlighted by a decisive victory in the Grade 1 Longines Kentucky Oaks, Good Cheer is an Eclipse finalist again, this time for champion 3-year-old filly.

A promising maiden filly at the start of the season, Nitrogen rose to the head of her class in 2025 by building an exceptional multi-surface résumé worthy of Eclipse Award consideration as the nation’s outstanding 3-year-old filly.