Horse racing’s gold standard is success in Grade 1 races, and no rider won more of those last year than Mike Smith. From the inaugural Pegasus World Cup with Arrogate in January to the American Oaks with Daddys Lil Darling in December, Smith’s record of 15 such victories has made him an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding jockey of 2017.
Smith, a 52-year-old native of Roswell, N.M., is seeking his third win in the category after taking the Eclipse in 1993 and 1994.
It was a year of firsts for jockey Jose Ortiz, who is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding jockey of 2017.
He led all North American-based riders in mount earnings for the first time, with $27,318,875. Ortiz also won his first classic aboard Tapwrit in the Belmont Stakes. And he and wife Taylor welcomed their first child, Leilani.
Javier Castellano was literally all over the map in 2017.
Castellano is bidding for a fifth consecutive Eclipse Award for outstanding jockey following a year in which he won 37 graded stakes races from coast to coast, led by the Preakness with Cloud Computing and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Rushing Fall.
Barbara D. Livingston, the chief photographer for Daily Racing Form, has been named the Eclipse Award winner for audio/multimedia for a tribute to the champion racehorse Man o’ War that was posted on DRF.com on March 24, the administrators of the awards announced Wednesday.
Luis Ocasio, who was named the leading apprentice rider in North America at the Eclipse Awards dinner at Gulfstream Park last Saturday, is the third Mid-Atlantic rider in the last five years to win the award. He follows in the footsteps of Victor Carrasco, a top rider in Maryland who won in 2013, and Jose Montano, the leading rider at Charles Town each of the past five years who won in 2012.
As a bright chestnut with white points, City Zip is the sort of horse who catches the eye. But when it comes to his accomplishments in the breeding shed, he’s been somewhat overlooked despite a good deal of success.
At first glance, the Eclipse Awards ceremonies held at Gulfstream Park last Saturday night were a very traditional, by-the-numbers replay of dinners gone by. There was the gracious, personable host juggling introductions with a handful of thin jokes. There was the collection of video highlights, many of them flashing past with daunting speed. And there were the acceptance speeches, dizzy in their variety, from the raucously joyful to cool and classy, capped by an off-the-cuff ramble that channeled the spirits of both Don Rickles and Professor Irwin Corey.
Only a handful of representatives for Kenny and Lisa Troutt’s WinStar Farm could get up on the stage to accept the operation’s Eclipse Award as outstanding breeder last Saturday night at Gulfstream Park. However, farm president and chief executive Elliott Walden noted that there were dozens who belonged there.
“Of all the awards presented tonight, I think the breeder is one of the most collaborative efforts,” Walden said. “You have the stallion team, the broodmares, the yearlings, the owners that buy our horses at the sales, the trainers that they give them to.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Sunshine State became the Golden State on Saturday night at the 46th annual Eclipse Awards dinner, as California Chrome made off with the golden statuette as Horse of the Year for the second time and led a parade of California-based connections who won divisional titles.
California Chrome outpolled Arrogate for Horse of the Year, 202 to 40. Songbird received five votes and Highland Reel one.
