The most consistent Thoroughbred who jumped in 2011, Decoy Daddy made seven starts in classy company, won three times, finished second twice, and topped $124,000 in earnings. He won two of American steeplechasing’s most historic stakes.

But he probably won’t win the Eclipse Award. He won’t even win best horse to compete in green, yellow, and white silks.

Although jockey Javier Castellano trailed fellow Eclipse finalists Ramon Dominguez and John Velazquez in money won in 2011, he ended the year on top in another key category: Grade 1 victories.

In North America’s elite stakes at the Grade 1 level, the Venezuelan-born Castellano notched 11 victories, most of any rider, with Stay Thirsty’s triumph in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga being the most recognizable.

Rosario Montanez was a constant presence in the winner’s circle in 2011. Before losing his apprentice allowance in August, he knocked out 120 wins and $3.4 million in mount earnings and finished the year with 165 wins and earnings of $4.8 million. The numbers were among the best for an apprentice jockey in North America, and Montanez has been honored as a finalist for the Eclipse Award for champion apprentice jockey.

Coglianese Photos

Of all the story lines to emerge from the Breeders’ Cup, few if any were more heart warming than Perfect Shirl’s victory in the Emirates Airline Filly and Mare Turf, a stirring example of persistence and patience rewarded for breeder-owner Charles Fipke and trainer Roger Attfield.

Barbara Livingston

Tizway’s 2011 campaign made him a strong candidate to be a finalist for an Older Male Eclipse Award – emphasis on older.

Benoit & Associates

Things would’ve been so much simpler had the Breeders’ Cup Classic ended at the stretch call.

Coady Photography

For a little more than an hour late in the afternoon of Nov. 4, in the time between the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and Juvenile Fillies, Stephanie’s Kitten was the one to beat for champion 2-year-old filly.

Debra A. Roma

Her year began as poorly as it ended brilliantly. Royal Delta was not even a blip on the 3-year-old filly radar until her Hall of Fame trainer, Bill Mott, started talking about the Kentucky Oaks after she won a first-level allowance race at Keeneland in April. By the time the year was over – after she had looked sensational in capturing the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic at Churchill Downs – everyone could plainly see what a truly great performer she was.