Some organizations, when they make it to the top, become risk averse. With the power and wherewithal to control circumstances to a great extent, they prize the sure thing over taking chances that might, should they work, bring great reward.
Coolmore and trainer Aidan O’Brien are no such operation. O’Brien doesn’t hesitate trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, to poke and prod and experiment and see if he can make something difficult actually happen.
Channel Maker crossed the finish fourth in the Grade 2 Bowling Green Stakes on Aug. 1 at Saratoga. A disqualification moved him up to third. But was Channel Maker still even qualified to race in high-level turf stakes?
Channel Maker emerged from the Bowling Green a one-time winner from his last 14 starts. During that string, he’d crossed the wire better than fourth only twice. His 6-year-old campaign of 2020 started like a long march on a short pier – three fourths, two eighth-place finishes. Channel Maker is a gelding, an aging one; his stakes career was ticking down.
Luis Cardenas has made the impressive leap from hotwalker to top money-earning apprentice jockey in North America.
The 23-year-old native of Peru reached the summit last year, when his mounts earned $2,235,529. Overall, Cardenas won 41 races from 587 starts. He also was the leading apprentice in New York and won the first race of last year’s meet at Saratoga.
For his accomplishments, Cardenas is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding apprentice jockey of 2020.
In 2020, John Velazquez didn’t win the most races he’s ever won in a single year. He did, however, win some of the most important ones.
Velazquez won his third Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve and his first Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic – both aboard Authentic – and those wins, as well as three Grade 1 victories aboard the fantastic filly Gamine, helped earn him a spot as a finalist for his third Eclipse Award as North America’s top jockey.
Peter E. Blum, who bought his first horse while at the University of North Carolina, climbed to the pinnacle in 2020 as the breeder of Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve and Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Authentic, the favorite to be named Horse of the Year at the Eclipse Awards.
After Serengeti Empress won just one of eight starts following her signature victory in the 2019 Kentucky Oaks, trainer Tom Amoss decided it was time for a change midway through 2020. Amoss shortened the distances for the dark bay 4-year-old filly, and the results made Serengeti Empress an Eclipse finalist for top filly-mare sprinter as well as older dirt female.
Whitmore’s longevity, determination, and patented late kick have made him a fan favorite through the years, and he called on all of those qualities this fall to become a first-time Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.
It was Whitmore’s fourth appearance in the championship race, and he made a statement at the age of 7. Whitmore won off by 3 1/4 lengths at odds of 18-1.
The performance thrilled his fans and has made him an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding male sprinter of 2020.
A blowout victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint culminated an eventful and highly successful 2020 for Gamine, a finalist in both the female sprint and 3-year-old filly categories. Her reputation as a potential superstar preceded even her career debut.
