Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables had another outstanding year in 2021, finishing second to the powerhouse Godolphin operation by North American earnings and putting it in position to chase another Eclipse Award.

Juddmonte Farms, and the international Thoroughbred bloodstock industry at large, experienced a monumental loss in early 2021 with the death of the farm’s founder Prince Khalid bin Abdullah at age 83. Juddmonte continued its high-end operations and honored the founder’s legacy by again finishing as one of the standout owners of 2021, thanks to its homebred program. Abdullah’s sons and grandsons have taken an interest in the Juddmonte program to continue its operations, while its affairs in the United States are managed by Garrett O’Rourke.

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum’s international Godolphin operation had another banner year and is looking to add more hardware to its already glittering trophy case. Godolphin is a finalist for 2021 Eclipse Awards as both outstanding owner and breeder.

The operation won Eclipse Awards as outstanding owner in 2009, 2012, and 2020. It also, under its Darley name, tied with Lael Stables in the voting for outstanding owner of 2006. Godolphin, as Darley, won the Eclipse for outstanding breeder in 2012.

The Mean Queen had a wicked race record in 2021.

In eight starts in Ireland and the United States, The Mean Queen won six times, including three consecutive Grade 1 races to finish a campaign that has landed her on the list of finalists for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding steeplechaser of 2021.

The Mean Queen was unbeatable when it counted the most in 2021, massive accomplishments for a then 4-year-old filly by Doyen who began the year in modest races.

In her first start of 2021, War Like Goddess finished a quiet fifth in her stakes debut in the Grade 3 The Very One Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 27. By the end of the year, the loss was a distant memory.

Through 2021, War Like Goddess won four consecutive graded stakes in Florida, Kentucky, and New York and ran arguably the best race of her career when third in a thrilling running of the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 6.

Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby had two of the best middle-distance 3-year-olds that raced in Europe during 2021. Adayar won the Epsom Derby and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, while Hurricane Lane won the St. Leger Stakes and beat Adayar in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, where he was third.

Everything was in place for Gamine to be an overwhelming choice for a second straight Eclipse Award as champion filly and mare sprinter. Then, the starting gates opened.

A third-place finish as the heavy favorite in the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar made for a disappointing conclusion to 2021 for Gamine, whose preceding efforts were otherwise brilliant and made her a finalist in this category once again.

Michael McCarthy long had suspected that Ce Ce could become a top-class performer around one turn, given the right circumstances. In 2021, those hopes were realized in dramatic fashion.

Five of the six races for Ce Ce during her 5-year-old campaign of 2021 were run at seven furlongs or shorter, and four of those resulted in victory – including the marquee race that often decides a divisional championship, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

“She really put everything together the way we thought she could,” said McCarthy, who trains Ce Ce for owner-breeder Bo Hirsch.

Bella Sofia got a relatively late start to her racing career, but once under way, the dark bay filly wasted little time in flaunting her wares.

It was May 6 of her 3-year-old season that trainer Rudy Rodriguez finally had Bella Sofia ready for her debut. Overlooked at 8-1 in a six-furlong maiden race at Belmont Park, she ran off and hid, prevailing by 11 1/4 lengths and earning a 94 Beyer Speed Figure.

Mystic Guide joins Maxfield as the second Godolphin homebred among the three finalists for champion older dirt male. Both were from the same crop, but while Maxfield was the more precocious of the two, by 2021, at age 4, they were both among the leaders of their division.