After their homebred Kitten’s Joy won the 2004 Eclipse as champion turf male, Ken and Sarah Ramsey gambled he would make a good sire. Their decision to breed many of their mares to him has paid off, and in 2011 they enjoyed their biggest successes with homebreds by the stallion Ken Ramsey has called “the family stallion.”

Cape Blanco was already a multiple Group 1 stakes winner when he made his first trip to the United States in July 2011.

Less than three months later, by Oct. 1, he had won three consecutive Grade 1 stakes to outdo his previous accomplishments and earn a nomination as finalist for champion turf male of 2011.

Trained in Ireland by Aidan O’Brien, Cape Blanco was bred by Jack Ronan and Des Vere Hunt Farm Co. As a 4-year-old in 2011, he was a global traveler. He raced in four countries, exclusively in Grade 1 or Group 1 races, and had his greatest success in the United States.

The focus was on family, and rightfully so, when Joseph O’Brien, all 18 years of him, guided St Nicholas Abbey to an emphatic victory in the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5 on behalf of his 42-year-old father, Aidan.

It was the first time a father and son had teamed to win a race in the storied history of the Breeders’ Cup, and it took an outstanding horse to get them there.

Benoit & Associates

Although she was Group 2-placed as a 2-year-old in her native England, Dubawi Heights did not make a smooth transition to racing in the United States as a 3-year-old in 2010, missing most of the season for one reason or another. But she made up for it in 2011 and ended the year as a finalist for an Eclipse Award for top female turf runner.

Expectations were high for Stacelita upon her arrival to the United States, and she more than met them, becoming a finalist for the Eclipse Award for top female turf runner.

Stacelita began her career with six straight wins and was ranked the top 3-year-old filly in France in 2009 after winning three Group 1 races, the Prix de Diane (French Oaks), Prix Saint-Alary, and Prix Vermeille. At age 4, she garnered a fourth Group 1 tally in the Prix Jean Romanet.

Rags-to-riches is a favorite theme among racing fans, and a California-bred gelding named Amazombie was only too willing to fill that order in 2011. A mere throw-in in a $5,000 two-horse deal as a yearling, Amazombie turned back all comers in winning the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs to cap an unforgettable season for his trainer, Bill Spawr, who co-owns the gelding with Thomas Sanford.

Barbara D. Livingston

From late spring until her final start of 2011 in midsummer, Hilda’s Passion was the fastest filly-mare sprinter in the land. She did not merely win, she dazzled.

Musical Romance was a throwback in 2011. She ran, ran, and ran – 14 starts and 5 wins capped by a decisive victory in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint that boosted the Calder-based filly from anonymity to Eclipse Award finalist as outstanding female sprinter. “Not only did she win the Breeders’ Cup, she dominated the race,” trainer and part-owner William Kaplan said. “And every race was better than the one before.” Musical Romance was an unlikely championship candidate at the start of the year.

Churchill Downs

The highlights for Sassy Image in 2011 were packed in a two-month window – spring-summer victories in the Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs and Princess Rooney Handicap at Calder made her the only filly or mare to win two Grade 1 sprints during the season.

On turf, Acclamation was virtually unbeatable in 2011. He wasn’t so bad on the main track, either.

In five appearances on turf, all in California, Acclamation won four consecutive graded stakes. On the main track, he won Del Mar’s biggest race for older horses, the Pacific Classic.

Voters honored his brilliant campaign, which included three Grade 1 victories, by making him a double finalist for Eclipse Awards in the older male and turf male categories.