A Grade 1 winner at 2, when he had to miss the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and subsequently hampered by another injury at 3 that confined him to one start in more than 14 months, Maxfield at age 4 in 2021 was finally able to put together a proper campaign that repeatedly showcased his high-grade talent.

Maxfield came into 2021 having made just four starts combined at ages 2 and 3. The patience displayed during those years by trainer Brendan Walsh and the team at Godolphin – most notably Jimmy Bell – gave Maxfield the chance to shine when finally right, and was he ever right in 2021.

Knicks Go is favored to be named both champion older dirt male and Horse of the Year for 2021 following a brilliant 5-year-old season bookended by victories in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic, with three other stakes wins, including the Grade 1 Whitney, in between.

Marche Lorraine made only one start in North America in 2021, but it was a doozy. A 49-1 shocker in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff catapulted the 5-year-old from anonymity to notoriety and earned her a dual distinction – first Japan-based winner of a Breeders’ Cup race on dirt and first Japan-based Eclipse Awards finalist as outstanding older dirt female.

Every once in a while a horse comes along where when he trains, it’s so effortless, and so brilliant, that everyone – novice or weary railbird – sees the obvious talent, and remarks, “Who’s that?”

Life Is Good is that kind of horse. Brilliant in his morning training, brilliant in his races, he had a 3-year-old year that, though interrupted by injury and involving a trainer change, was so compelling it made him an obvious finalist for champion 3-year-old male.

Essential Quality is seeking to become only the third 2-year-old male champion to repeat at 3 since 1979, when Spectacular Bid completed a streak of three straight that included Triple Crown winners Affirmed and Seattle Slew.

In the more than four decades since, as horses have raced fewer times and become more specialized, rare is the male horse who can lead his brethren at 2 and then move on to be the best the following year, when the demands include the Triple Crown races and potential starts in the fall against elders.

Shadwell Stables had a memorable season, both in the United States and in Europe, following the death of its founder, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, last March. Leading the way in the United States was Kentucky Oaks heroine Malathaat, who consistently turned in memorable performances throughout the season.

Malathaat, bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Farm, is by Curlin and out of Stonestreet’s Grade 1 winner Dreaming of Julia. That regal pedigree turned several heads at the 2019 Keeneland September yearling sale, including that of Todd Pletcher, who had trained her dam.

Amid the chaos that was the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar, Modern Games delivered a performance that afternoon worthy of being named a finalist for the Eclipse Award as North America’s outstanding 2-year-old.

Ahead of the 2021 Eclipse Awards, it was widely felt that Pizza Bianca was very unlikely to be voted the honor of outstanding 2-year-old filly in light of what Echo Zulu accomplished in four starts on dirt.

Knowing, however, that comparison is the thief of joy, the Eclipse results should not be allowed to diminish the joyful scene that unfolded at Del Mar when Pizza Bianca won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 5 in dramatic fashion.

Brad Cox was hoping history would repeat itself when he brought Juju’s Map to California for the Breeders’ Cup.

It was in 2019 that Cox brought British Idiom, the winner of the Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades, to clinch a divisional Eclipse Award by capturing the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita. So when Juju’s Map won the 2021 Alcibiades at Keeneland, hope was alive for another divisional Eclipse.

They say nobody’s perfect, but maybe they hadn’t seen Echo Zulu yet. The bay filly was untouchable in 2021, dominating all four of her races in a season of true perfection.

Trained by Steve Asmussen, Echo Zulu capped off a brilliant 2-year-old campaign with a 5 1/4-length victory in the Nov. 5 Net Jets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar. It was a signature triumph that has made her an overwhelming favorite to be voted the Eclipse Award in this division.