Summer Wind Farm, located in Georgetown, Ky., is the nom de course of Jane Lyon, who bred the dazzling Flightline and was along for the ride as part of his ownership group.
Lyon, a native of Little Rock, Ark., and her late husband Frank Lyon purchased the Summer Wind property in 1995. At the time, they had two geldings, neither a Thoroughbred. Lyon has grown the farm to more than 1,000 acres and has assembled a stellar broodmare band.
Eclipse Awards for trainers come in waves, with the same person earning championship honors several years in a row. Since 1976, there have been a trio of three-peats and three four-peats. Brad Cox, Eclipse winner in 2020 and 2021, is the most recent trainer to win the award in consecutive years.
At 57, Steve Asmussen is slowing down.
During 2022, his far-flung racing stable started a mere 2,155 horses. Sure, that’s about 350 more than the next-highest total for a North American trainer and about 750 more than the third highest, but it’s also 272 fewer than Asmussen ran during 2021, and a pittance compared to Asmussen’s busiest year, 2008, when he had 3,002 starters. In 2008, Asmussen had 650 winners. During 2022? Just 382.
During 2022, four North American trainers tied for 126th in seasonal wins, each notching 51 winners. Not a bad year at all.
Now, consider Chad Brown. He, too, had 51 winners – just counting graded stakes. It’s a remarkable tally, and in recent seasons only Brown has put up comparable numbers of graded stakes wins in a year, landing 53 in 2019 and 46 in 2018. In 2021, Todd Pletcher led the way with 35 graded wins.
Brown was named champion trainer in 2016-19, and he’s the front-runner to win his fifth Eclipse following a shining performance on the track last year.
Jose Antonio Gomez has made a name for himself on the tough New York circuit in his first full year of riding, and for his successful rookie season he is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding apprentice jockey of 2022.
Gomez led all North American-based apprentice jockeys in mount earnings last year, with $7,635,366. Overall, he won 152 races from 1,312 starts. Gomez won two stakes, taking a New York Stallion Stakes series race with Golden Rocket in August at Saratoga and the John J. Reilly Handicap with Royal Urn in May at Monmouth Park.
Led by multiple Grade 1 winners Flightline, Malathaat, Goodnight Olive, and a bevy of European-based runners who fired a singular sensational shot at the Breeders’ Cup in November, the finalists for the Eclipse Awards in 11 equine and five human categories were announced Saturday.
Goodnight Olive didn’t get started on her 4-year-old campaign seriously until nearly half of 2022 was over – but once she did, the filly was absolutely perfect. As a result she was named as a finalist for both champion female sprinter and older dirt female.
Over her first three campaigns, Clairiere added credibility to a Thoroughbred adage: “Breed the best to the best, and hope for the best.”
Clairiere is prime example that sometimes the product of a top stallion and a top broodmare is indeed a top racehorse.
In an era where Grade 1-level horses make only a handful of starts, Olympiad was a bit of a throwback.
In 2022, Olympiad ran eight times, winning six races, including five graded stakes, to earn a spot as a finalist for an Eclipse Award in the older dirt male division. One of his two losses came in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, where he finished second to the undefeated Flightline.
