Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum’s international Godolphin operation is a finalist for both the Eclipse Award for outstanding owner and outstanding breeder, looking to sweep both categories for the second year in a row. Godolphin or its Darley banner – the brand which it stands its stallions under – has won or tied for the Eclipse for outstanding owner five times, and has been honored as outstanding breeder twice.

Peter Brant was a prominent owner and breeder through the 1970s and 1980s before backing away from the sport in the 1990s, focusing on the White Birch Paper Company he runs and also pursuing his other equestrian passion, polo. A few years ago, he decided to dive back in to Thoroughbred racing, breeding, and sales, and quickly made headlines as a finalist for the Eclipse Award for outstanding owner multiple times.

A European filly who raced only once in North America left a lasting impression in 2022. Tuesday, whose win in the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf capped a successful international campaign and ultimately capped her career, is an Eclipse Award finalist as outstanding 3-year-old filly.

Oddly enough, two of the more memorable performances by Nest in 2022 came in successive races in which she finished second. A tough trip cost her in the Kentucky Oaks, and the Belmont Stakes runner-up finish against boys reinvigorated her.

Before, after, and including second-place finishes in the Oaks and Belmont, Nest compiled an exceptional campaign. She won five races, including three Grade 1s, to emerge as a finalist for the Eclipse Award as outstanding 3-year-old filly of 2022.

When Taiba shipped out of Southern California and showed up at Monmouth Park for the TVG.com Haskell Invitational on July 23, he seemed a little like a teenager on spring break.

In his visitor’s stall, craning his neck into the shed row, his head bobbed, his gaze wandered, a colt interested in his surroundings but perhaps not fully processing them. Out on the racetrack for routine gallops, Taiba goofed around. You could imagine him shouting as he ran past, “Practice is boring!”

Brilliant in his sprint debut in May, Forte proved he was not a flash in the pan, capturing three Grade 1 stakes through the summer and fall to become a finalist for the Eclipse Award in the 2-year-old male division.

Blessed with blazing speed and able to carry it around two turns, Cave Rock won two Grade 1 stakes and finished second in the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to earn a spot as a finalist for the Eclipse Award in the 2-year-old male division.

Tim Layden, an at-large writer for NBC Sports, has won his third Eclipse Award for an article he wrote last year that was named the winner for Feature/Commentary Writing, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced on Friday, along with the five other media Eclipse Awards.

Other Eclipse media winners included Tom Law, for News/Enterprise Writing; Wendy Wooley, for Photography; NBC Sports, for both Live Television Programming and Feature Television Programming; and Horse Racing Radio Network, for its coverage of the Breeders’ Cup.

The Fox Hill Farm operation of the late Rick Porter has officially ceased operations with the turn to the new year.

Fox Hill posted on its social media accounts this week that its only remaining racehorse, Royal Ship, has been transferred to Porter's son, Scott Porter. The younger Porter will be racing under the name Fox Hollow Racing. 

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has asked a U.S. District Court to reconsider a ruling calling the organization “facially unconstitutional” in the wake of Congressional action at the end of the year amending the authority’s enabling legislation.