Whitmore’s longevity, determination, and patented late kick have made him a fan favorite through the years, and he called on all of those qualities this fall to become a first-time Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

It was Whitmore’s fourth appearance in the championship race, and he made a statement at the age of 7. Whitmore won off by 3 1/4 lengths at odds of 18-1.

The performance thrilled his fans and has made him an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding male sprinter of 2020.

Volatile made a significant impression on the sprint division in 2020. He won all three of his starts by a combined margin of 16 3/4 lengths, capped by a cruising victory in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt in July at Saratoga Race Course.

A blowout victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint culminated an eventful and highly successful 2020 for Gamine, a finalist in both the female sprint and 3-year-old filly categories. Her reputation as a potential superstar preceded even her career debut.

A Grade 3 winner at 2 and a Grade 2 winner at 3, Vekoma continued his ascent at age 4, winning a pair of Grade 1 races to land as a finalist in two categories, for champion older dirt male and champion male sprinter.

No horse of this era has had a soap-opera tale comparing to Maximum Security. Risked in his debut for $16,000, he subsequently finished first in the 2019 Kentucky Derby, only to be disqualified for interference – the first time a Derby winner had been disqualified for an ontrack incident – yet by year’s end, with three Grade 1 wins, he had compiled a record that made him the champion 3-year-old male.

Improbable was good enough to be favored in the 2019 Kentucky Derby, but he came up short more often than not as a 3-year-old, winning one time in seven starts. The 2020 model of this attractive, chestnut-colored colt was bigger, stronger, and faster.

Improbable raced five times at four tracks and won three times – all his wins in Grade 1 company – his only losses second-place finishes in the Oaklawn Mile to Tom’s d’Etat and in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland to Authentic.

After she missed an entire calendar year and went 18 months without a start, the odds were against 5-year-old Monomoy Girl picking up in 2020 where she left off in 2018.

It was a tough act to follow, because in 2018 Monomoy Girl won the Kentucky Oaks and Breeders’ Cup Distaff, crossed the wire first in all seven starts, and was voted champion 3-year-old filly. But that was ancient history, as trainer Brad Cox acknowledged.

Midnight Bisou nearly achieved racing immortality in February 2020, when she shipped more than 7,000 miles from Louisiana to Saudi Arabia for the richest Thoroughbred race in history – the inaugural $20 million Saudi Cup Feb. 29 at King Abdulaziz racetrack in Riyadh.

The hickory filly Swiss Skydiver rose to the top of her division the old-fashioned way. The daughter of Daredevil’s 10 starts at nine different tracks around the country, from New York to California and in between, encompassed some of the nation’s top races for 3-year-old fillies, and also included a stop at Pimlico. An historic victory there in the Preakness Stakes over Authentic, winner of the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve, solidly cemented her place among this year’s Eclipse Awards 3-year-old filly finalists.

Shedaresthedevil dared to take on the best of her division this season, and it paid off with a victory in the nation’s signature race for 3-year-old fillies. The Eclipse Award finalist’s claim to fame is a record-setting victory in the 146th running of the Kentucky Oaks, defeating her two divisional finalists, Swiss Skydiver and Gamine.