Sat, 01/04/2020 - 13:00

2019 Eclipse Awards: Guarana

Debra A. Roma
Guarana

Guarana’s campaign was brief, but dazzling. From April to September, the filly made four starts, winning a pair of Grade 1 events, and posting Beyer Speed Figures of 90 or higher in each outing. She shone bright enough to be voted a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding 3-year-old filly.

Guarana, a daughter of 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, races as a homebred for Three Chimneys Farm. The filly was, appropriately enough, turned over to trainer Chad Brown, who worked with Ghostzapper as an assistant to the late Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel.

Sat, 01/04/2020 - 12:50

2019 Eclipse Awards: Sharing

Barbara D. Livingston
Sharing

Lightning struck twice for Graham Motion when Sharing upset the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf last fall.

Motion also trained the filly’s dam, Shared Account, to win the 2010 BC Filly and Mare at 46-1.

“I’m so appreciative of this filly,” Motion said after Sharing surged to a 1 1/4-length triumph at 13-1 in the Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita. “Shared Account meant so much to me.”

Sharing was named a finalist for the Eclipse Award for 2-year-old filly of 2019.

Sat, 01/04/2020 - 12:50

2019 Eclipse Awards: British Idiom

Debra A. Roma
British Idiom

As a $40,000 yearling purchase, British Idiom was eligible for a restricted maiden race at Saratoga last summer. Hardly anyone could have foretold that winning that six-furlong debut would propel her to back-to-back Grade 1 victories and a most likely divisional championship in just two more starts.

Indeed, trainer Brad Cox was among those pleasantly surprised and elated with the rapid progress made afterward by the modestly bred filly.

“Every time we asked her to step up, she did,” said Cox.

Sat, 01/04/2020 - 12:50

2019 Eclipse Awards: Bast

Benoit Photo
Bast

It’s not often you see a horse whose three career victories all came in Grade 1 races.

But that’s the remarkable 2019 record compiled as a 2-year-old by Bast, a handy bay filly who capped her season by giving her Hall of Fame trainer, Bob Baffert, his sixth victory in the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes.

Sat, 01/04/2020 - 12:30

2019 Eclipse Awards: Kazushi Kimura

Julie Wright
Kazushi Kimura

Kazushi Kimura led all North American-based apprentice jockeys in mount earnings in 2019 and for his memorable season is an Eclipse Award finalist. He won 117 races and reached $3.7 million in mount earnings from Jan. 1 through the final date of his apprentice allowance, Oct. 26.

Sat, 01/04/2020 - 12:30

2019 Eclipse Awards: Calumet Farm

Calumet Farm is seeking just its second title in the modern Eclipse Awards era, which began in 1971, and its first under the stewardship of Brad Kelley.

Sat, 01/04/2020 - 12:30

2019 Eclipse Awards: Godolphin

Barbara D. Livingston
Shiekh Mohammed Al-Maktoum

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum’s international Godolphin operation had another powerhouse year and is a finalist for another Eclipse Award, further cementing its position as one of the elite outfits of the modern era. The operation won the Eclipse for outstanding breeder in 2012 under its Darley name. Darley also tied with Lael Stable for outstanding owner of 2006, and Godolphin was honored in that category in 2009 and 2012.

Sat, 01/04/2020 - 12:30

2019 Eclipse Awards: George Strawbridge Jr.

Barbara D. Livingston
George Strawbridge

George Strawbridge Jr., 82, is seeking his first Eclipse Award as outstanding breeder, and has a strong case thanks to breeding Bricks and Mortar, a five-time Grade 1 winner who is one of the finalists for Horse of the Year and a heavy favorite to be honored as champion turf male. The Giant’s Causeway horse, sold as a yearling to Klaravich Stable and William Lawrence, is out of Beyond the Waves, a French stakes winner whom Strawbridge co-bred and campaigned.

Sat, 01/04/2020 - 12:16

Eclipse Awards 2019: Got Stormy

Debra A. Roma
Got Stormy

Got Stormy has seemingly never met a turf course she did not like.

A 4-year-old filly in 2019, Got Stormy won half of her eight starts through the year, with the victories coming from coast to coast. In the races she did not win, Got Stormy was second or third on four different courses.

Her consistency has made her a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding turf female of 2019.

:: Full list of 2019 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

Sat, 01/04/2020 - 12:16

2019 Eclipse Awards: Sistercharlie

Ronnie Betor
Sistercharlie

Not many horses win six races in their careers, let alone six stakes.

What Sistercharlie achieved in the last half of 2018 and through the summer and early fall of 2019 was exceptional – six consecutive Grade 1 stakes wins for fillies and mares on turf.

Sistercharlie was beaten in her final start of 2019, a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 2. For her three Grade 1 wins earlier in the year, Sistercharlie has been recognized as a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding turf female of 2019.