American Pharoah dominated racing in 2015, and he and those connected to him dominated the voting to determine the Eclipse Award finalists for 2015, which were announced Wednesday.

American Pharoah – who swept the Triple Crown, beat elders in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and won seven times in eight starts last year – is a finalist for Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male, both of which he is certain to win, and trainer Bob Baffert, jockey Victor Espinoza, and owner and breeder Zayat Stables are finalists in their respective categories.

Finalists for the 2015 Eclipse Awards, selected by voters from Daily Racing Form, the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. Click on a finalist to read DRF's profile. Winners will be announced Jan. 16 at the 45th Annual Eclipse Awards dinner at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Doug O’Neill thought he had a very nice horse in Nyquist, but the trainer wasn’t sure he was going to see the horse’s best going five furlongs in his career debut June 5 at Santa Anita.

Breaking from the rail, Nyquist used his good early speed to gain a forward position and eventually got into a battle with Annie’s Candy, a horse who had already made one start. Annie’s Candy put his head in front of Nyquist in midstretch, but Nyquist battled back along the inside to win by a head in a sparkling time of 56.43 seconds, just 0.06 seconds off the track record.

Just hours before he had to be at Parx Racing in Bensalem, Pa., to watch Frosted run in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin was about 100 miles away at Belmont Park, where his 2-year-old Mohaymen was about to make his career debut.

In an effort that made McLaughlin’s ensuing three-plus-hour drive tolerable, Mohaymen outtussled the pace-prompting Seymourdini to record a half-length victory in the six-furlong race. The day only got better when Frosted, the 2015 Belmont Stakes runner-up to American Pharoah, won the Pennsylvania Derby.

Mark Casse and his son Norman didn’t bring all their best horses to Saratoga in the summer of 2015. Knowing Airoforce would need more time to be ready to make it to the races, he stayed behind in Kentucky all summer to train. In the end, that might prove to be one of the wisest decision the father-and-son team made in a year where they made plenty of smart moves.

Here's a collection of some of the biggest stories in horse racing, all in one place. Unless noted, all of the links here are to free stories on DRF.com. Enjoy.

Graded Stakes Action Across the Country

You want longevity and consistency? Top steeplechase horse Demonstrative ran in 19 Grade 1 stakes between August 2012 and November 2015. He won seven, placed in four, was an Eclipse Award finalist three times, and claimed the bronze statue once.

Demonstrative began his campaign in the $150,000 Iroquois at Nashville, Tenn. Touching down a half-stride behind Mr. Hot Stuff at the last fence, Demonstrative rallied to win the three-mile classic by a neck for substitute jockey Jack Doyle (who got the mount a few hours earlier when Robbie Walsh was hurt).

Breed for greatness. Or something like that. No Thoroughbred gave better credence to that strategy in 2015 than steeplechase Eclipse Award finalist Dawalan. His greatness just turned out to be of a different flavor.

Still buzzing by the performance of 2014 champion Demonstrative in the Grade 1 Iroquois, steeplechase fans could be excused for missing a Grade 3 win by Bob Le Beau a week later.

By the summer, however, everybody knew Bob.

Rock Fall ran fast, was tenacious, and gave his best every time he was led to the gate during his undefeated 4-year-old season. Those qualities have made him an Eclipse Award finalist in the 2015 male sprinter category.