When going over his contingent for the Breeders’ Cup a week before the races and the subject turned to Citizen Bull, trainer Bob Baffert was pretty succinct in what the 2-year-old colt was all about.
“He is definitely a front-runner,” Baffert said. “There are no ifs or buts about it. He’s all speed.”
Very little came easy for Chancer McPatrick in 2024.
Yet he was able to overcome some difficult trips to win his first three starts, including two longstanding Grade 1 stakes, a résumé good enough to earn him a spot as a finalist for the Eclipse Award in the 2-year-old male division.
Bred by Rigney Racing LLC, Chancer McPatrick was a $725,000 purchase by agents Nick Sallusto and John Kimmel on behalf of Sean Flanagan at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s April 2-year-olds in training sale. The son of McKinzie was sent to trainer Chad Brown.
Lake Victoria’s unbeaten season, in which she won three Grade/Group 1 races in three countries, has already earned her one championship, as she was named the Cartier Award outstanding 2-year-old filly in Europe. She goes for a second title as an Eclipse Award finalist in the 2-year-old filly division.
“I suppose you’d have to think she ranks very highly with some of our best fillies,” co-owner Michael Tabor of the Coolmore group, which campaigns Lake Victoria as a homebred, said last fall.
Immersive comes from a line of Thoroughbreds with juvenile prowess. The striking dark bay filly was well within her depth in her 2-year-old season, fashioning an unbeaten campaign, with three Grade 1 wins, to resoundingly stamp herself an Eclipse Award finalist.
Godolphin homebred Immersive won three Grade 1 races, including the NetJet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, in an unbeaten campaign, and is an Eclipse Award finalist. But thus is the depth of the operation that Godolphin has another unbeaten 2-year-old filly who has earned Eclipse finalist recognition in her own right. Good Cheer carried the colors to four wins in as many starts, by a combined 32 1/2 lengths, to take a slot amongst the three finalists.
No American-based jumper was more active at the highest level through 2024 than L’Imperator, a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding steeplechaser.
From late March to mid-October, L’Imperator ran in five Grade 1 races at four venues and started in a restricted stakes for jumpers at the beginning of the year. He was even third in the four-runner Colonial Cup at 1 1/2 miles on turf in a flat race in Virginia in September.
It took four tries, but Snap Decision finally won the Grade 1 American Grand National Stakes at Far Hills in New Jersey in October.
The victory may lead to an Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding steeplechaser for Snap Decision. A 10-year-old in 2024, Snap Decision has been nominated for the prestigious award for a remarkable fifth consecutive year.
For the 2023 season, Snap Decision finished second in the balloting to Merry Maker. For his 2024 campaign, Snap Decision has an excellent chance to gain an elusive Eclipse Award.
American racing was not going very well for the gelding Carloun until a maiden hurdle at 2 1/4 miles at Colonial Downs on a Thursday last August.
Carloun, returning to action after a seventh-place finish in a $20,000 claimer for nonwinners of two at Laurel in June, took an early lead in a nine-horse field and led throughout, winning by 7 1/2 lengths.
He has not lost since, rising to the Grade 1 level by late October. For his late-season success, Carloun is a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the outstanding steeplechaser of 2024.
