photo by: Benoit & Associates

From Kentucky to Canada to California, Marketing Mix won at major racetracks throughout North America in 2012.

photo by: Barbara D. Livingston

As winner of the 2011 Preakness, there was little that a blaze-faced colt named Shackleford had to do afterward to please his connections.

photo by: Tom Keyser

Sustained excellence in a niche category carried Mizdirection from anonymity to the top of the sport, thanks to an affinity for the Santa Anita hillside turf course that ultimately made her a finalist for outstanding female sprinter of 2012.

photo by: Benoit & Associates

For a fleeting moment in 2012, the filly and mare world seemed to belong to Include Me Out.

photo by: Barbara D. Livingston

There were moments during 2012 when a filly named Contested seemed untouchable.

photo by: Barbara D. Livingston

Darley Stud, owned by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum, led all breeders in American graded stakes wins last year. Nine Darley-breds won 15 graded races during the season.

photo by: Barbara D. Livingston

If not for a nose defeat in her final start of the year, the Grade 1 Cigar Mile in late November, Groupie Doll might well have been a candidate for Horse of the Year. Yes, her 2012 was that good.

photo by: Tom Keyser

No apprentice jockey in North America jockey racked up more mount earnings in 2012 than Angel Suarez, who regularly rode day and night cards in Pennsylvania to amass $3,366,126.

photo by: Barbara D. Livingston

Irad Ortiz Jr. completed his apprenticeship on Feb. 1, 2012, finishing off a freshman year of riding during which he won 98 races and had mount earnings of $3,318,303.

photo by: Barbara D. Livingston

How many 2012 Eclipse Award finalists didn’t win a stakes? Don’t look, there’s only one.

Steeplechaser Divine Fortune put together one of the best, if most confounding, campaigns in recent memory – without winning a single stakes.