The sharp bend into the homestretch on the tight Monmouth Park turf course is no place for a horse to hit peak stride while racing wide. What usually happens is this: The horse becomes unbalanced, loses momentum, and lacks time to recover before the finish wire pops up on a relatively short straightaway.

It’s not as if the Eclipse Award electorate has ignored turf specialists when it comes to the 2-year-old filly division. Since the advent of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2008, four of the seven winners of that race have gone on to become finalists for the 2-year-old filly Eclipse Award.

One year after coming within a half-length of winning the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, Judy the Beauty followed through in the 2014 renewal to put herself in a prime position to reign atop her division in Eclipse Award balloting.

With jockey Mike Smith aboard, Judy the Beauty gamely held off longshot Better Lucky to capture the Nov. 1 BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita by a head, a victory that capped a well-managed campaign for the 5-year-old mare.

He would not quit.

As the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile unfolded at Santa Anita on Oct. 31, the most optimistic supporter of Goldencents had to doubt whether the 4-year-old colt could win.

Goldencents dueled with Vicar’s in Trouble through rapid fractions of 22.06 seconds for a quarter-mile and 44.80 seconds for a half-mile. At the end of the backstretch, those two were eight lengths clear of their seven pursuers. It seemed that one of the closers would run along late and take command.

At a time in her life when many racemares have been retired to become broodmares, Don’t Tell Sophia is getting better with age. A 6-year-old in 2014, she produced her best campaign yet.

Don’t Tell Sophia, sired by Congaree, won four races, including the Grade 1 Spinster, finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, earned $909,597, and is an Eclipse Award finalist as outstanding older female.

Champions, Hall of Famers, all-time greats. Jonathan Sheppard has trained all kinds of steeplechasers during a career now in its sixth decade. But he’s never had a horse like Divine Fortune, who proved his talent and resiliency with another championship-level campaign at age 11.

North America’s Grade 1 steeplechase schedule includes just six races. They range from 2 1/16 miles to 3 miles, May to November, Tennessee to New York, flat/fast racetracks to hilly/taxing racecourses.

Demonstrative made all six – putting up three wins, a second (by a nose), a third, and a sixth. The three Grade 1 wins led all 2014 steeplechasers. The $362,500 in earnings, the second-highest total for a season in history, did as well.

The New York-bred mare Dayatthespa long ago outgrew her roots. There were clues from the beginning that it could happen.

A few months after Dayatthespa was purchased privately by the partnership of Jerry Frankel, Ron Frankel, Steve Laymon, and Peter Bradley as a 2-year-old in 2011, trainer Chad Brown called Bradley with an update on her status.

In Brown's opinion, Dayatthespa was showing signs of being more than a regional stakes winner.

“I think you bought a nice horse,” Brown told Bradley.

Expectations were high for Close Hatches in 2014. She entered the year ranked among the leaders of the older female division following a 2013 campaign at age 3 that included Grade 1 wins and a runner-up finish in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

The challenge for Close Hatches was to reproduce top form at age 4. For most of the year, she delivered. Close Hatches won three Grade 1 races and a Grade 2 and emerged as a division leader again, and an Eclipse Award finalist again.

Javier Castellano set a high standard in 2013, when he won his first Eclipse Award for outstanding jockey after establishing a North American record for mount earnings in a year. Castellano again managed to reach significant heights in 2014, and because of his accomplishments, he is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding jockey for the fourth time.