Eclipse Awards
The 51st annual Eclipse Awards Ceremony will be held Thursday at Santa Anita beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Honoring Thoroughbred racing's 2021 champions, horse and human awards in 17 categories will be presented during the program, culminating with the announcement of the 2021 Horse of the Year. Also during the ceremony, Ambassador Earle Mack will be presented with the Eclipse Award of Merit and Justin Mustari will be honored with an Eclipse Award as the 2021 Horseplayer of the Year. TVG's coverage will begin with a "Green Carpet" Preview Show...
GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint heroine Ce Ce (Elusive Quality) could launch her 6-year-old campaign in the GII Santa Monica S. at Santa Anita, trainer Michael McCarthy told the Santa Anita notes team before adding that she remains a possibility for the GII Inside Information S. on Pegasus Day at Gulfstream Park next Saturday, Jan. 29. A run in the Santa Monica would come five days before the 2021 Eclipse Award ceremonies, where Ce Ce is among the three candidates for champion female sprinter. "We're very proud of...
Acacia Courtney, Britney Eurton, Gabby Gaudet and Michelle Yu have been named as the hosts of the 51st Annual Eclipse Awards to be held Thursday evening, Feb. 10, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. Courtney, Eurton and Gaudet began hosting the event together in 2020, while this will be Yu's first appearance as a host. Courtney is in her sixth year as on-air talent at Gulfstream Park, while also working for the New York Racing Association as the host for 'America's Day at the Races' and Saratoga Live on...
Knicks Go (Paynter) was one of a dozen winners at the 2021 Breeders' Cup meeting at Del Mar in early November to be named Eclipse Award finalists, as the candidates in 11 equine and five human categories were announced Saturday morning on TVG. While the finalists for 2021 were not revealed--they will be announced at the conclusion of the Eclipse Award ceremony at Santa Anita Feb. 10--it is a fait accompli that Knicks Go will take home the evening's most coveted award. The grey, winner of the 2020 GI Breeders'...
TVG will televise live the announcement of the finalists in 16 horse and human categories for the 2021 Eclipse Awards this Saturday, Jan. 15 at 11:30 a.m. ET/8:30 a.m. PT, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, National Turf Writers And Broadcasters (NTWAB) and Daily Racing Form announced Thursday. The Eclipse Awards, honoring excellence in Thoroughbred racing, are voted upon by the NTRA, represented by member racetrack racing officials and Equibase field personnel, NTWAB and Daily Racing Form, and are produced by the NTRA. TVG also will televise live the 51st Eclipse...
Winners of the six Media Eclipse Awards for 2021 were announced Thursday and are as follows: Feature/Commentary Writing - Sandra McKee, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred, "A Jockey's Life. Baltimore's Adams Set Riding Record in 1930"; June 2021. News/Enterprise Writing - Eric Mitchell, Bloodhorse.com, "Tracks Join Rallying Cry to End Cargo Shipping"; Aug. 24, 2021. Television - Live Racing Programming - NBC Sports, "The Breeders' Cup World Championships," Nov. 6, 2021 on NBC; Billy Matthews and Lindsay Schanzer, Producers. Television - Features - NBC Sports "Hot Rod Charlie," Apr. 30, 2021 on NBCSN;...
Michael Lund Petersen's champion Gamine (Into Mischief--Peggy Jane, by Kafwain), has been retired from racing and will reside at Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa Farm in Paris, Ky., it was announced Tuesday. Breeding plans for the 5-year-old are still being discussed. Bred by Grace Thoroughbred Holdings, Gamine topped the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale when hammering to Petersen for $1.8 million and was named a 'TDN Rising Star' for her dominant 6 1/4-length debut romp last March at Santa Anita. The bay went on to dominate the GI Acorn S. by...
Tickets for the 51st annual Eclipse Awards dinner are on sale now. The Eclipse Awards will be held on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., the first time racing's night of champions will be held on the West Coast since 2012. Eclipse Award tickets are available for $425 each or $4,000 for a table of 10. For additional information, log on to the NTRA website at https://www.ntra.com/eclipse-awards/. The "black-tie optional" Eclipse Awards dinner and awards ceremony will be held in an expansive chalet adjacent to...
Minutes after another easy win by Letruska (Super Saver), this time in the GI Juddmonte Spinster S. Sunday at Keeneland, trainer Fausto Gutierrez told reporters that the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, and not the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, would be next for his 5-year-old mare. That was hardly a surprise. Gutierrez and German Larrea, the Mexican billionaire businessman who owns the horse, are looking to play it safe. Letruska is simply better than every other filly and mare in the sport and shouldn't have any problem winning the Distaff. The...
Next year's 51st annual Eclipse Awards dinner and ceremony, honoring Thoroughbred racing's champions of 2021, will be held at Santa Anita Park, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters announced Tuesday. Held in conjunction with the Stronach Group, the Eclipse Awards dinner and ceremony at Santa Anita will take place Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, prior to the NFL's Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium on Sunday, Feb. 13. Additional information will be announced in the coming weeks. The Stronach Group hosted the...
Mary Holthaus was selected as the winner of the NTRA Eclipse 50 Contest, which asked fans to choose their top 10 favorite Eclipse Awards champions, along with their favorite champion jockey and trainer, from the past 50 years. Holthaus, who resides in Easton, Maryland, was randomly selected from the participants who submitted a ballot. The longtime racing fan won a trip for two to Lexington to spend a day at the races at Keeneland, tour the Four Roses Bourbon Distillery and visit historic Spendthrift Farm. In the same contest, Secretariat...
For the first time in nine years and for the third time overall, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al Maktoum's Godolphin LLC was recognized at the Eclipse Award ceremonies as America's Outstanding Owner. Horses carrying Godolphin's royal blue colors got their pictures taken 80 times in 2020, good for a remarkable strike rate of 22.2%. The operation was represented by no fewer than a joint-best eight winners at the graded stakes level (tied with Gary Barber) for a broad swath of conditioners, highlighted by the Brad Cox-trained champion Essential Quality (Tapit),...