Eclipse Awards

Eclipse finalist Got Stormy (Get Stormy), a multiple Grade I winner in 2019 who blossomed from a nice minor stakes horse into a bonafide star turf filly, will look to follow in the footsteps of Mark Casse champions Tepin (Bernstein) and World Approval (Northern Afleet) when getting her 5-year-old campaign underway as a prohibitive favorite at Tampa Bay Downs in Saturday's GIII Endeavour S. A winner of two listed stakes and a Grade III in the summer of 2018, the chestnut was stepped up to Grade I company for the...

Drew Mollica started his career in racing as a jockey agent, but had an epiphany at the age of 47: he was miserable. While keeping his day job, Mollica enrolled in law school, and today, is the most popular and affable lawyer on the New York Racing circuit. Mollica joins Joe Bianca, Bill Finley, Brian DiDonato and Jon Green to talk about Ahmed Zayat and other legal issues in this edition of the Writers' Room. Listen to this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast here. 

In the fall of 2016, trainer Peter Eurton saddled a big longshot in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita who rode a game upset to an improbable divisional championship. Three years later, he did the same thing, this time with an unheralded colt in the Juvenile, whose shocking and resolute victory propelled him to an unforeseeable Eclipse Award of his own. Eurton hopes the comparisons end there, however, as his Storm the Court (Court Vision) prepares to get his sophomore season underway while adding the weight of...

The stars of racing were out in full force for the 2019 Runhappy Eclipse Awards in Gulfstream Park's Sport of Kings auditorium Thursday night. The newly-minted hosting trio of TVG's Gabby Gaudet, NBC and TVG's Brittany Eurton and Gulfstream's Acacia Courtney led the evening's program, reflecting on a season that had it all--celebration, challenge and above all, tremendous change. While a total of 11 equine champions and five human divisions were crowned, it was a single individual that cast a thread through several of the victorious connections of the night....

Irad Ortiz, Jr. rode four Breeders' Cup winners at the 2019 World Championships--including GI Longines Turf hero and Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar (Giant's Causeway), who he was aboard for all six of his wins from six tries last term. Ortiz's other Breeders' Cup winners were GI Longines Classic winner Vino Rosso (Curlin), GI Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile victor Spun to Run (Hard Spun) and GII Juvenile Turf Sprint scorer Four Wheel Drive (American Pharoah). Ortiz won 35 graded stakes in 2019, including 11 at the highest...

Japanese-born, Woodbine-based Kazushi Kimura built on a strong first season of riding in 2018 (104 wins, $2,451,326 in earnings) in 2019, booting home 148 winners (17%) and racking up $4,746,556 in earnings. Those stats were good for third-best by wins and fourth-best by earnings at Woodbine's April to December meet. He lost his bug Oct. 26. Accepting the Award... "First, I want to say congratulations to everyone. I am proud of the Eclipse Award and to be nominated with so many great trainers, owners and jockeys. Let me say thank...

Having been nursed back to health over much of calendar year 2018 after being treated for a potentially career-ending case of stringhalt, Bricks and Mortar was an unstoppable force last year and became the first Horse of the Year for trainer Chad Brown Thursday evening. He was also a unanimous winner of the Eclipse Award for older turf male, the third in five years for a Brown trainee (Big Blue Kitten, 2015; Flintshire {GB}, 2016). Underfoot conditions were of no concern to the $200,000 Keeneland September graduate last season, as...

Modestly bred, British Idiom (Flashback) brought only $40,000 as a Fasig-Tipton October yearling in 2018, but by the time she debuted at Saratoga in August, the chestnut had attracted powerhouse connections in Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group, Madaket Stables and Bethlehem Stables and trainer Brad Cox. Backed to narrow favoritism in that six-furlong career bow, she pressed the pace and drew off to a 3 1/2-length score. Adding Lasix and stretching out to two turns in the GI Darley Alcibiades S. Oct. 4 at Keeneland, she was a powerful victress,...

Maximum Security (New Year's Day)'s sophomore season had plenty of ups and downs, but, in the end, he proved he truly was the best of his generation. Dangled for a $16,000 tag when winning his debut in December of 2018, the homebred kicked off 2019 with a pair of dominant starter optional claiming scores at Gulfstream Jan. 24 and Feb. 20, respectively. The bay jumped right to the top of the class ladder after that and showed that he belonged there with a 3 1/2-length victory in the GI Xpressbet.com...

Covfefe (Into Mischief) flashed her brilliance during her dominant debut win in 2018, but proved to be a forced to reckoned with on the female sprinter circuit in 2019, as well as the best 3-year-old filly of the year. Opening her sophomore account with a facile optional claimer score at Keeneland in April, the flashy bay set a new track record when romping by 8 1/2 lengths in Pimlico's GIII Adena Springs Miss Preakness S. May 17. Third behind Grade I winner Mia Mischief (Into Mischief) when facing her elders...

Having been nursed back to health over much of calendar year 2018 after being treated for a potentially career-ending case of stringhalt, Bricks and Mortar was an unstoppable force last year and became the first Horse of the Year for trainer Chad Brown Thursday evening. He was also a unanimous winner of the Eclipse Award for older turf male, the third in five years for a Brown trainee (Big Blue Kitten, 2015; Flintshire {GB}, 2016). Underfoot conditions were of no concern to the $200,000 Keeneland September graduate last season, as...

Winston C, campaigned by Edward Swyer's Hudson River Farms and trained by Hall of Famer Jonathan Sheppard, began the year in the maiden ranks, but ended it an Eclipse champion thanks to a pair of Grade 1 tallies at Saratoga. The gelding announced his arrival on the big stage with a widening 3 1/2-length victory in the July 25 G1 A.P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase S. at Saratoga in July. A month later, he romped to an 8 3/4-length victory in the G1 New York Turf Writers Cup H. Winston C...