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Gun Runner Shines Brightest Among Stars Honored at 2017 Eclipse Awards
RacingThe 2017 Eclipse Awards were held Thursday, Jan. 25 at the Sport of Kings Theater at Gulfstream Park, where a dominant season from Gun Runner highlighted the proceedings as he captured champion older dirt male and Horse of the Year.
Many of the remarkable racehorses and individuals from a memorable 2017 season were honored. Continue reading for a complete list of the Eclipse Award recipients.
Trainer: Steve Asmussen
Owners: Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC and Three Chimneys Farm
2017 record: 6 starts – 5 firsts – 1 second – 0 thirds
2017 earnings: $6,950,700
Signature win(s): Breeders' Cup Classic, Woodward Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets, Whitney Stakes, Stephen Foster Handicap
Notable: After suffering his only defeat of the year when second in the $10 million Dubai World Cup in March, Gun Runner swept the final four races of his 2017 season, all in Grade 1s, by a combined margin of 24 3/4 lengths. He cemented Horse of the Year honors with a dominant victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic and is scheduled to make his final start on Jan. 27 in the $16 million Pegasus World Cup.
Trainer: Chad Brown
Owners: e Five Racing Thoroughbreds and Stonestreet Stables
2017 record: 3 starts – 1 first – 2 seconds – 0 thirds
2017 earnings: $1,216,600
Signature win(s): Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile
Notable: Good Magic made history on Nov. 4 when he became the first maiden (a racehorse without a victory to his/her credit) to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile when he surged clear to a 4 ¼-length romp. The chestnut colt had worthy credentials entering the race off a pair of seconds in his previous two starts, including a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes. Good Magic was purchased for $1 million at the 2016 Keeneland September yearling sale.
Trainer: Ralph Nicks
Owners: Zoom and Fish Stable Inc., Charlie Spiring, and Newtown Anner Stud
2017 record: 3 starts – 2 firsts – 1 second – 0 thirds
2017 earnings: $1,229,800
Signature win(s): 14 Hands Winery Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies
Notable: Caledonia Road punched her ticket to the Breeders’ Cup with a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes and then won the 14 Hands Winery Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies by 3 ¼ lengths in her first start on a fast main track.
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Owners: Gary and Mary West
2017 record: 9 starts – 6 firsts – 2 seconds – 1 third
2017 earnings: $2,083,800
Signature win(s): Travers Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets, Pennsylvania Derby
Notable: Rare is the champion 3-year-old male who not only did not win a Triple Crown race but also did not even compete in one. West Coast made his career debut in February 2017, earned his first stakes win in the Easy Goer Stakes on the Belmont Stakes undercard, and established himself as the best racehorse in the division in the second half of the year by winning the Travers S. Presented by NYRA Bets and Pennsylvania Derby before finishing third in his first try against older horses in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Owners: China Horse Club International Ltd. and Clearsky Farms
2017 record: 7 starts – 3 firsts – 4 seconds – 0 thirds
2017 earnings: $1,747,200
Signature win(s): Longines Kentucky Oaks, Coaching Club American Oaks, Acorn Stakes
Notable: After finishing second in each of her first two starts of 2017, Abel Tasman went on the type of streak trainers and owners dream of. She won the Longines Kentucky Oaks, Acorn Stakes, and Coaching Club American Oaks in May June and July to sweep three of the most important races in the U.S. for 3-year-old fillies. Abel Tasman closed out the year with a game second in her first try against older females in the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff.
Trainer: Steve Asmussen
Owners: Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC and Three Chimneys Farm
2017 record: 6 starts – 5 firsts – 1 second – 0 thirds
2017 earnings: $6,950,700
Signature win(s): Breeders' Cup Classic, Woodward Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets, Whitney Stakes, Stephen Foster Handicap
Notable: Gun Runner started the year chasing champion Arrogate in the older male division, but by the end of a banner season he had left the champion reeling in his wake with four straight Grade 1 wins, capped by a convincing victory in a head-to-head matchup with that rival in the Breeders' Cup Classic. That victory avenged Gun Runner’s only loss of the season, a runner-up finish to Arrogate in the $10 million Dubai World Cup.
Trainer: Dallas Stewart
Owners: Charles E. Fipke
2017 record: 3 starts – 3 firsts – 0 seconds – 0 thirds
2017 earnings: $6,950,700
Signature win(s): Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff, Personal Ensign Stakes
Notable: Forever Unbridled never tasted defeat in an abbreviated season that started with a win in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Handicap in June at Churchill Downs and closed with a victory in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff in November. In between, she also handed champion Songbird only the second loss of her career when she defeated her by a neck in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes.
Champion Male Sprinter: Roy H
Trainer: Peter Miller
Owners: Rockingham Ranch and David A. Bernsen
2017 record: 6 starts – 5 firsts – 1 second – 0 thirds
2017 earnings: $1,270,900
Signature win(s): TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint, Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes
Notable: Sometimes the key to unlocking greatness is as simple as finding a horse’s true calling. In Roy H’s case, he found his niche on the main track sprinting after making nine of his first 12 starts on grass and emerged as the best sprinter of 2017. He won three of four starts in graded stakes to close the year — with his only defeat a troubled second when a riderless horse carried him wide entering the stretch — and turned in a tour de force in the TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Sprint to cement his Eclipse Award as champion sprinter.
Champion Female Sprinter: Unique Bella
Trainer: Jerry Hollendorfer
Owners: Don Alberto Stable
2017 record: 6 starts – 5 firsts – 0 seconds – 0 thirds
2017 earnings: $550,000
Signature win(s): La Brea Stakes
Notable: Unique Bella began the 2017 season by establishing herself as the heavy favorite for the Longines Kentucky Oaks with three graded stakes wins by a combined margin of 18 ½ lengths before she missed the Oaks with an injury. She returned in October and won the Grade 3 L. A. Woman Stakes by 3 ½ lengths. She rebounded from an unplaced finish in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint by closing her season with a win over Grade 1 winner Paradise Woods in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita Park.
Champion Male Turf Horse: World Approval
Trainer: Mark Casse
Owner: Live Oak Plantation
2017 record: 6 starts – 5 wins – 0 seconds – 0 thirds
2017 earnings: $2,043,600
Signature win(s): Breeders’ Cup Mile, Ricoh Woodbine Mile, Fourstardave Handicap, Longines Dixie Stakes
Notable: Already a Grade 1 winner entering 2017, World Approval won stakes races at five different racetracks and strung together three Grade 1 wins to close out 2018, culminating with a 1 ¼-length win in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar. All three of those season-ending wins came at a one-mile distance as the Northern Afleet gelding reached his career-best form when shortened up by trainer Mark Casse. He is slated to remain in training in 2018.
Champion Female Turf Horse: Lady Eli
Trainer: Chad Brown
Owner: Sheep Pond Partners
2017 record: 5 starts – 3 wins – 1 second – 0 thirds
2017 earnings: $790,000
Signature win(s): Diana Stakes, Gamely Stakes, Woodford Reserve Ballston Spa Stakes
Notable: One of the most popular racehorses of this decade, Lady Eli added to her inspirational story by winning three graded stakes in 2017, including two Grade 1s. She retired after the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (which was her only finish worse than second in 14 starts) with nearly $3 million in career earnings and five Grade 1 wins.
Champion Steeplechase Horse: Scorpiancer
Trainer: Jack Fisher
Owner: Bruton Street-US
2017 record: 2 starts – 2 wins – 0 seconds – 0 thirds
2017 earnings: $150,000
Signature win(s): Calvin Houghland Iroqouis, Temple Gwathmey
Notable: The second horse from leading steeplechase trainer Jack Fisher nominated for an Eclipse was a perfect two-for-two in 2017, including the Grade 1 Calvin Houghland Iroquois.
Owner: Juddmonte Farms
2017 wins: 30
2017 earnings: $10,841,155
Leading horses: Arrogate, Paulassilverlining, Antonoe, Projected, Suffused, Grand Jete
Notable: Khalid Abullah’s racing operation received its fourth Eclipse Award – and second in a row – in 2017, as its superstar horse Arrogate won the inaugural Pegasus World Cup Invitational and the Dubai World Cup, the two richest races in the world, during his final year on the track. Arrogate’s exploits were enough to make Juddmonte the year’s leading owner in terms of earnings for 2017, assisted by Grade 1 winners Paulassilverlining and Antonoe and three other graded stakes winners.
Breeder: Clearsky Farms
2017 wins: 52
2017 earnings: $11,065,268
Leading horses: Arrogate, Abel Tasman, Untamed Domain
Notable: Kentucky’s Clearsky Farms led all breeders in earnings from North American races in 2017, with Arrogate leading the way. The farm, which was founded in 2009 by the late Eamon Clary and is now run by sons Bernard and Eamonn, also bred Longines Kentucky Oaks winner and Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff runner-up Abel Tasman and Summer Stakes winner and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf runner-up Untamed Domain.
Trainer: Chad Brown
2017 wins: 213
2017 earnings: $26,202,164
Leading horses: Lady Eli, Good Magic, Cloud Computing, Beach Patrol, Practical Joke, New Money Honey, Rushing Fall
Notable: Brown repeats as an Eclipse Award winner after once again leading all North American trainers in earnings. The protégé of the late Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel also tallied his first win in a Triple Crown race in 2017, when Cloud Computing won the Preakness Stakes. All in all, Brown was represented by 11 different Grade 1 winners last year. His top earner was Arlington Million winner and Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf runner-up Beach Patrol, with $1,749,975.
Jockey: Jose Ortiz
2017 wins: 270
2017 earnings: $27,318,875
Leading horses: Good Magic, Tapwrit, Oscar Performance, Elate, Keen Ice, Shaman Ghost, War Flag, Paulassilverlining
Notable: Led North American jockeys in earnings for the second consecutive year, and earned his first Eclipse Award for a campaign that included a classic win (Tapwrit, Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets) and a Breeders’ Cup win (Good Magic, Sentient Jet Juvenile). Ortiz’s success was best reflected in upstate New York, where he won the riding title at historic Saratoga Race Course for the second year in a row, topping his older brother Irad Jr. by five wins in 2017.
Apprentice jockey: Evin Roman
2017 wins: 166
2017 earnings: $5,118,077
Leading horses: Gold Rush Dancer, Smokem
Notable: A rising star on the Southern California circuit, Roman ranked 37th in the national earnings list for 2017. His year was highlighted by winning the riding title for Santa Anita Park’s winter-spring (late December through early July) meet, where he tied Flavien Prat with 41 wins, and its fall meet with 19 wins. Roman, a native of Puerto Rico, won his first graded stakes at Emerald Downs on Aug. 13 – the Longacres Mile with Gold Rush Dancer.