Last year I put together some pros and cons for what figured to be a competitive race for Horse of the Year, but Thorpedo Anna appears to be a fairly strong favorite to win the top prize at the 2024 Eclipse Awards, so let’s shift focus to the 3-year-old male division.

I first voted in the Eclipse Awards in 2006, so this year will mark my 19^th time submitting a ballot. There are no real guidelines for how to vote for Eclipse Award winners and there is no established points system in North American racing, so there have been some very unusual individual votes over the years. I typically try to build a case for and against each of the candidates in every division to shape my final decision, so this exercise takes you behind my process a bit. However, I also included here some insight into the narrative component. Narrative doesn’t factor into my Eclipse Awards decisions, but it would be foolish to think the story behind each horse does not play any role for some voters… especially in particularly close races.

For the 3-year-old male category in 2024, I tried to identify the five horses I believe are most likely to produce the three finalists for the category and listed the pros and cons for each contender without injecting my opinion into the mix.

Which horse will take home the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old male on Jan. 23, 2025, at The Breakers Palm Beach in Florida? Let’s explore the candidates in alphabetical order.

Joe Labozzetta/Equi-Photo

Dornoch

Owners: West Paces Racing, R. A. Hill Stable, Belmar Racing and Breeding, Two Eight Racing, and Pine Racing Stables

Trainer: Danny Gargan

2024 Record: 6 starts – 3 wins – 0 seconds – 0 thirds

2024 Earnings: $2,169,875

Graded Stakes Wins: Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, Grade 1 NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes, Grade 2 Coolmore Fountain of Youth Stakes

Pros: Earned victory in Triple Crown race with half-length Belmont Stakes win; two Grade 1 wins and three graded stakes wins tied for best among this group; won Haskell Stakes, arguably most important race for 3-year-olds outside of Triple Crown and Travers Stakes; defeated Sierra Leone, Mystik Dan, and Seize the Grey in Belmont Stakes; name recognition as full-sibling to 2023 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve winner Mage with World Series champion Jayson Werth part of ownership group.

Cons: Lacked consistency of some of peers with three unplaced finishes in six races; never faced older horses; well-beaten in 10^th-place finish behind Mystik Dan in Kentucky Derby; finished 6 ½ lengths behind Sierra Leone in Toyota Blue Grass Stakes; lost by 8 ¼ lengths to Fierceness when fourth in DraftKings Travers Stakes.

Angelo Lieto/NYRA

Fierceness

Owner: Repole Stable

Trainer: Todd Pletcher

2024 Record: 6 starts – 3 wins – 1 second – 1 third

2024 Earnings: $2,753,600

Graded Stakes Wins: Grade 1 DraftKings Travers Stakes, Grade 1 Curlin Florida Derby, Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes Presented by Mohegan Sun

Pros: High profile as 2023 champion 2-year-old male from top barn and well-known owner; two Grade 1 wins and three graded stakes victories tied for best among contenders here; defeated Horse of the Year favorite Thorpedo Anna in memorable edition of Travers Stakes; beat Sierra Leone in both Jim Dandy and Travers Stakes wins; defeated Dornoch in Travers Stakes; beat Seize the Grey in Jim Dandy Stakes; second in only start versus older horses in $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Cons: Lacks a victory in any Triple Crown race; ran worst race of the year on biggest stage when 15^th and beaten by 24 ½ lengths in Kentucky Derby; did not win a race against older males; defeated by Sierra Leone in Breeders’ Cup Classic and by Mystik Dan in Kentucky Derby.

Eclipse Sportswire

Mystik Dan

Owners: Four G Racing, Lance Gasaway, Daniel Hamby III, and Valley View Farm

Trainer: Ken McPeek

2024 Record: 6 starts – 2 wins – 1 second – 1 third

2024 Earnings: $4,070,050

Graded Stakes Wins: Grade 1 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, Grade 3 Southwest Stakes

Pros: Won the most important race in the world for 3-year-old dirt horses when winning Kentucky Derby by a nose, defeating Sierra Leone, Dornoch, and Fierceness among others; returned on two weeks rest to finish second in the Preakness Stakes; strong narrative component as trainer-jockey swept Longines Kentucky Oaks with Thorpedo Anna and Derby with Mystik Dan; ranks second among this group in purse earnings for the year.

Cons: Only one Grade 1 win and two graded stakes wins for the year; lost four races by 2 ¼ lengths or more, including a pair of unplaced finishes; well-beaten by Seize the Grey in Preakness and Dornoch in Belmont Stakes; did not race at all in second half of season and thus never faced older males.

Eclipse Sportswire

Sierra Leone

Owners: Peter Brant, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, and Brook T. Smith

Trainer: Chad Brown

2024 Record: 7 starts – 3 wins – 2 seconds – 2 thirds

2024 Earnings: $5,911,250

Graded Stakes Wins: Grade 1 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, Grade 1 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes

Pros: Defeated older males in $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic for marquee big-stage win at World Championships; only 3-year-old among this group with victory against older males; leader among this group by purse earnings and tied for best with two Grade 1 wins and three graded stakes victories; never worse than third in seven 2024 starts, all in Grade 1 or Grade 2 races; defeated Fierceness in Breeders’ Cup Classic and Dornoch in Blue Grass Stakes; second by a nose in Kentucky Derby; third in Belmont Stakes.

Cons: Spent much of year as bridesmaid in marquee division races; lacks victory in any Triple Crown race; beaten by Fierceness in back-to-back starts this summer in Jim Dandy and Travers Stakes; lost to Mystik Dan in Kentucky Derby and Dornoch in Belmont Stakes; no significant narrative component to bolster profile.

Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO

Seize the Grey

Owner: MyRacehorse

Trainer: D. Wayne Lukas

2024 Record: 9 starts – 4 wins – 0 seconds – 1 third

2024 Earnings: $2,324,800

Graded Stakes Wins: Grade 1 Preakness Stakes, Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby, Grade 2 Pat Day Mile Stakes Presented by SAP    

Pros: Earned victory in Triple Crown race with 2 ¼-length Preakness Stakes win; defeated Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan in Preakness; two Grade 1 wins and three graded stakes wins tied for best among this group; solid narrative component with Preakness win for popular 88-year-old Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

Cons: Lacks consistency with four unplaced finishes from nine starts; lost to Sierra Leone in Blue Grass Stakes, Dornoch in Belmont Stakes, and Fierceness in Jim Dandy Stakes while beaten by 10 or more lengths in all three; closed out season unplaced in lone try against older males in Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.