America’s Best Racing correspondent Tom Pedulla looks back at 10 stories that made 2024 a year to toast:

McPeek and wife Sherri hoist Derby trophy. (Coady Media)

HISTORIC SWEEP: Trainer Ken McPeek thought he had the horsepower to complete a historic sweep of the Longines Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve. He almost surely was alone in that thinking. It was not all that surprising when highly-regarded Thorpedo Anna controlled the Oaks by 4 ¾ lengths. But few anticipated that 18.61-1 Mystik Dan would slip through on the rail as part of Brian Hernandez Jr.’s magical Derby ride to prevail in a three-horse photo finish. McPeek became the first trainer to double up since “Plain Ben” Jones took the Oaks with Real Delight and the Derby with Hill Gail in 1952. Hernandez emerged as the first jockey since Calvin Borel (Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, 50.60-1 Mine That Bird) in 2009 to sweep the premier races for 3-year-olds at Churchill Downs. “I believe in mojo. I believe in positive energy and we had a lot of that,” McPeek said.

Click image to purchase shirt.

ONE FAST FILLY: Thorpedo Anna closed a sensational season when she rolled gate-to-wire for Hernandez Jr. in the $2 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar, her sixth victory in seven starts. Her fifth Grade 1 triumph, by a comfortable margin of 2 ½ lengths, padded her season earnings to $3,653,050, and provided her trainer with a huge breakthrough. McPeek had gone winless with his first 37 Breeders’ Cup starters, placing second seven times and third on 10 occasions. Co-owner Mark Edwards said of Thorpedo Anna, the latest find for McPeek as a $40,000 yearling, “Boy, she is so special. She’s such a treat to be around. She’s feisty and she’s fast.” She also is expected to be the seventh female to be honored as Horse of the Year.   

Prat celebrates a new record on Dec. 26. (BENOIT photo)

GREAT MOVE: Jockey Flavien Prat’s decision to move East after he had established himself as the top West Coast jockey was rewarded beyond his wildest dreams. The leading candidate for the Eclipse Award as North America’s leading rider used this season to break the record for graded stakes wins and stakes wins. Jerry Bailey’s mark for graded-stakes wins had stood since 2003 until Prat, 32, guided pacesetting King of Gosford to victory in the Mathis Mile Stakes on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita Park for his 56^th graded stakes triumph. The native of France moved past Irad Ortiz Jr. when he produced his 80^th stakes win overall, getting Godolphin homebred Poster home first in the Dec. 7 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct to raise the bar of a standard Ortiz Jr. set two years before. “It is definitely worth all the work when something like this happens,” Prat said of his extraordinary season. 

150^th KENTUCKY DERBY: The milestone Derby will be remembered as one for the ages as it produced the first three-horse photo finish since 1947 before 156,710 frenzied fans. Hernandez took a page from three-time Derby winner Borel with a rail-hugging trip, got an opening inside that Mystik Dan bravely slipped through, and pounded toward the finish with Sierra Leone and Japan’s Forever Young in hot pursuit. To the naked eye, it was impossible to separate the hard-driving trio. The Derby is renowned as “the most exciting two minutes in sports.” Hernandez called the prolonged wait for the result of the photo “the longest two minutes in sports.” Finally, an outrider gave him news he had waited a lifetime for. Mystik Dan got up by a nose against Sierra Leone with troubled Forever Young a nostril behind him.

Baffert congratulates Lukas after the Preakness. (Eclipse Sportswire)

SEIZE THE DAY: Legendary D. Wayne Lukas approaches every waking moment with a seize-the-day mentality. That zest for life helped him to become the oldest trainer to win a Triple Crown race when front-running Seize the Grey splashed through the mud to provide him with his seventh Preakness Stakes win and 15^th Triple Crown triumph overall. “People always ask which Preakness is the sweetest, and the last one is the sweetest,” said Lukas, who turned 89 in September and still climbs aboard his pony to oversee training. Said admiring fellow trainer Bob Baffert: “If you are going to get beat, you want to see Wayne win. He still has it. He’s still a great trainer.” The Preakness marked the first Grade 1 for jockey Jaime Torres.

Historic marker for Wilson. (Michael Burns/Woodbine)

EARNINGS MARK: Emma-Jayne Wilson surpassed Julie Krone for the all-time earnings record by a female jockey when she rode debuting Perfect Lady Bee for trainer Roger Attfield at Woodbine in July. Her 1,903^rd victory from 14,300 mounts lifted her earnings to $90,152,742. Krone, who rode when purses were not as high from 1981-2004, amassed $90,126,584 in winning 3,704 times from 21,412 starts. Wilson said she viewed Krone as an “equal partner.” She explained, “We have the same passion for equality in the game.” 

Sierra Leone wins the Classic. (Eclipse Sportswire)

RIGHT ON TIME: Imagine what it must be like to have your horse lose the mile-and-a-quarter Kentucky Derby by a mere nose. Then imagine following that heartbreak with a third-place effort in the Belmont Stakes, second in the Jim Dandy Stakes Presented by Mohegan Sun and third in the DraftKings Travers Stakes. The connections of Sierra Leone lived that. They were ultimately rewarded as the most opportune time, when the deep closer benefitted from a scorching pace and repelled Fierceness by 1 ½ lengths in the $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar for trainer Chad Brown and Prat. “He took a tough beat in the Derby, but we did it with class and respect and we just went back to the drawing board and worked on getting him straight,” Brown said after his first Classic triumph and 19^th Breeders’ Cup win overall, one shy of Aidan O’Brien and Lukas for the all-time lead. 

A triumphant Werth and Dornoch connections. (Janet Garaguso/NYRA)

SPECIAL BELMONT: Due to ongoing construction at Belmont Park, the 156^th edition of the Belmont Stakes was moved to Saratoga Race Course and reduced from the traditional mile-and-a-half marathon to a mile and a quarter to suit the configuration of the track. The move could not have gone any better for determined Dornoch, trained by Danny Gargan, ridden by Luis Saez, and owned by a group including former Major League Baseball All-Star Jayson Werth. The full brother to 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage allowed Gargan to register his first Grade 1 triumph. It can be argued, though, that the biggest winner was the New York Racing Association. Belmont Stakes Day generated an all-sources handle of $125,748,941, a record for a year with no Triple Crown possibility. 

Fierceness (right) holds off Thorpedo Anna at the Spa. (Adam Coglianese/NYRA)

TREMENDOUS TRAVERS: Two-year-old champion Fierceness had been an enigma, flashing brilliance at times but also failing to put together consecutive victories. That all changed at Saratoga this summer when he backed up a trip to the winner’s circle at the conclusion of the Jim Dandy Stakes with a dramatic head score in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes. Fierceness barely held off surging Thorpedo Anna in the “Mid-Summer Derby.” Trainer Todd Pletcher, after registering his 200^th Grade 1 victory in the Travers, credited a difficult decision he made with owner Mike Repole. “I really think the key to the success in the Jim Dandy and Travers was skipping the Belmont,” Pletcher said. “For whatever reason, the (Kentucky) Derby was really hard on him.” After dominating the Curlin Florida Derby, Fierceness inexplicably finished 15^th in the run for the roses. 

REWARDING CONCEPT: What a year it was for MyRacehorse, which makes ownership possible for the vast majority of people through the purchase of micro shares. MyRacehorse was a stakeholder when Authentic won the 2020 Kentucky Derby. It went a step beyond that when it went on its own and purchased Seize the Grey for $300,000 as a yearling, eventually assigned him to Lukas to train, and sold shares to 2,570 people. Michael Behrens, founder of MyRacehorse, was elated when the son of Arrogate developed into the Preakness winner and later added the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby. “This means everything for our business,” Behrens said after the Preakness, adding, “You saw the energy out there. There is so much excitement and tears.” Icing on the cake would come when MyRacehorse’s Straight No Chaser delivered in the $2 million Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint.