As 2024 comes to an end, this seems like a good time to look back at the past year and reflect on the best races of the year. Here is one racing fan’s highly subjective list of the top 10 races of 2024, with the criteria being stretch battles, close finishes, or exceptional performances in stakes races run at the highest level of competition. We hope you had a good year, and that you will enjoy plenty of good racing and wagering in the year ahead. Good luck and happy holidays!

1. Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve: Mystik Dan Prevails in a Three-Horse Photo Finish

The world’s most famous race does not always turn out to be the best one of the year, but it indeed was in 2024 as Mystik Dan, Sierra Leone, and Forever Young rallied to battle through the Churchill Downs stretch in front of 156,710 fans to end up in a tight three-way photo finish that went to Mystik Dan by a nose over Sierra Leone in a thriller. It was another nose back to Japanese invader Forever Young in third.

2. DraftKings Travers Stakes:  Fierceness Outlasts Thorpedo Anna

The “Mid-Summer Derby” brought together most of the principal contenders in the 3-year-old division, and then added leading 3-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna into the mix for an historic renewal of Saratoga’s signature race. The 2024 Travers did not disappoint. Thorpedo Anna ran her heart out only to lose by a head to Fierceness in her only defeat of the year.

3. Belmont Stakes: Redemption for Dornoch

The 156^th Belmont Stakes was the focal point of a three-day June racing festival at Saratoga. The Triple Crown was not on the line, but the Belmont brought together Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan and Preakness Stakes winner Seize the Grey in a showdown that also included Sierra Leone and other top 3-year-olds. In the end it was Dornoch, bouncing back from a 10^th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, who proved best by a half a length after a game stretch battle to hold off Mindframe.

4. Longines Kentucky Oaks: Thorpedo Anna Dominates

Thorpedo Anna went on to complete a Horse of the Year-caliber campaign in 2024, so it’s hard to believe she wasn’t even the favorite when she entered the starting gate in the Longines Kentucky Oaks on May 3 at Churchill Downs. The dark bay or brown filly blew away the field that day by 4 ¾ lengths in a race that was a springboard to dominant season that ended with her easy win in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

5. Alabama Stakes: Power Squeeze Tops Candied in a Thriller

Thorpedo Anna bypassed the Alabama Stakes at Saratoga, but the 3-year-old fillies that did compete put on quite a show. Power Squeeze and Candied rallied from off the pace and hooked up in deep stretch with Power Squeeze getting the exciting decision by a head.

6. Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap: National Treasure All the Way

In addition to his win in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Presented by Baccarat in January, National Treasure’s wire-to-wire complete destruction of the field in his 6 ¼-length Met Mile victory sealed his likely Eclipse Award atop the older handicap division in 2024.

7. Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic: Sierra Leone Rallies Past Fierceness

Highly-priced and highly-regarded Sierra Leone put it all together in November, likely clinching the 3-year-old Eclipse Award with his decisive 1 ½-length win over Fierceness in the $7 million BC Classic at Del Mar, the 2024 season’s climactic race.

8. Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf: Welcome Return for Rebel’s Romance

In the year’s best turf race, 2022 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Rebel’s Romance became the first non-consecutive two-time winner of the race as he held on to win by a neck at Del Mar over a pair of hard-charging Japanese invaders.

9. Jaipur Stakes: Cogburn Blazes to a New Course Record

Cogburn won several turf sprints in 2024, and none was more impressive than the Jaipur at Saratoga when he set a course record in a wire-to-wire 3 ½-length tour-de-force win, finishing 5 ½ furlongs in a blazing :59.80.

10. FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Presented by TAA: Citizen Bull Pulls the Upset

The search for the 2025 Kentucky Derby winner begins in earnest in the BC Juvenile at Del Mar, which was won in wire-to-wire fashion by Bob Baffert trainee Citizen Bull. The bay colt beat a loaded field including Gaming, Chancer McPatrick, East Avenue, and many more who may reappear on the road to the 2025 Triple Crown.