Moira Voted Eclipse Award Female Turf Champion

From her debut win in the prestigious Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Woodbine in 2021 to the biggest win of her career, the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar in November 2024, MOIRA proved she is one of this country’s very best racehorses.

Moira’s North American ride with her Canadian and American owners, X-Men Racing, SF Bloodstock and Madaket Stable, Ontario trainer Kevin Attard and breeder Adena Springs, culminated on January 23 in south Florida at the Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards.

The voting totals were Moira, 176; She Feels Pretty, 21; Cinderella’s Dream (GB), 8; Didia (ARG) 1; Gina Romantica, 1 and Sacred Wish, 1.

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Donato Lanni, founder of X-Men, a group of Canadian horse owners and friends, accepted the award at the lavish ceremony with many of the team members at his side.

“I want to thank Kevin Attard for doing a wonderful job, a great job. with the filly for four years,” said Lanni, who picked out Moira from the 2020 Keeneland September sale for $150,000. “We were privileged to have Flavian Prat on her [for the Breeders’ Cup]. I want to thank my owners, partners, and my friends, Tom Ryan, from SF, Gavin Murphy, Sol Kumin, the luckiest guy I have ever seen, and the X-Men partners. And thank you Moira, we love, we miss you so much.”

Moira was sold for $4.3 million at the November sale at Fasig-Tipton to Yulong Investments in Australia. She earned $2.99 million from seven wins in 17 races. Among her other significant wins was the Queen’s Plate and Woodbine Oaks.

Moira joins Canadian legends such as La Prevoyante, Dance Smartly, Awesome Again and others as Canadian-bred Eclipse champions.

Champion Female Turf Horse: Moira – Accepted by Donato Lanni for owners Madaket Stables, LLC, SF Racing, LLC, and X-Men Racing. (SARAH KAUSS PHOTOGRAPHY FOR NTRA)

THORPEDO ANNA was a dominant winner of the 2024 HORSE OF THE YEAR trophy, just the second three-year-old filly to ever win the honour after Rachel Alexandra.

All of the Eclipse award winners and and vote totals are below.

(NTRA Press release):

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB) announced tonight that the filly Thorpedo Anna, who won six of seven races last year including the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), was named the 2024 Horse of the Year at the 54th Annual Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards ceremony, presented by John Deere, Keeneland, The Jockey Club, and the NTRA at The Breakers Palm Beach.

The Eclipse Awards, honoring excellence in North American Thoroughbred racing, are voted on by the NTRA, consisting of member racetrack racing officials and Equibase field personnel, Daily Racing Form (DRF), and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters.

Owned by Brookdale Racing, Inc., Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks and Magdalena Racing, and trained by Kenny McPeek, Thorpedo Anna received 193 out of a possible 240 first-place votes for Horse of the Year. As a three-year-old, Thorpedo Anna won the Fantasy Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park, the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs, the DK Horse Acorn Stakes (G1) and the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, the Cotillion (G1) at Parx Racing, and the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at Del Mar. Her lone defeat in 2024 came in the DraftKings Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga against male rivals when she finished second by a diminishing head to 2023 Eclipse Award winning Two-Year-Old Male Fierceness. In addition to the Horse of the Year crown, Thorpedo Anna was unanimous choice by the voters for Champion Three-Year-Old Filly.

Following Thorpedo Anna in the Horse of the Year voting were three-year-olds Sierra Leone, with 10 votes, and Fierceness with five votes. Sierra Leone, owned by Peter Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg and Brook Smith, was voted Champion Three-Year-Old Male powered by a victory in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1), a close second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) and a season-ending triumph in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).

Sierra Leone is trained by Chad Brown and was ridden in the Breeders’ Cup Classic by Flavien Prat. Brown was honored with his fifth Outstanding Trainer Eclipse Award. He led all North American trainers in purses with more than $30.8 million, and in graded stakes victories with 47. Prat, a native of France, established records for most graded stakes wins by a jockey with 56 and most stakes wins overall at 82, while topping the jockeys earnings list with more than $37 million.

It was also a big night for trainers Bob Baffert and Brad Cox, who each trained two Eclipse Award winners.

Baffert saddled SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Diana Bashor, Determined Stables, Robert Masterson, Tom Ryan, Waves Edge Capital LLC and Catherine Donovan’s Citizen Bull, winner of the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, to the Two-Year-Old Male Championship. Baffert also trained National Treasure to the Champion Older Dirt Male title. Owned by SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Diane Bashor, Determined Stables, Robert Masterson, Tom Ryan, Waves Edge Capital LLC, and Catherine Donovan, National Treasure won the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park and the Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap (G1) at Saratoga Race Course during his four-year-old season.

Cox trained Juddmonte’s Idiomatic to her second consecutive Older Dirt Female championship with victories in the Fasig-Tipton La Troienne Stakes (G1), the Molly Pitcher Stakes (G2) at Monmouth Park, and the Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland. The Cox-trained Immersive won the Champion Two-Year-Old Filly title, taking the Spinaway (G1) at Saratoga, the Darley Alcibiades (G1) at Keeneland and the NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).

Immersive is owned and was bred by Godolphin, the powerful racing and breeding operation from the United Arab Emirates. Godolphin was named Outstanding Owner for the eighth time, and Outstanding Breeder for the fourth consecutive year, and fifth overall. Godolphin led all North American owners earnings in 2024 with $20,234,455, and its runners combined for 10 Grade 1 victories. Godolphin also led all North American breeders in 2024 with progeny earnings of $23,151,014. In addition to Immersive, Godolphin’s Rebel’s Romance (IRE), a winner on three continents in 2024, was voted Champion Male Turf Horse for trainer Charlie Appleby.

Two more Breeders’ Cup winners captured Eclipse Awards in the Sprint divisions. C2 Racing Stable LLC, Agave Racing Stable, and Ken Reimer’s Soul of an Angel, trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., won the PNC Bank Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) and took home the Female Sprinter title. The Dan Blacker-trained Straight No Chaser, who won the Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) for MyRacehorse, claimed the Male Sprinter title.

Bruton Street US’s Snap Decision won Champion Steeplechase Horse. Trained by Jack Fisher, the 10-year-old Snap Decision won two Grade 1 races, taking the Calvin Houghland Iroquois Stakes at Percy Warner Park in Tennessee and the American Grand National at Far Hills, New Jersey.

Completing the human awards, Erik Asmussen was voted Outstanding Apprentice Jockey. The Texas native led all North American apprentice riders with 127 wins and earnings of more than $5 million. He is the son of Eclipse Award-winning trainer Steve Asmussen, and his uncle, Cash Asmussen, won the 1979 Eclipse Award as outstanding Apprentice Jockey.

Two-Year-Old Male: Citizen Bull
Two-Year-Old Filly: Immersive
Three-Year-Old Male: Sierra Leone
Three-Year-Old Filly: Thorpedo Anna
Older Dirt Male: National Treasure (4)
Older Dirt Female: Idiomatic (5)
Male Sprinter: Straight No Chaser (5)
Female Sprinter: Soul of an Angel (5)
Male Turf Horse: Rebel’s Romance (IRE) (6)
Female Turf Horse: Moira (5)
Steeplechase Horse: Snap Decision (10)
Owner: Godolphin LLC
Breeder: Godolphin
Jockey: Flavien Prat
Apprentice Jockey: Erik Asmussen
Trainer: Chad Brown
Horse of the Year: Thorpedo Anna

In voting that concluded on Jan. 2, 2025, Eclipse Awards voters cast their ballots to rank the top three horses and individuals in each Championship division on a 10-5-1 point system.

This voting established the top three finalists in each division, whose names were released on Jan. 5, 2025.

The tallies below represent only first-place votes from members of the consolidated voting entities, NTRA, Daily Racing Form, and National Turf Writers And Broadcasters.

Voter participation rate: 208/240 = 87%

(Name, First-Place Votes)

Two-Year-Old Male

Citizen Bull, 204; Chancer McPatrick, 2; Henri Matisse (IRE), 1; Voter Abstention, 1.

Two-Year-Old Filly

Immersive, 202; Lake Victoria (IRE), 6.

Three-Year-Old Male

Sierra Leone, 169; Fierceness, 34; Dornoch, 2; Seize the Grey, 1; Voter Abstentions, 2.

Three-Year-Old Filly

Thorpedo Anna, 208.

Older Dirt Male

National Treasure, 148; Full Serrano (ARG), 19; Kingsbarns, 7; Senor Buscador, 6; Mullikin, 5; Next, 5; Subsanador (ARG), 4; Straight No Chaser, 4; Post Time, 3; Newgate, 2; Voter Abstentions, 5.

Older Dirt Female

Idiomatic, 144; Raging Sea, 38; Adare Manor, 23; Soul of an Angel, 1; Sweet Azteca, 1; Voter Abstention, 1.

Male Sprinter

Straight No Chaser, 125; Cogburn, 38; The Chosen Vron, 23; Mullikin, 11; Raging Torrent, 2; Starlust (GB), 2; Gun Pilot, 1; Locked, 1; Post Time, 1; Voter Abstentions, 4.

Female Sprinter

Soul of an Angel, 168; Sweet Azteca, 11; Ways and Means, 10; Society, 8; Ag Bullet, 6, Emery, 2; Kopion, 1; Vahva, 1; Voter Abstention, 1.

Male Turf Horse

Rebel’s Romance, 89; Johannes, 81; Carl Spackler (IRE), 15; More Than Looks, 14; Cogburn, 6; Far Bridge, 2; Trikari, 1.

Female Turf Horse

Moira, 176; She Feels Pretty, 21; Cinderella’s Dream (GB), 8; Didia (ARG) 1; Gina Romantica, 1; Sacred Wish, 1.

Steeplechase Horse

Snap Decision, 182; Carloun (IRE), 7; Freddy Flintstone, 3; Too Friendly (GB), 1; Voter Abstentions, 15.

Owner

Godolphin, LLC, 193; Brookdale Racing, Inc., Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks, and Magdalena Racing, 5; Klaravich Stables, Inc., 4; Coolmore and Partners, 1; SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, LLC, Robert E. Masterson, Stonestreet Stables, Jay Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital, LLC, and Catherine Donovan, 1. Voter Abstentions, 4.

Breeder

Godolphin, 176; Judy Hicks, 21; Calumet Farm, 3; Brereton Jones, 2; Coleswood Farm, Inc., 1; Voter Abstentions, 5.

Trainer

Chad Brown, 101; Kenny McPeek, 88; Brad Cox, 9; Steve Asmussen, 8; Bob Baffert, 1; Voter Abstention, 1.

Jockey

Flavien Prat, 202; Irad Ortiz Jr., 5; Brian Hernandez Jr., 1.

Apprentice Jockey

Erik Asmussen, 168; J.G. Torrealba, 15; Gabriel Moldonado, 8; Sofia Vives, 8; Manuel Americano, 1; Pietro Moran, 1; Voter Abstentions, 7.

Horse of the Year

Thorpedo Anna, 193; Sierra Leone, 10; Fierceness, 5.

***

Special Eclipse Award

Frank Taylor and the Stable Recovery Program received a Special Eclipse Award.

Horseplayer of the Year

Mike Gillum was presented with an Eclipse Award as the 2024 Horseplayer of the Year.

Media Eclipse Awards

Media Eclipse Awards also are given in the categories of photography, multimedia, news/enterprise writing, feature/commentary writing, television–-feature, and television–live racing programming to recognize members of the media for outstanding coverage of Thoroughbred racing. The 2024 Media Eclipse Awards winners, determined by a judges’ panel for each category and previously announced, are:

Live Television Programming – NBC Sports, “The 150th Kentucky Derby” – Lindsay Schanzer, Senior Producer, May 4, 2024

Feature Television Programming – NBC Sports, “The Impossible Dream,” – Rachel Goodman, Producer, May 4, 2024

Writing – Feature/Commentary – Chris McGrath, Thoroughbred Daily News – “Lunching with Legends at Lil’s,” March 26, 2024

Writing – News/Enterprise – Sean Clancy, The Saratoga Special – “Two for the Show,” Aug. 28, 2024

Photography – Scott Serio, “Night Rider – Skippylongstocking wins the Charles Town Classic,” Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred, October 2024

Multimedia – Sue Finley, Thoroughbred Daily News, “After Saving Two Horses from a Kill Pen, Stewart Aims to do More to End Slaughter,” July 15, 2024

FanDuel Racing-NTRA 2024 Moment of the Year

The connections of Seize the Grey were honored as the winner of the FanDuel Racing-NTRA Moment of the Year, as voted on by fans. The three-year-old colt, owned by MyRacehorse and trained by five-time Eclipse Award winner D. Wayne Lukas, captured the Preakness Stakes (G1).