Thorpedo Anna wins Horse of the Year * The Racing Biz

Thorpedo Anna wins Horse of the Year

Press Release
January 24, 2025

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 54^th 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 3-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.

Thorpedo Anna, who was bred in Kentucky by Judy Hicks, joins Rachel Alexandra (2009) as the only three-year-old fillies to win the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year.

*Thorpedo Anna Grade I Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing. Photo by Barbara Weidl/EQUI-PHOTO.*

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.

The Champion Female Turf Horse title went to Canadian-bred Moira, winner of the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf for owners Madaket Stables LLC, SF Racing, LLC, and X-Men Racing. Moira was trained by Kevin Attard.

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.

The complete list of 2024 Eclipse Award winners, and vote totals appear, below:

(Horse ages in parentheses where applicable; Country codes indicate a foreign breeding designation)