Blood-Horse

After losing the Kentucky Derby (G1) by a nose, it figured that Sierra Leone's drive for the 3-year-old male championship would come down to the final furlong of America's richest dirt race.

National Treasure may have won only two races in 2024, but he surely rose to the occasion at the right time.

After winning the 2024 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) for a second time after his initial success in 2022, Rebel's Romance is an Eclipse Award winner, announced as North America's champion older turf male at a ceremony Jan. 23.

Citizen Bull cemented his title as the top 2-year-old male in the land with a dazzling gate-to-wire triumph in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

They say patience will be rewarded, but in the case of Straight No Chaser patience was awarded Jan. 23 when the son of Speightster was honored as 2024's Eclipse Award champion male sprinter.

In his 10th year riding full time in America, Flavien Prat's ascension to the highest level of the sport was indisputably marked by the 32-year-old Frenchman setting records for stakes (82) and graded stakes victories (56) in a single season.

Chad Brown was named the 2024 Eclipse Award winner for outstanding trainer Jan. 23, capping off what the trainer called his "best year since I started training."

Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin becomes the first person or entity to win four consecutive dual Eclipse titles as outstanding owner and outstanding breeder.

Thorpedo Anna's stellar season won't be remembered just for winning the Kentucky Oaks (G1), but also for being named champion 3-year-old filly.

Godolphin's homebred Immersive swept the title for the champion 2-year-old female with a flawless 4-for-4 campaign in 2024.

Racing Hall of Fame member Steve Asmussen is North America's all-time winningest trainer, and in 2024 his youngest son Erik won more races than any other apprentice rider and was honored with the Eclipse Award for outstanding apprentice jockey.

Soul of an Angel made only two of her 11 starts last year at seven furlongs, but she made those races count. She won both races, including the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1), to vault to championship honors as champion female sprinter.

Moira's connections were rewarded for their belief in the 6-year-old mare, when she finally got her well-deserved win in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T), and clinched the title for 2024 champion turf female.

Already an accomplished steeplechase horse, Snap Decision reached new heights in 2024 when the 10-year-old son of classic-placed Hard Spun would sweep two of the signature events in United States steeplechase racing.

In the final start of her career, Idiomatic provided quite a memory, drawing off in the stretch to post a 6 1/2-length victory in the Spinster Stakes (G1) Oct. 6 at Keeneland. That effort likely lifted her to a second straight Eclipse Award.

America's Best Racing provides and At-a-Glance look at the 2025 Southwest Stakes (G3).

The $3 Million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) Feb. 25 at Gulfstream Park brings together a field of 12 in what should be an exhilarating race at the distance of 1 1/8 miles, with seven of the 12 entrants having earned $1 million or more.

It will be quite the achievement if Facteur Cheval can land the Al Maktoum Challenge (G1) Jan. 24 at Meydan. Having won the Dubai Turf (G1T) last March, he's now bidding to become the first horse to win a group 1 on dirt and grass in the UAE.

After two unsatisfying performances in Gulfstream Park's richest race, hard-knocking Skippylongstocking is back for another try Jan. 25 in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1).

In advance of the 2025 Pegasus World Cup day, 1/ST and the Ed Brown Society are pleased to announce the extension of their initial three-year partnership to provide opportunities for young people of color.