Southern California, shut out of last year’s Eclipse Awards, stormed back with three awards at Thursday’s Eclipse Awards ceremony in Palm Beach, Fla.
None of the awards were a surprise with two of three winners winning a Breeders’ Cup race in their last outing.
Citizen Bull was the winner of the 2-Year-Old Male Eclipse after winning his last two races, the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile and American Pharoah. He did lose his second start finishing third in the Del Mar Futurity but won his maiden race at Del Mar.
The $675,000 purchase, headed by a consortium of owners including SF Racing and Starlight Racing, is the third favorite in the Kentucky Derby futures pool at 17-1 behind stablemate Barnes (6-1) and East Avenue (15-1), winner of the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland.
National Treasure, winner of the 2023 Preakness, was named the winner of the Older Dirt Male award after wins in the Pegasus and Met Mile. In his last race, he finished second in the California Crown. He is also trained by Baffert and owned by most of the group that owns Citizen Bull.
The other local winner was Straight No Chaser for trainer Dan Blacker and owned by MyRacehorse, an ownership group that sells microshares of horses. The 5-year-old colt won his last two races after transferring to the Blacker barn with wins in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship and Breeders’ Cup Sprint. He has won six of 10 lifetime.
The big winner of the night was the now 4-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna, the first female horse to win since 2011 when Havre de Grace was given that honor. Zenyatta won the award in 2010. Thorpedo Anna also won the 3-Year-Old Filly award in the only unanimous vote.
“She’s only started, she’s going to keep running … it’s been a fantastic ride,” trainer Kenny McPeek said.
Somewhat of a surprise was Chad Brown winning trainer of year honors over McPeek. Brown had the best numbers but McPeek won both the Kentucky Oaks (Thorpedo Anna) and Kentucky Derby (Mystik Dan) on back-to-back days. Brown had 101 first-place votes and McPeek had 88.
Even though the Eclipse panel announces first-, second- and third-place finalists, only first place votes are counted in determining the winners.
The awards are voted on by members of the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters Assn., a group of both journalists and publicists, some paid by the tracks, the National Thoroughbred Racing Assn. and the Daily Racing Form. Only the NTWAB reveals its individual voting results. The Times does not vote in the Eclipse Awards.
Other winners were: Immersive (2-Year-Old Filly), Sierra Leone, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, (3-Year-Old Male), Idiomatic (Older Dirt Female), Soul of an Angel (Female Sprinter) and Rebel’s Romance (Male Turf Horse).
Former Southern California-based jockey Flavien Prat won his first Eclipse as top jockey.