By Dick Jerardi
My Eclipse Award ballot arrived over the weekend. I will wait until after Christmas to finalize all my selections, but it is always a fascinating endeavor I enjoy mostly to relive the year that was.
Horse of the Year is almost certainly going to Sovereignty and I have no quarrel with that. After all, the colt did win the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, Jim Dandy and Travers in succession after a win in the Fountain of Youth and a second in the Florida Derby early in the season. The 109 Belmont Beyer and 115 Travers Beyer told the story inside the story.
Just wish Sovereignty had not gotten sick the week of the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Don’t know how he would have done against Forever Young, Sierra Leone and Fierceness that day at Del Mar, but I really would like to have seen it.
What a great 3-year-old class. Sovereignty and Journalism (Santa Anita Derby, Preakness, Haskell) were the only horses with three Grade I North American wins in 2025. It has not been formally announced, but it appears as if Sovereignty is going to run next year. Journalism and Pennsylvania Derby winner Baeza are definitely running in 2026 so can’t wait to see all of them matched up as 4-year-olds.
Todd Pletcher has had some really good 2-year-olds. I think Ted Noffey may be his best yet. The colt is 4-for-4 with three Grade I wins, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The running style reminds me of California Chrome – early speed to get great position and a runaway move in the stretch. By the great sire Into Mischief, Ted Noffey will enter 2026 with a great chance to win the Kentucky Derby.
Champion sprinter will be an interesting decision for the voters. Book’Em Danno won three graded stakes (a Grade I, II and III) at Saratoga and was a very close fourth in another Grade I at Churchill Downs. The horse’s connections chose not to contest the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Bentornato only ran twice this year, a dominating win in a listed stakes at Churchill Downs and an equally dominating win in the BC Sprint with Beyers of 108 and 110, respectively.
Even though I think Bentornato is the better horse, I am leaning to Book’em Danno. But I am still thinking about it.
I think Forever Young’s Breeders’ Cup Classic was the best performance I saw all year, but Sovereignty’s Belmont and Travers were also dazzling. Forever Young only ran four times in 2025 (once in North America) but the wins in the Saudi Cup and BC Classic in addition to his third in the Dubai World Cup added up to a cool $15.1 million earned. And the great horse from Japan will remain in training in 2026. Would love to see a matchup or matchups between Forever Young and Sovereignty next year.
Top jockey is once again going to come down to Irad Ortiz, Jr. and Flavien Prat. Both have broken Ortiz’s single season earnings record and are closing on $40 million.
Ortiz is going to lead the nation in wins (340 and counting) while Prat (295 wins) is going to lead in graded stakes wins (45, 13 Grade I) to 35 and 9 respectively for Ortiz.
Parx Hall of Famer Kendrick Camouche is finishing off the best year of his career. His $14.3 million in earnings is ninth in the country, Parx’s top jockey Mychel Sanchez (290 wins) is fifth in wins nationally.
Very close call for top trainer. Brad Cox ($29 million) is going to win the earnings title, but Chad Brown ($24 million) has 28 graded stakes (10 Grade I) to 26 and 5 for Cox. Bob Baffert has started just 326 horses to Cox’s 1,021 and Brown’s 871, but his 100 wins include 32 graded stakes and 8 Grade I wins.
Parx leader Jamie Ness is just about home as the nation’s wins leader with 339 and counting to Steve Asmussen’s 316 with two weeks to go.
Parx owners Madison Avenue Stable, Morris E. Kernan, Jr., and Jagger Inc. (Ness’s stable name) are second nationally with 120 wins to 151 to Bruno Schickendanz, whose stable has 1,119 starters to their 457.
Pietro Moran, who has put up tremendous numbers in Canada all year, is likely to win the top apprentice with his 137 wins and $5.8 million in earnings. Yedsit Hazlewood, who is starting to get some regular business at Parx, has been a revelation in Maryland with his 105 wins and $3.5 million earned. Christopher Elliott was as good as either of them, but his timing was not so good as he lost his apprentice allowance in July when he had 82 wins and $3.8 million in earnings. Those numbers are now 121 wins and $6.6 million.
