HorseCenter: Predicting winners of the 2025 Eclipse Awards

With the 2025 Breeders’ Cup in the books, Brian Zipse and Matt Shifman offer their choices for the best of the best in American racing in 2025.

Things could change in the final eight weeks of the racing calendar, but with the biggest races now behind us there is little likely to change with these Eclipse Award predictions for what has been a very interesting year of racing.

Let us know if you agree with the choices for each category. Matt and Brian always enjoy hearing from their readers.

Champion 2-year-old

Brian: Ted Noffey. This one is easy. On the strength of three decisive Grade 1 victories in New York, Kentucky and California, the undefeated Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner is the obvious choice as America’s best juvenile male.

Matt: Ted Noffey. As the champion of this division Ted Noffey, will continue a five-year streak where the 2-year-old champion was trained by either Todd Pletcher or Bob Baffert. Ted Noffey’s convincing victory in the Juvenile was Pletcher’s third in the last four years and his fifth overall.

Champion 2-year-old filly

Brian: Cy Fair. A maiden less than a month ago, Super Corredora will get plenty of support for the award after her win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. But I am going to venture outside the box with this one. Cy Fair was an impressive winner at Saratoga, Woodbine and Del Mar. She also beat males and Europeans in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, and she did it with style. A turf sprinter does not win this award, but there is a first time for everything.

Matt: Super Corredora. The top horses did not run well in the Juvenile Fillies, and for the most part that was not a surprise. I did not expect much from Tommy Jo and Percy’s Bar as they were out of a very weak showing in the Alcibiades (G1). Explora disappointed as the 3-2 favorite for Bob Baffert. Super Corredora went right to the lead, which was definitely the place to be in the races that were run on the main track during the world championships. So by default, Super Corredora will win the Eclipse Award.

Champion 3-year-old male

Brian: Sovereignty. Kudos to Journalism for dancing every dance and doing it well, but there can be no doubt who the best 3-year-old in the nation was. Impressive wins in the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes and Travers (G1) make the strapping son of Into Mischief the choice. He also holds a 2-0 advantage over Journalism in their head-to-head meetings. I only hope the rivalry continues.

Matt: Sovereignty. He had a hold on this award since he won the Kentucky Derby and then just kept winning the big races. This was against a strong crop of 3-year-olds that got plenty of well-deserved attention throughout the year.

Champion 3-year-old filly

Brian: Nitrogen. There was a time this season when Good Cheer appeared to be well on her way, but that opportunity was put to rest by Nitrogen in the Alabama (G1). The daughter of Medaglia d’Oro got it done equally well on dirt and turf and finished the season with a wonderful record of 9: 6-3-0. She is the champion.

Matt: Nitrogen. This talented filly turned out to be a treat for racing fans in 2025. Nine starts in a year from January to November, including eight graded starts on turf and dirt with the last four in Grade 1 races. After all of that she managed to finish second in the Distaff and the Spinster (G1) against older horses.

Champion older dirt male 

Brian: Forever Young. Although I dislike the practice of giving Eclipse Awards to international horses who make only one start in North America, in this case I am happy to make an exception. Sierra Leone and Fierceness were very good in 2025, but their rival from Japan beat them in the big one. Enough said.

Matt: Forever Young. I agree with Brian about international horses getting Eclipse Awards with only one start in North America; I just do not like it. Forever Young was another one who took advantage of the speed-favoring track at Del Mar when he pressed the pace and took control of the race after a mile. Sierra Leone got far behind at the back of the field and made his usual late run to miss by a half-length.

Champion older dirt female

Brian: Thorpedo Anna. I was bitterly disappointed that the 2024 horse of the year did not seem interested in running in her swan song at Keeneland, but I still strongly believe she deserves this championship. Her four wins at the Grade 1 and Grade 2 level this season dwarf the total of Scylla, who impressed in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff but has only one win in six starts this year.

Matt: Thorpedo Anna. There were plenty of talented dirt female runners throughout the year. It was Thorpedo Anna who had the best overall record of the year. Yes, Scylla ran a big one in the Distaff, but that was her only victory of 2025 and the only Grade 1 win of her career.

Champion male sprinter

Brian: Book’em Danno. This could be the toughest decision of all for voters. Bentornato was a powerhouse in his two starts this year, but should he be a champion of that short a season and only a single graded-stakes win? Many will say yes to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint hero, but I prefer the deeper season of Book’em Danno. The New Jersey-bred gelding ran very well in all five starts and won four times. His sweep of three graded stakes at Saratoga was enough for me to call him the best sprinter in the land.

Matt: Bentornato. I was surprised and disappointed when I realized that Book’em Danno was going to skip the Breeders’ Cup. He was one of the horses who I wanted to see show off his talent at Del Mar. Bentornato was there, and he ran a big one to back up his other performance this year. The way he ran in the biggest race of the year made me think he would have been very hard to beat by any sprinter in 2025.

Champion female sprinter

Brian: Kopion. I believe a case could easily be made for four horses, but I am going to stick with Kopion, who was a dominant winner of a Grade 1 and a Grade 2 early this season. I don’t think she should be punished for trying the males in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Having said that, Sweet Azteca beat her and won both of her starts this year, and Splendora and Shisospicy were impressive winners of the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint and Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, respectively.

Matt: Shisospicy. This is a very tough call for me. After the Breeders’ Cup entries were drawn, I questioned the decision for Kopion to run against the guys in the Sprint. Both of her wins in 2025 were at the seven-furlong distance of the Filly & Mare Sprint, and she ended up fifth in the Sprint. That meant that she was winless in her last three starts with her prior victory in May at Churchill Downs.

A turf sprinter is up against it in this category, but I believe Shisospicy’s Breeders’ Cup victory against the boys gave her the best record for the year, with five wins from seven starts. That included three graded-stakes victories and a trip to Royal Ascot in June.

Champion male turf horse

Brian: Notable Speech. In a division devoid of standouts on the American side, the Europeans showed their dominance at the Breeders’ Cup. With strong wins in the Breeders’ Cup Mile and Woodbine Mile (G1), I believe this Appleby-Godolphin runner did enough to secure a championship. His turn of foot at Del Mar was a thing of beauty.

Matt: Notable Speech. Notable Speech was more than a one-win wonder. He won a pair of year-end Grade 1 races in North America, and there just were no American-based runners who were able to put together important victories in 2025.

Champion female turf horse

Brian: She Feels Pretty. The French filly Gezora bested her in the late stages of the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, but that was her only start in North America. Meanwhile, for She Feels Pretty it was yet another example of her class. She should be rewarded for her body of work this year, which saw her run in five strong races, winning three and finishing second in the other two. I believe Cherie DeVaux has a deserving champion here.

Matt: She Feels Pretty. There is no question that She Feels Pretty was the best American female turf horse, with a pair of Grade 1 victories and another in a Grade 2. She looked like a winner in the stretch at the Breeders’ Cup, but she got run down by the 9-1 Gezora. One victory in America for that French filly does not make an Eclipse Award winner.

Horse of the year

Brian: Sovereignty. Would he have won the Breeders’ Cup Classic? That is a good question and one we will never know for sure, but I think it will not matter in the horse of the year race. His excellent campaign of five wins and a second in six starts needs to be rewarded over Forever Young, who ran only once in North America. I also believe the complaint of never having beaten older horses is overrated. Every year and every horse is different and should be judged as such. Sovereignty should be America’s horse of the year.

Matt: Sovereignty. The horse of the year decision comes down to Sovereignty and Forever Young. Sovereignty’s 2025 campaign began in March, and his five wins included three Grade 1 wins in classic American races. Sovereignty shipped to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup Classic but had to scratch because of “shipping fever.” Forever Young’s win in the Classic was a Breeders’ Cup highlight, but that one victory in North America does not make a horse of the year.

Outstanding trainer

Brian: Bill Mott. If it is strictly a statistical award, then it probably should go to Brad Cox. But I don’t think it is, and I think Mott is deserving. The 72-year-old Hall of Famer enjoyed one of his finest seasons, led by Sovereignty, of course. But it was more than the big horse this year for Mott. He trained six other graded-stakes winners, including getting Scylla ready for a career-best performance in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Matt: Bill Mott. There seems to be a lot of chatter for Mott being the top trainer in 2025 which would be his fifth Eclipse Award adding on to 1995, 1996, 2011 and 2023. Scylla was the 16th Breeders’ Cup victory for Mott and his sixth in the Distaff. That number includes three when the race was briefly called the Ladies’ Classic.

Outstanding jockey

Brian: Flavien Prat. Junior Alvarado deserves consideration for many of the same reasons as Bill Mott, but I believe the seasons of Flavien Prat and Irad Ortiz Jr. outshine him. I will go with Prat over Ortiz for having more graded-stakes wins and more Grade 1 wins this season. That could change, but right now I like Prat in a tight race.

Matt: Flavien Prat. Prat and Ortiz are basically in a dead heat in earnings and very close in number of victories and win percentage. Prat had a pair of wins at this year’s Breeders’ Cup, and Ortiz had three. The graded-stakes results are amazing for both of them, but the edge goes to Prat. He is ahead of Ortiz in Grade 1 wins 12 to 9 and in total graded-stakes victories by 39 to 32.