Thorpedo Anna — and Erik Asmussen! — head Eclipse finalists
Based in part on an NTRA press release (Coady Media/Jetta Vaughns photo of apprentice jockey Erik Asmussen winning the Nov. 2 Bet On Sunshine Stakes aboard #5 Gulfport)
LEXINGTON, Ky. (January 5, 2025) – The Kenny McPeek-trained Thorpedo Anna, the favorite to be honored as champion 3-year-old filly and Horse of the Year, is among the headliners of the 2024 Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards finalists announced yesterday by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form and National Turf Writers and Broadcasters.
The Apprentice Jockey Eclipse normally doesn’t get a lot of attention but the leader, Erik Asmussen, is a great story. More below.
The Eclipse Awards recognize excellence through the past year in Thoroughbred racing. Winners in 17 horse and human categories will be announced on FanDuel TV, and other outlets, during the 54th Annual Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards, presented by John Deere, Keeneland, and The Jockey Club, on Thursday, January 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET. The evening will culminate with the announcement of the 2024 Horse of the Year.
Erik Asmussen, the youngest of Hall of Fame trainer Steve and Julie Asmussen’s three sons, quietly led all apprentice jockeys in North America in both wins (127) and purse earnings (more than $5 million) to make him the favorite to join his uncle, Cash Asmussen (the 1979 winner), as an Eclipse Award apprentice jockey. Steve Asmussen, America’s all-time win leader with no one else close, won the Eclipse as outstanding trainer in 2008 and 2009.
Erik started the year riding in Texas before moving on to Ellis Park and Horseshoe Indianapolis after Lone Star Park closed, moving on to Churchill Downs and Keeneland (and currently riding primarily at Oaklawn Park). He won six stakes in 2024, capped by Churchill Downs’ $300,000 Bet On Sunshine aboard Gulfport for his dad. After the race, Erik said he had weighed 140 pounds when he started getting on Gulfport as an exercise rider.
“This is horse ran a huge race today and he’s a very special horse to me,” he said after the win for owners Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt, Jackpot Farm, Whispering Oaks Farm LLC and Coolmore Stud. “I think I started getting on him when I weighed 140 pounds and now I got to ride him for a stakes win. I can’t thank the connections enough for giving me the opportunity to ride him this afternoon.”
Oldest brother Keith is also a successful young jockey but twice has had his career shut down by injuries. Keith Asmussen never claimed his apprentice weight allowance, believing the extra few pounds he could carry on his lean frame allowed him to be a stronger rider.
Among other finalists either based or with multiple stakes wins in Kentucky:
// 3-year-old fillies: Thorpedo Anna, winner of the Kentucky Oaks, Breeders’ Cup Distaff and trained by Kentucky-based Kenny McPeek, could be a unanimous selection as 3-year-old filly champ and is the favorite to be voted Horse of the Year (for which finalists were not announced). Another finalist, She Feels Pretty from the barn of Lexington-based Cherie DeVaux, stamped herself as the top 3-year-old grass filly in winning Keeneland’s G1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup and Santa Anita’s G1 American Oaks. She Feels Pretty is also a finalist for female turf champ.
// 2-year-old fillies: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Immersive, winner of Keeneland’s Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades, and Churchill Downs’ G2 Golden Rod winner Good Cheer are both 4-for-4, trained by Louisville’s Brad Cox and owned and bred by Lexington-based Godolphin.
// older filly or mare: Idiomatic, another Cox trainee, missed a chance to defend her 2023 Breeders’ Cup Distaff crown after suffering a career-ending injury but remains the favorite to repeat as champion older filly or mare with a season that included big victories in Churchill Downs’ G1 La Troienne and Keeneland’s Juddmonte Spinster. She’s also a homebred for Juddmonte.
// Outstanding trainer: McPeek and Cox are finalists, along with Chad Brown, for leading trainer – an award Brown and Cox have won multiple times while McPeek is seeking his first Eclipse. Godolphin and Juddmonte Farm, whose U.S. operation likewise is based in Lexington, are finalists as outstanding owner.
// Outstanding jockey: Tyler Gaffalione, a perennial leader at Churchill Downs, Kentucky Downs and Keeneland, is a finalist. He’s joined by the overwhelming favorite, record-setting Flavien Prat, and multiple Eclipse-winner Irad Ortiz Jr. – both of whom are regulars at Keeneland and on Churchill Downs’ and Kentucky Downs’ big days.
// Male sprinter: Cogburn, the top grass sprinter in the country, might have been the favorite to be champion sprinter had he not been upset in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. His season included winning Churchill Downs’ Grade 2 Turf Sprint and Kentucky Downs’ G2, $2 million Ainsworth Turf Sprint.
// 3-year-old colts and geldings: Sierra Leone, winner of Keeneland’s G1 Toyota Blue Grass and the $7M Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, is co-owned by Louisville’s Brook T. Smith.
// Male turf: Carl Spackler started his season winning Churchill Downs’ $300K Opening Verse and took Keeneland’s G1 Coolmore Turf Mile.
Of the 240 eligible voters represented by the NTRA, consisting of racetrack racing officials and Equibase field personnel, the NTWAB, and Daily Racing Form, 208 (87%) took part in the voting. Finalists were determined in each category by voters’ top three selections, using a 10-5-1 point basis. Eclipse Award winners are determined solely by first-place votes.
The 2024 Eclipse Awards Finalists, with the exception of Horse of the Year, (in alphabetical order) are:
Two-Year-Old Male: Chancer McPatrick, Citizen Bull, Gaming
Two-Year-Old Filly: Good Cheer, Immersive, Lake Victoria (IRE)
Three-Year-Old Male: Dornoch, Fierceness, Sierra Leone
Three-Year-Old Filly: Cinderella’s Dream (GB), She Feels Pretty, Thorpedo Anna
Older Dirt Male: Full Serrano (ARG), National Treasure, Straight No Chaser
Older Dirt Female: Adare Manor, Idiomatic, Raging Sea
Male Sprinter: Cogburn, Straight No Chaser, The Chosen Vron
Female Sprinter: Society, Soul of an Angel, Ways and Means
Male Turf Horse: Carl Spackler (IRE), Johannes, Rebel’s Romance (IRE)
Female Turf Horse: Cinderella’s Dream (GB), Moira, She Feels Pretty
Steeplechase Horse: Carloun (IRE), L’Imperator (FR), Snap Decision
Owner: Godolphin LLC, Juddmonte, Klaravich Stables, Inc.
Breeder: Calumet Farm, Godolphin, Judy Hicks
Trainer: Chad Brown, Brad Cox, Kenny McPeek
Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione, Irad Ortiz Jr., Flavien Prat
Apprentice Jockey: Erik Asmussen, Gabriel Maldonado, J.G. Torrealba
Finalists for Horse of the Year will be announced during the live show on January 23. In addition to honoring the 17 winners in the horse and human categories, Mike Gillum will receive the Eclipse Award as the 2024 Horseplayer of the Year. Members of the media will be honored for outstanding coverage in six categories.
Eclipse Awards voting is conducted by the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB), the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), and Daily Racing Form. The Eclipse Awards ceremony is produced by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association.
The Eclipse Awards are named after the great 18th-century racehorse and foundation sire, Eclipse, who began racing at age five and was undefeated in 18 starts, including eight walkovers. Eclipse sired the winners of 344 races, including three Epsom Derbies.
