Thursday night’s (January 22, 2026) 55th Eclipse Awards at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida, turned out to be a coronation ceremony for Sovereignty.
Acclaimed as the 2025 Horse of the Year in a landslide, Sovereignty was the nearly unanimous choice for champion three-year-old male after sweeping the Kentucky Derby (G1), Belmont (G1), Jim Dandy (G2), and Travers (G1).
Sovereignty’s connections also scooped up awards. Hall of Famer Bill Mott received his fifth Eclipse as outstanding trainer. Godolphin swept both outstanding owner and breeder awards, the fifth straight year that Sheikh Mohammed’s elite operation turned the double.
It’s the sixth consecutive owner award, and record-extending eighth overall, for Godolphin, which also campaigned champion turf male Notable Speech. The Breeder’s Cup Mile (G1) hero dethroned fellow homebred Rebel’s Romance, who was second in the balloting.
Japan’s dirt globetrotter Forever Young clinched the older dirt male title in the Breeder’s Cup Classic (G1), while Thorpedo Anna, the 2024 Horse of the Year, did enough over the course of the season to reign as champion older dirt female.
The sprint divisions were contested. Book’em Danno compiled a body of work through the summer to collect the male sprinter award. Shisopicy secured female sprinter honors by defeating older males in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1).
She Feels Pretty enjoyed a comfortable margin as champion turf female, and Nitrogen’s surface versatility lifted her to the champion three-year-old filly title.
Ted Noffey was almost unanimous in the two-year-old male division, with Super Corredora the clear selection among two-year-old fillies.
Cool Jet flew away with the steeplechase award.
|
Horse of the year |
|
| Sovereignty | 201 |
| Forever Young | 17 |
| Ted Noffey | 2 |
|
2-year-old male |
|
| Ted Noffey | 218 |
| Further Ado | 1 |
| Gstaad | 1 |
|
3-year-old filly |
|
| Nitrogen | 183 |
| Shisospicy | 24 |
| Gezora | 5 |
| Fionn | 2 |
| La Cara | 2 |
| Clicquot | 1 |
| Good Cheer | 1 |
| Kilwin | 1 |
| Lush Lips | 1 |
|
Older dirt male |
|
| Forever Young | 117 |
| Sierra Leone | 50 |
| Nysos | 24 |
| Mindframe | 9 |
| Fierceness | 6 |
| Book’em Danno | 1 |
| Touchuponastar | 1 |
| Abstained | 2 |
| Older dirt female | |
| Thorpedo Anna | 171 |
| Scylla | 33 |
|
Jockey |
|
| Flavien Prat | 152 |
| Irad Ortiz Jr. | 52 |
| John Velazquez | 6 |
| Junior Alvarado | 5 |
| Jose Ortiz | 3 |
| Kendrick Carmouche | 1 |
| Tyler Gaffalione | 1 |
| Apprentice jockey | |
| Pietro Moran | 128 |
| Yedsit Hazlewood | 55 |
| Christopher Elliott | 26 |
| Abstained | 11 |
