General · EdgepediaSeptember 17, 20265 min read

American Horse of the Year

American Horse of the Year is the title given to the Thoroughbred judged the best racehorse racing in North America during a calendar year. Since 1971 the honor has been conferred through the Eclipse Awards, voted by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB).¹ The 2025 Horse of the Year is Sovereignty, a three-year-old who won five races including the Kentucky Derby (G1) and the Belmont Stakes (G1).²

Key fact	Detail
Current award	Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year, first presented in 1971¹
Voting bodies	NTRA, Daily Racing Form, and National Turf Writers and Broadcasters; each voter ranks first, second, and third choices¹^•³
Predecessor	A Horse of the Year poll run since 1936 by The New York Morning Telegraph and Daily Racing Form; championship polling traditions reach back to 1887⁴
Most titles	Kelso, five consecutive (1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964); eight horses have won two, including Secretariat, Affirmed, Cigar, Curlin, John Henry, Wise Dan, and California Chrome⁵^•¹⁵
2025 winner	Sovereignty (3), trained by Bill Mott's stable connections, honored at the 55th Eclipse Awards at The Breakers Palm Beach²
Ballot size	The 2025 championship ballot covered 17 categories, with Horse of the Year as the final one⁶

How the award is decided

The Eclipse Awards are bestowed on horses and individuals whose outstanding achievements in North America have earned the title of Champion in their respective categories. Three voting blocs, the NTRA, Daily Racing Form, and the NTWAB, cast ballots that are consolidated in a single tabulation.¹^•³ Each voter ranks the first, second, and third choices in each category, and the 2025 ballot covered 17 categories, from Two-Year-Old Male and Two-Year-Old Filly through Owner, Breeder, Trainer, Jockey, Apprentice Jockey, and Horse of the Year.³^•⁶ The voting organizations set the categories, criteria, voter composition, and dates, and these have changed before.⁶

Breeders' Cup influence. The Breeders' Cup Classic, run each autumn, functions as a de facto championship race, and a winner usually deserves the title unless another horse has compiled a clearly superior yearlong record; the 1989 Eclipse voting drew intense criticism on both coasts over exactly this question.⁷ Voters also weigh whether a horse raced against its own sex or against males, whether it ran on dirt or turf, and how late into the year it stayed in form.

History before the Eclipse Awards

Championship listings compiled by racing historians trace the title back to 1887.⁴ Under the system used before 1936, three polling bodies within the racing industry sometimes reached conflicting conclusions, both on the divisional titles and at times on the Horse of the Year award itself.³

One early balloting produced a rare result: two two-year-olds topped the voting for the 1972 title, with Secretariat edging out the filly La Prevoyante; Secretariat won again in 1973.⁵

Recent winners

The Eclipse Award roll of honor for the last decade and a half reads:¹

2025: Sovereignty (3)²
2024: Thorpedo Anna (3)¹
2023: Cody's Wish (5)
2022: Flightline (4)
2021: Knicks Go (5)
2020: Authentic (3)
2019: Bricks and Mortar (5)
2018: Justify (3)
2017: Gun Runner (4)
2016 and 2014: California Chrome (5 and 3)
2015: American Pharoah (3)
2013 and 2012: Wise Dan (6 and 5)
2011: Havre de Grace (4)

The numbers in parentheses give the horse's age during the title year. Several of these horses combined the honor with a Triple Crown or Breeders' Cup Classic victory: American Pharoah swept the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes in 2015, the first Triple Crown in 37 years, and Justify repeated the sweep in 2018.⁸^•⁹

Multiple winners and records

Forego holds the record for Horse of the Year titles, winning three consecutive years from 1974 to 1976 as part of eight Eclipse Awards overall, the most for any horse.⁵ John Henry won the title in 1981 and 1984 among his seven Eclipse Awards, most of them as champion Turf Male.⁵ Six other horses have won the title twice: Secretariat (1972, 1973), Affirmed (1978, 1979), Cigar (1995, 1996), Curlin (2007, 2008), Wise Dan (2012, 2013), and California Chrome (2014, 2016).⁵ Curlin's back-to-back titles came with jockey Robby Albarado in the saddle for major wins including the 2007 Preakness Stakes and Breeders' Cup Classic and the 2008 Dubai World Cup.¹⁰

Controversies

The title has repeatedly produced sharp divisions among voters. The 2009 vote became one of the fiercest debates in Eclipse Award history, ending with the naming of either Zenyatta or Rachel Alexandra as Horse of the Year after the two mares never met on the track.¹¹ The 2014 vote over California Chrome and Bayern likewise provoked sharp differences of opinion among commentators.¹² A recurring criticism is that voters sometimes use the coattails of their Horse of the Year choice and reward that horse's connections with votes in their own categories.¹³

Related honors

The Eclipse Awards also recognize divisional champions, outstanding owner, breeder, trainer, jockey, and apprentice jockey, plus media awards for television, writing, audio, and photography coverage of Thoroughbred racing, and a Horseplayer of the Year award tied to the National Horseplayers Championship.¹^•² The title is distinct from the British Horse of the Year Show and from Horse & Hound's equestrian awards, which cover showing and showjumping rather than Thoroughbred racing.¹⁴

References

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026