No connections are going to celebrate a championship in early June, but the results of big races on the Belmont Stakes weekend cards certainly can put horses in the driver's seat for the second half of the year.
While the Breeders' Cup World Championships continues to live up to its name in terms of determining the sport's Eclipse Award winners, the bounty of important grade 1 races offered as part of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival can go a long way toward those honors.
"These are all such important races. I mean, it's kind of like a mini Breeders' Cup halfway through the year, and every division is represented," said Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners president and founder Aron Wellman. "The 'who's who' of every division is showing up, and it's become a date on the calendar that I think everybody really wants to make sure that they're represented."
Like last year, this weekend's races figure to be major considerations in the Eclipse categories, especially for 3-year-olds and older horses, specifically in divisions for dirt horses (older dirt male, older dirt female) or divisions that traditionally have gone to horses who primarily race on dirt (sprinter, female sprinter, 3-year-old male, 3-year-old filly). In 2024 five of the six eventual champions in those divisions raced in one of the grade 1 races offered Belmont weekend.
Leading the way in 2024 was Thorpedo Anna, who followed her Kentucky Oaks (G1) score with a victory in the Acorn Stakes (G1) the Friday before the Belmont card. That put her well on her way toward securing champion 3-year-old filly honors, and when she closed the season with a victory in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) she secured Horse of the Year honors.
National Treasure basically secured his older dirt male title with a victory in the Metropolitan Handicap (G1) as the son of Quality Road did not win either of his two starts that followed in 2024. The Met Mile score and early season win in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) would prove enough to earn the hardware on Eclipse Awards night.
The 2024 Belmont also came through as Sierra Leone secured his second classic placing with a third-place finish in the Belmont Stakes (G1). That effort kept Sierra Leone in the championship picture before he locked down 3-year-old male honors with a score in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).
Rounding out those 2024 appearances by eventual champions were a pair of runners in the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1). In one of the memorable races of 2024, eventual champion older dirt female Idiomatic finished second by a head to Randomized and the race also featured eventual champion female sprinter Soul of an Angel, who would win the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1).
This year's editions of those races again figure to set the stage for the second half of the year.
On June 6, Good Cheer looks to replicate Thorpedo Anna by following her Kentucky Oaks win with a victory in the 1 1/8-mile Acorn. If she's able to do that, the daughter of Medaglia d'Oro will secure her eighth win in as many starts and fifth straight graded stakes score.
Also Friday, Raging Sea could take another step forward in the older dirt female division with a victory in the Ogden Phipps. The 5-year-old daughter of Curlin opened the season by defeating Thorpedo Anna with a three-quarter-length victory in the the La Troienne Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs.
On Saturday, this year's Met Mile is short on horses but long on accomplishment. Leading the way in the five-horse field is 2023 champion 2-year-old male and last year's Travers Stakes (G1) winner Fierceness, 2023 Breeders' Cup Classic and this year's Pegasus World Cup winner White Abarrio, and Raging Torrent, who closed out last season with a win in the Malibu Stakes (G1) and opened this year with a 3 1/2-length victory in the Godolphin Mile (G2).
In the current National Thoroughbred Racing Association media poll of top Thoroughbreds, Fierceness is ranked first and White Abarrio second.
The Belmont Stakes takes that a step further as it features the top three horses in the latest NTRA media poll of top 3-year-olds: Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Journalism, Kentucky Derby (G1) Sovereignty, and Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Baeza.
A second classic win by Journalism or Sovereignty would put them in the driver's seat for 3-year-old male honors but Sovereignty's trainer, Bill Mott, said neither horse would lock down the award at this point in the year.
"One thing that's probably changed the Triple Crown a little bit is the advent of the Breeders' Cup at the end of the year," Mott said. "These are good races to win this time of year but we all know that a lot of things are undecided. When it comes down to the first weekend in November, the last weekend of October, we know that a lot of things can switch around. And I think more than not, a lot of championships are decided on that weekend."
Last year when three different horses won the classics, Sierra Leone missed out on a Triple Crown race win but nailed down the championship at Breeders' Cup.
For owners fortunate enough to have a horse competing this weekend, the feeling is special as horses display rare talent. The past three winners of the Met Mile went on to secure champion older dirt male honors and the two before National Treasure, Cody's Wish in 2023 and Flightline in 2022, were named Horse of the Year. In fact if the COVID-19-disrupted season of 2020 is not considered, the eventual Horse of the Year has raced in the Belmont festival six years in a row as Knicks Go finished fourth in the 2021 Met Mile, Bricks and Mortar won the 2019 Manhattan Stakes (G1T), and Justify completed a Triple Crown sweep in the 2018 Belmont Stakes (G1).
As a co-owner Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners will start grade 1 winner Candied in the Ogden Phipps, Corruption in the Manhattan on the turf, and Journalism in the Belmont. For partners participating in ownership through Eclipse, Wellman said such big days are important; although the group also aims for consistency throughout the year.
"This sounds ambitious, but our goal is to be represented by stakes and graded stakes horses 52 weeks out of the year. We want our colors out there every Saturday. That's what our partners want," Wellman said. "Of course, to be able to be represented and win on these marquee days—Kentucky Derby Day, Preakness day, Belmont day, Breeders' Cups—that's certainly why people come to Eclipse.
"Big wins, big days; that's one of our monikers. Thankfully, we've been able to deliver for our partners habitually over the course of the past decade-plus and hopefully this weekend will be another feather in our cap."
Eclipse co-owns Candied with Bobby Flay, Corruption with Harry Colburn, and Journalism with Bridlewood Farm, Don Alberto Stable, Robert LaPenta, Elayne Stables Five, and the Coolmore-affiliated Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith.
