Eclipse Awards for Elite Power and Idiomatic

Elite Power collected his second consecutive Eclipse Award for Champion Male Sprinter and Idiomatic was crowned the Champion Older Female in the awards ceremony in Palm Beach yesterday.

Taken from BloodHorse, 25th January 2024, by Byron King:

From the start of the Eclipse Awards in 1971 through to last year, just two horses were honored with multiple championships as North America's top male sprinter: Housebuster (1990-91) (when the award was champion sprinter) and Roy H (2017-18). Now, a third has joined their ranks: Elite Power. He collected a consecutive male sprinter championship during the Eclipse Awards ceremony at The Breakers Palm Beach in South Florida.

During a five-race campaign that began with a successful trip to Saudi Arabia for the $1.5 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint (Gr.3), Elite Power notched three other victories in New York and California. He won the True North Stakes (Gr.2) at Belmont Park in his United States racing return, added the JAlfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (Gr.1) over a sloppy track at Saratoga Race Course, and closed out his career with a win in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (Gr.1) at Santa Anita Park.

"He just went on a steady improvement and just got better and better," Juddmonte manager Garrett O'Rourke said. "Some horses have their ups and downs in their patterns, but he was a horse that just kept on moving forward all the time and finishing up obviously with the best performance of his life."

Elite Power rattled off five straight victories in 2022 in securing his first sprint title, culminated by his heroics in the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland when he defeated C Z Rocket and Jackie's Warrior with six furlongs in 1:09.11. In the 2023 Breeders' Cup Sprint, the late-running Elite Power defeated Gunite by a length and a half, running an even faster time of 1:08.34 under Irad Ortiz Jr.

"So I think he's a pretty special horse, a Curlin with speed. Obviously that is what attracts an awful lot of people to him as a stallion prospect," O'Rourke said. This year, he stands at Juddmonte near Lexington for $50,000.

After Idiomatic won a first-level allowance optional claimer at a mile and a quarter at Turfway Park last January, trainer Brad Cox and Juddmonte manager Garrett O'Rourke spoke on the phone, hopeful the developing runner could turn into a Delaware Handicap (Gr.2) filly.

Those words were prophetic, as Idiomatic would take the lofty goal over the summer—but she also would achieve much, much more. In total, the homebred filly won eight of nine starts in 2023 at age four, capped by capturing the Personal Ensign Stakes (Gr.1), Spinster Stakes (Gr.1), and Breeders' Cup Distaff (Gr.1) in succession. Now, she has a 2023 championship to go with those achievements, having been honored in t Eclipse Award ceremony at The Breakers Palm Beach as the outstanding older dirt female in North America.

"Every single step along the way was such a pleasant surprise," O'Rourke told BloodHorse before the ceremony. Her only defeat of 2023 came when racing at a distance less than her best when she was second in the one-mile Ruffian Stakes (Gr.2) at Belmont Park.

A Juddmonte homebred by Curlin out of the stakes-winning, Kentucky Oaks (Gr.1)-placed First Defence mare Lockdown —Idiomatic came into the world with some of the finest bloodlines possible. For a filly over 17 hands, she proved remarkably athletic and speedy. She used her quickness to take charge from start to finish in the Personal Ensign and Spinster—the latter a hometown race at Keeneland that Juddmonte sponsored—and then took her show to the West Coast for the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita Park.

With far more speed among the starters in the nine furlong Distaff, she pressed early leader Randomized through demanding fractions of :22.31, 46.26, and 1:10:16, but rather than wilt under pressure, she was resolute. She took command from Randomized to forge a half-length lead in midstretch and maintained that advantage to the wire. She reached the wire in 1:50.57, earning her richest payday of $1.04 million and all but clinching a year-end title.  No other horse ranked in the top 100 in earnings captured more than six races throughout 2023.

"Obviously, I would say the beauty of her campaign and what she had done from the longevity of it was that we didn't really have expectations beyond the next race at any point in time," O'Rourke said.