The American Award for Horse of the Year, one of the Eclipse Awards, is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. Because Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States has no governing body to sanction the various awards, "Horse of the Year" is not an official national award.
Kelso was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is considered one of the greatest racehorses in history. He ranks fourth on the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century. He defeated more champions and Hall of Fame horses than any other racehorse, and he often carried great handicaps. Some of the champions he defeated are Carry Back, Gun Bow, Bald Eagle, Tompion, Never Bend, Beau Purple, Quadrangle, Roman Brother, Crimson Satan, Jaipur, Ridan and Pia Star.
Whirlaway was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the fifth winner of the American Triple Crown. He also won the Travers Stakes after his Triple Crown sweep to become the first and only horse to win all four races.
Michael Barry Tabor is a racehorse owner. As a partner in Coolmore Stud, he is one of only four racehorse owners to have won both the Epsom Derby and the Kentucky Derby.
The Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year is awarded to the Thoroughbred horse who is voted to be the champion horse within an Australian racing season. This award is open to all racehorses racing within Australia, regardless of age and sex, and includes overseas performances.
The Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings (LWBRR), known as World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings (WTRR) before 2012, are horseracing's equivalent to World Rankings by other major sporting organizations such as ATP Tennis Rankings, World Golf Rankings, FIFA World Rankings for soccer and IRB Rugby World Rankings. The Longines Rankings are based on the rating earned by horses running worldwide from North and South America, Europe, Middle East, South Africa, Asia through to Australia and New Zealand.
New Approach is a retired Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and active stallion. In a racing career which lasted from July 2007 to October 2008 he ran eleven times and won eight races. He was undefeated in five races as a two-year-old in 2007 including the National Stakes and the Dewhurst Stakes. As a three-year-old he won the Epsom Derby, Irish Champion Stakes and Champion Stakes and was rated the best racehorse in the world in the 2008 World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings. As a breeding stallion, New Approach has sired the classic winners Masar, Dawn Approach and Talent.
Duke of Marmalade was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He is best known for winning five consecutive Group One races in 2008, for which he was named European Champion Older Horse. Upon retirement at the end of the 2008 racing season he stood as a stallion for Coolmore Stud, being moved between stud farms in Ireland and Australia. In July 2014 he was sold and relocated to Drakenstein Stud in South Africa.
Goldikova was a champion French Thoroughbred racehorse who won the Breeders' Cup Mile three times and was the 2010 European Horse of the Year.
Zarkava is an undefeated French Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2008 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
Azamour was a Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He won four Group One races including the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and was Europe's Champion Older Horse in 2005. At his peak, he was rated the third best thoroughbred racehorse in the world.
Cape Blanco is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who won five Group One/Grade I races between 2009 and 2011. He also won twice at Group 2 level and once at Group 3 level between 2009 and 2010. He was the Irish Three-Year-Old Colt of the Year in 2010 and also the American Champion Male Turf Horse for the 2011 season.
Black Caviar is a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who was undefeated in 25 races, including 15 Group Ones, an Australian record. She was the 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 WTRR World Champion Sprinter. Black Caviar was trained by Melbourne-based trainer Peter Moody. Other than in her first two runs and in one race in 2010, she was ridden by Luke Nolen. The mare was retired on 17 April 2013. According to an ABC Catalyst episode from 2015, she was never whipped.
Danedream was a German Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2011 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in race record time. She is one of only three German trained horses to win the Arc, the others being Star Appeal in 1975 and Torquator Tasso in 2021. In November 2011 she became the first German-trained horse to win a Cartier Racing Award.
Orfevre is a retired Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and active breeding stallion. In 2011 he won the Japanese Triple Crown and was voted Japanese Horse of the Year. In 2012 he added victories in the Takarazuka Kinen and the Prix Foy but was narrowly beaten in both the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and the Japan Cup. He acquired the reputation of being an extremely talented but temperamental racehorse. In 2013 Orfevre again won the Prix Foy and finished second in the Arc before ending his career with an eight length win in the Arima Kinen.
Dancing Rain is a retired Thoroughbred mare that was bred in Ireland and raced in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany and Japan. Dancing Rain was the unanticipated winner of the 2011 Epsom Oaks and won the Preis der Diana in the later part of her three-year-old season. Her form faltered late in her three-year-old year, finishing 16th out of a field of 19 horses in the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup in Japan. Her four-year-old season was plagued with injury and she did not run in a race until late October 2012. Retired at the end of 2012, Dancing Rain became a broodmare at Clairemont Stud in Hampshire and was subsequently sold to Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for £4.2m while in foal to Frankel.
Novellist is an Irish-bred, German-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He won major races in four countries including the Gran Premio del Jockey Club in Italy, the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in France, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in the United Kingdom and the Grosser Preis von Baden in Germany. He was rated the fifth-best racehorse in the world and was voted German Horse of the Year for his performances in 2013.
Sea The Moon is a retired German Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2014 Deutsches Derby. He was trained by Markus Klug, and bred and owned by Gestut Görlsdorf.
Epiphaneia is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse. In 2012, he was unbeaten in three races including the Grade III Radio Nikkei Hai Nisai Stakes. In the following year, he finished second in both the Satsuki Shō and the Tōkyō Yūshun before winning the Kobe Shimbun Hai and the Kikuka-shō. He recorded his biggest success in 2014 when winning the Japan Cup.
Arrogate was a Thoroughbred racehorse.
