Elite Power flew under the radar in 2022 before victories in the Grade 2 Vosburgh and Breeders’ Cup Sprint carried him to an Eclipse Award as champion sprinter in 2022. Elite Power snuck up on nobody in 2023, raising his game to another level, running some of the fastest races of the year and capping off his campaign with a repeat victory in the Grade 1 Qatar Racing Breeders’ Cup Sprint. While his four sprint victories from five starts, including two Grade 1 successes, will most likely earn him a second straight Eclipse Award as champion sprinter, those powerful performances also were good enough to earn him a berth as a finalist in the older dirt male category. A 5-year-old son of Curlin owned by Juddmonte and trained by Bill Mott, Elite Power began his 2023 campaign in Saudi Arabia – home country to the principal interests of Juddmonte – where he beat fellow American speedster Gunite by 3 3/4 lengths in the Group 3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in February. :: Full list of 2023 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories Upon Elite Power’s return from the Middle East, Mott gave him a break and didn’t bring him back fully cranked for the Grade 2 True North at Belmont Park. Still, he was good enough to win it, beating California invader Anarchist by 1 3/4 lengths. In Saratoga, Elite Power might have run the best race any sprinter ran all year when he reeled in a seemingly home-free Gunite by a head in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap. It ran his overall winning streak to eight. “He got on his belly,” Mott said. “It was probably one of the most impressive performances I saw at Saratoga.” Gunite exacted a measure of revenge in the Grade 1 Forego, getting away with a relatively soft pace and defeating Elite Power by 1 1/4 lengths in the seven-furlong race. Elite Power and Gunite met for a fourth time in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, and Elite Power, taking advantage of a swift pace, rallied from next to last under Irad Ortiz Jr. to defeat Gunite by 1 1/2 lengths. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. “It’s a difficult job to keep a horse going year after year,” Mott said. “To come back and win two Breeders’ Cups in a row says a lot about the durability of the horse and the luck that I have. We were lucky enough to have him, and he’s had a great career.” Elite Power, who was bred by Alpha Delta Stables LLC and purchased for $900,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September yearling sale, finished his career with nine wins from 13 starts and $3,775,711 in purse earnings. In 2024, he will stand his first year at stud at Juddmonte in Lexington, Ky. “Really, I have to thank Bill and all his staff at doing an absolutely masterful job in managing the horse and keeping him [sharp] because when this horse came good, by golly, did he stay good,” Juddmonte’s manager Garrett O’Rourke said after the Breeders’ Cup. “He’s gone out good now.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.