PALM BEACH, Fla. - Thorpedo Anna, the 3-year-old filly who won five Grade 1 stakes in 2024 and came within a head of beating the boys in the Grade 1 Travers, was voted Horse of the Year, it was announced Thursday at a black-tie ceremony held at The Breakers Resort. A unanimous choice as champion 3-year-old filly, Thorpedo Anna received 193 votes out of 208 cast, easily outpacing Sierra Leone (10) and Fierceness (5) for Horse of the Year honors. Thorpedo Anna became the seventh filly in the last 41 years to be crowned Horse of the Year, joining a list that includes All Along (1983), Lady’s Secret (1986), Azeri (2002), Rachel Alexandra (2009), Zenyatta (2010), and Havre de Grace (2011). Of that group, Rachel Alexandra was the only 3-year-old. Owned by a group that includes Brookdale Racing Inc., Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks, and Magdalena Racing and trained by Kenny McPeek, Thorpedo Anna was named for Edwards’s granddaughter Anna Thorp, a swimmer whose nickname is “Thorpedo Anna” in honor of the famous swimmer Ian “Thorpedo” Thorpe. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. After beginning the year with a four-length victory in the Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park, Thorpedo Anna reeled off Grade 1 victories in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, and the Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga. Taking on the boys in the Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga, Thorpedo Anna came within a head of Fierceness in the 1 1/4-mile race. Thorpedo Anna came back to narrowly win the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx before capping her year with an authoritative 2 1/2-length victory in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Thorpedo Anna is back in training and will race again in 2025. The announcement of Thorpedo Anna as Horse of the Year came at the end of the 54th Eclipse Awards ceremony during which champions were crowned in 11 equine and five human categories. Finalists for the awards were announced on Jan. 5 after votes were cast by eligible voters from Daily Racing Form, the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters Association, and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, which consists of racing officials and Equibase field personnel. There were a total of 240 eligible voters and 208 ballots, or 87 percent, were returned. Voters selected three horses or individuals in each category and finalists were determined based on points accrued on a 10-5-1 basis. Winners, however, were determined solely on first-place votes Sierra Leone, the Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, was voted champion 3-year-old male by a vote of 169-34 over Fierceness, last year’s 2-year-old champion. Those two horses split four decisions with Sierra Leone finishing ahead of Fierceness in the Kentucky Derby and BC Classic. Fierceness beat Sierra Leone in the Jim Dandy and Travers Stakes. Dornoch (2), the Belmont Stakes winner, and Seize the Grey (1), the Preakness winner, also received first-place votes. It was another banner year for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Godolphin operation which won four Eclipse Awards. Godolphin, which campaigned 22 North American graded stakes winners and set a single-season record for earnings, won its fifth straight Eclipse Award as champion owner and fourth as champion breeder. Two of Godolphin’s horses won an Eclipse Award. Immersive, a three-time Grade 1 winner, earned champion 2-year-old filly honors, receiving 202 votes to Lake Victoria’s 6. Godolphin’s Rebel’s Romance, in the closest category and perhaps the only major surprise of the evening, was voted champion male turf horse 89-81 over Johannes. Rebel’s Romance made just one start in North America, winning the Breeders’ Cup Turf - though he won Group 1 races in Dubai, Hong Kong, and England. Johannes won five graded stakes - including the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile - but finished second to More Than Looks in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. Carl Spackler received the third most first-place votes with 15 followed by More Than Looks (14). Moira, the Canadian-bred and -based runner, who won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, was voted champion female turf horse. Moira, trained by Kevin Attard, received 176 votes followed by She Feels Pretty (21) and Cinderella’s Dream (8). Idiomatic repeated as champion older dirt female for Juddmonte Farm and trainer Brad Cox. Idiomatic won two Grade 1s and was narrowly beaten in two more. She missed the Breeders’ Cup Distaff due to injury. Raging Sea, second in the Distaff, received the second most first-place votes (38) followed by Adare Manor (23). National Treasure, the only two-time Grade 1 winner in the older dirt male division, took home the Eclipse Award in that category. He received 148 first-place votes followed by Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Full Serrano (19) and Kingsbarns (7), who was not a finalist in this category. Straight No Chaser, the third finalist in the category, received four first-place votes as did Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile runner-up Post Time. Many of the same connections involved with National Treasure - trainer Bob Baffert and owners SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, and Robert Masterson - also campaigned Citizen Bull, who earned the Eclipse Award as 2-year-old champion. Citizen Bull received 204 votes with Chancer McPatrick receiving 2. Straight No Chaser, the Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner, easily was voted champion sprinter by a count of 125-38 over Cogburn. The Chosen Vron was third (23). Soul of an Angel, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner, was voted champion female sprinter. She received 168 first-place votes. Sweet Azteca received the second-most first-place votes (11) but was not a finalist. Ways and Means (10) was a finalist along with Society, who received 8 first-place votes. Snap Decision was voted champion steeplechase horse, receiving 182 votes. Carloun (7) and Freddy Flintshire (3) were the other finalists in the division. Flavien Prat, who set single-year records for stakes wins (82) and graded stakes (56) and led all jockeys in earnings, earned his first Eclipse Award as champion jockey. Five-time Eclipse winner Irad Ortiz Jr. finished second in the voting. Chad Brown beat out McPeek as champion trainer by a vote count of 101-88. It was the fifth Eclipse Award for Brown, who was also recognized with the award four straight years (2016-19). Brown, who among other accomplishments won 15 Grade 1 stakes with 12 individual horses in 2024, joins Todd Pletcher (8) and Bobby Frankel, who also had five, as the only trainers to win at least five Eclipse Awards. Erik Asmussen, son of Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, earned the Eclipse Award for leading apprentice. Erik Asmussen is the nephew of Cash Asmussen, who won this award in 1979. In addition to the awards presented in 11 equine and five human categories, Frank Taylor and the Stable Recovery Program received a Special Eclipse Award and Mike Gillum was presented with an Eclipse Award as Horseplayer of the Year. Also recognized at Thursday’s ceremony were winners of the media Eclipse Awards - Sean Clancy (writing, news-enterprise), Chris McGrath (writing, feature-commentary), Scott Serio (photography), NBC Sports (live television programming), and Sue Finley/Thoroughbred Daily News (multimedia). A previous version of this article misstated the number of trainers who have won five or more Eclipse Awards. Bobby Frankel also won five Eclipse Awards. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.