Sovereignty voted Horse of the Year at 2025 Eclipse Awards

Sovereignty became the second Godolphin horse in the space of three years to be crowned North America’s Horse of the Year at the 55th Eclipse Awards in Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday, 22 January.

A special night for the royal blue silks also saw Sovereignty take the Champion Three-Year-Old Colt Award, Notable Speech crowned Champion Male Turf Horse and Godolphin receive both the Outstanding Owner and Outstanding Breeder Awards.

Sovereignty emulated 2023 Horse of the Year recipient Cody’s Wish following an outstanding year that saw the Into Mischief homebred become the first Godolphin horse to win the Kentucky Derby.

Trained by Bill Mott, Sovereignty would go on to highlight his dominance of the three-year-old division with brilliant wins in the Belmont Stakes, Jim Dandy Stakes and Travers Stakes during a sensational summer at Saratoga.

The first horse in 30 years to complete a sweep of the Kentucky Derby, Belmont and Travers, Sovereignty was denied the chance to run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic due to a fever. He remains in training and looks set to chase more history as a four-year-old.

Bill Mott collected the Horse of the Year award and said: “I can’t express how proud I am to be the one to hold this award. It’s so telling of the entire Godolphin team, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed – what he has done for racing in this country and all around the world is just amazing. To be able to be part of winning his first Kentucky Derby and another Horse of the Year is just unimaginable, unexplainable. I’m so proud to be standing up here with the Godolphin team, Michael [Banahan], Dan [Pride], the whole entire group.”

On receiving the Champion Three-Year-Old Colt Award, Michael Banahan, Director of Bloodstock, Godolphin USA, said: “I’m so honoured and privileged to represent Godolphin’s founder, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, in accepting the Champion Three-Year-Old Colt Award for his stunningly brilliant colt Sovereignty.

“We were so lucky as fans to witness Sovereignty’s brilliance in some spectacular, goose-bump, hairs-standing-up-on-the-back-of-your-neck, spine-tingling performances. A big thank you to Sovereignty’s team. Junior Alvarado gave some awesome rides on Sovereignty this year, none more than in the Kentucky Derby, with the deft skill of getting on the rail as they went by the wire for the first time. It was probably the winning of the race, saving all that ground on the first turn. Thank you so much Junior.

“For Bill Mott, the hall of fame trainer who skillfully called all the right shots from Florida to New York via Kentucky, and who brought Sovereignty to his peak three times. Thank you to his whole team at Mott racing, who had a massive part to play in his success.

“Thank you to Sovereignty for the ride of a lifetime!”

Notable Speech is the fourth Charlie Appleby-trained horse in five years to claim the Champion Male Turf Horse Award, joining fellow Dubawi homebreds Rebel’s Romance – who was a finalist this year – Modern Games and Yibir on the recent roll of honour. Daylami and Fantastic Light have also been crowned champions in the same division.

Having finished third in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Mile, Notable Speech returned to Del Mar and exacted his revenge in the same race with an exhilarating display. The 2024 2,000 Guineas and Sussex Stakes winner had previously unleashed his trademark turn of foot to win September’s Woodbine Mile.

Darren Fox, Godolphin Sales Manager, accepted the award and said: “I would like to say thank you very much for this award and thank you to everyone who voted. This was an extremely close category and an extremely strong renewal, so I would not have liked to make the call.

“Notable Speech is a high-class miler with a devastating kick. We could not be prouder of this horse. On behalf of Charlie Appleby and his entire team back in Newmarket, thank you very much for this award, it means a great deal.”

Godolphin received the Outstanding Owner Award for a sixth consecutive year, and ninth time in total, following another record-breaking season the yielded prize money in excess of US$22.3m.

Johnny Burke, head of Godolphin’s pre-training and rehabilitation, said: “It’s a tremendous honour for me to accept this award on behalf of Godolphin. This award is a testament to the hard work and loyalty of every single member of team Godolphin. We are fortunate to work with a great team – their dedication makes evenings like this happen. As a team, we will continue to do what we do and be who we are for the love of the thoroughbred.”

A total of 22 Graded Stakes wins in the United States and Canada throughout 2025 included top-level success for Champion Three-Year-Old Filly finalist Good Cheer, who formed part of a magical first weekend in May with her Kentucky Oaks win. Sovereignty, Notable Speech, Rebel’s Romance and El Cordobes also contributed to Godolphin’s eight G1 wins in North America during the year.

All but one of Godolphin’s Graded Stakes wins were achieved by homebred horses, helping Godolphin take the Outstanding Breeder Award for a fifth consecutive year, adding to the success of Darley Stud in 2012.

Danny Mulvihill, Godolphin USA Farm Manager, said: “What an honour it is to stand here and accept this award on behalf of our founder Sheikh Mohammed and everybody at team Godolphin.

“It’s been a phenomenal year, highlighted by that first weekend in May. The beauty of that weekend was all of our divisions had a hand in the formative years of those two star athletes. Good Cheer was born at Stonerside out in Bourbon County, led by Ben Lynch and his team, and she spent her yearling year at Raceland with Paul Seitz and his team. You roll on 24 hours later and you had Sovereignty, who was born at Gainsborough Farm in Woodford County with a team led by Gary Harlow, who has been with us 33 years.

“For anyone who foals mares in the middle of the night, the dreams are alive when those foals hit the ground. The terms ‘this could be the next Oaks winner’ or ‘this could be the next Derby winner’ – I guess this year was our turn for both.

“I want to say thank you to every one of our team who puts on that blue shirt every day coming to work and who represents Godolphin to the highest standard. Without all the hard work and effort you guys put in, it’s not possible to be here for these awards.”