Jan 24, 2025 – Named after the great 18th-century racehorse and sire Eclipse, the annual Eclipse Awards – which were held last night at The Breakers Palm Beach in Florida – honour the human and equine champions of Thoroughbred racing. From selections made by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers Association, there are 12 categories of Eclipse Awards that can be won by horses (as opposed to humans) and one is dedicated to steeplechase.
Prior to last night, Canauck Racing Club’s co-managing partner and top bloodstock agent Donato Lanni found and bought equine athletes that collectively won seven Eclipse Awards which is an amazing accomplishment. Last night, his finds won another three awards that brought Donato to the stage as both agent and owner. Put another way, Lanni found a quarter of the equine champions celebrated last night.
Purchased as a yearling by Lanni for $675,000 for owners SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stable, and Stonestreet, Citizen Bull won Champion Two-Year-Old Male after earning $1,301,000 in four starts which delivered three wins including the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the G1 American Pharoah Stakes.
A $500,000 purchase by Lanni for owners SF Racing, Starlight Racing, and Madaket Stables, Baffert-trained National Treasure was crowned Champion Older Dirt Male, adding that distinction to the $5,578,000 he has banked on the track in G1 races including the Preakness and the Pegasus World Cup Invitational. When owner Sol Kumin accepted the award, he thanked Donato Lanni and acknowledged him as the best in the business at what he does.
And the sweetest win of all. Moira, the remarkable Breeders’ Cup, Beverly D, and Queen’s Plate winner that Lanni lovingly calls “the Queen”, added an Eclipse Award for Champion Female Turf Horse to her two Canadian Sovereign awards in 2022 for Horse of the Year and Champion 3 Year Old Filly. Bought in 2020 as a yearling by Lanni for $150,000 and trained by Canuck’s Kevin Attard, Moira was brilliant from the get-go, immediately distinguishing herself in a successful debut in a stakes race and only running in stakes races her whole career. Following her third-place finish in the 2023 Breeders, Moira was entered in Fasig-Tipton’s November Sale at the behest of some co-owners who felt she had peaked in value after banking $1,296,017 in purse winnings. Lanni and those co-owners who still believed bought her back for the exiting partners’ share of $3 million and pursued the grade 1 win they believed she had in her. Moira banked purse earnings of $1.7 million in her next four races, coming second in two G1s before winning one in her last attempt at the 2024 Breeders Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Days after that crowning achievement – one year after she had last entered the auction ring – Moira returned to the November Sale as a turf champion and sold for $4.3 million.
Only missing the board twice in 17 starts (7-6-2), Moira‘s remarkable consistency on the track was only matched by how much Lanni and Attard believed in her. She rewarded that belief in spades.
On stage accepting the award with Donato Lanni and Kevin Attard was Dave Anderson, one of Canada’s top breeders and a member of Canuck Racing Club. The owners groups sharing in Moira‘s accolade last night were SF Racing, X-Men Racing, and Madaket Stables: partners with Canuck Racing Club 2 owners on Dewolf. X-Men Racing has also partnered on two additional Canuck Racing Club horses Crosby and Thundermaker.