American Champion Older Dirt Male Horse
The title of American Champion Older Dirt Male Horse is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually to a stallion or gelding, four years old and up, for performances on dirt and main track racing surfaces. In 1971, it became part of the Eclipse Awards program as the award for Champion Older Male Horse.
The award originated in 1936 when the Daily Racing Form (DRF) began naming an annual champion. In the same year, the Baltimore-based Turf and Sports Digest magazine instituted a similar award. Starting in 1950, the Thoroughbred Racing Associations (TRA) began naming its own champion. The following list provides the name of the horses chosen by these organizations. Whenever there were different champions named, the horses are listed side-by-side with the one chosen as champion by the Daily Racing Form noted with the letters (DRF), the one chosen by the Thoroughbred Racing Associations by the letters (TRA) and the one chosen by Turf and Sports Digest by the letters (TSD). Prior to 1971 this award was referred to as "Champion Handicap Male Horse". The Daily Racing Form version was open to any horse, three years old and up and this award was given to some Champions at the age of three, such as Citation, Buckpasser, Damascus and Arts and Letters.
Champions prior to 1936 were selected retrospectively by a panel of experts as published by The Blood-Horse magazine.
In 2015, the Daily Racing Form, the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, and the National Turf Writers Association decided that the award would be renamed and awarded to older horses proficient in dirt and main track races.[1]
Honorees
Eclipse Award for Champion Older Dirt Male
Daily Racing Form, Turf & Sport Digest and Thoroughbred Racing Association Awards
Daily Racing Form and Turf & Sport Digest Awards
| Year |
Horse |
Age | Trainer |
Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | Coaltown | 4 | Ben A. Jones | Calumet Farm |
| 1948 | Citation (DRF) | 3 | Ben A. Jones | Calumet Farm |
| 1948 | Shannon II (TSD)[6] | 7 | William Molter | Neil S. McCarthy |
| 1947 | Armed | 6 | Ben A. Jones | Calumet Farm |
| 1946 | Armed | 5 | Ben A. Jones | Calumet Farm |
| 1945 | Stymie | 4 | Hirsch Jacobs | Ethel D. Jacobs |
| 1944 | Devil Diver | 5 | John M. Gaver, Sr. | Helen Hay Whitney |
| 1943 | Market Wise (TSD)[7] | 5 | George W. Carroll | Louis Tufano |
| 1943 | Devil Diver (DRF) | 4 | John M. Gaver, Sr. | Helen Hay Whitney |
| 1942 | Whirlaway | 4 | Ben A. Jones | Calumet Farm |
| 1941 | Mioland (DRF) | 4 | Tom Smith | Charles S. Howard |
| 1941 | Big Pebble (TSD)[8] | 5 | William B. Finnegan | Edward S. Moore |
| 1940 | Challedon | 4 | Louis J. Schaefer | William L. Brann |
| 1939 | Kayak II | 4 | Horatio Luro | Charles S. Howard |
| 1938 | Seabiscuit | 5 | Tom Smith | Charles S. Howard |
| 1937 | Seabiscuit | 4 | Tom Smith | Charles S. Howard |
| 1936 | Discovery | 5 | Bud Stotler | Alfred G. Vanderbilt II |
Informal and retrospective awards
References
- The Eclipse Awards at the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of America, Inc.
- The Bloodhorse.com Champion's history charts from 1887
- Additional retrospective Champions from 1874 at Thoroughbred Heritage
- Notes
- ↑ Hegarty, Matt (February 19, 2015). "Eclipse Awards: Turfers no longer eligible in older-male, older-female categories". drf.com. Daily Racing Form. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
- ↑ "Fort Marcy Top Horse". Ottawa Citizen. 1970-12-01. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
- ↑ "Damascus top horse". Leader-Post. November 24, 1967. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
- ↑ "Sports brief". Phoenix. December 6, 1967. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
- ↑ "T.R.A. Selects Bold Bidder As Top Older Horse of '66". New York Times. 2012-06-10. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
- ↑ "Citation named Horse of Year". Middlesboro Daily News. December 6, 1948. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
- ↑ "Count named top". Miami News. December 17, 1943. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
- ↑ "Whirlaway is Horse of Year". Times Daily. December 8, 1941. Retrieved 2012-07-14.