From the start of the Eclipse Awards in 1971 through last year, just two horses were honored with multiple championships as North America’s top male sprinter: Housebuster (1990-91) (when the award was champion sprinter) and Roy H (2017-18).
Now, a third has joined their ranks: Elite Power . He notched a consecutive male sprinter championship in a Jan. 25 announcement during the Eclipse Awards ceremony at The Breakers Palm Beach in South Florida.
During a five-race campaign that began with a successful trip to Saudi Arabia for the $1.5 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G3), Juddmonte’s Elite Power notched three other victories in New York and California. He won the June 10 True North Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park in his United States racing return, added the July 29 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) over a sloppy track at Saratoga Race Course, and closed out his career with a win in the Nov. 4 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) at Santa Anita Park.
The Curlin horse lost just once last year at age 5 when second in the Aug. 26 Forego Stakes (G1) at Saratoga behind Gunite . Elite Power outran that rival in three other matchups through the year, including the Breeders’ Cup.
“He just went on a steady improvement and just got better and better,” Juddmonte manager Garrett O’Rourke said. “Some horses have their ups and downs in their patterns, but he was a horse that just kept on moving forward all the time and finishing up obviously with the best performance of his life.”
Winless in his first three starts in 2021-22 for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, Elite Power rattled off five straight victories in 2022 in securing his first sprint title, culminated by his heroics in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland when he defeated C Z Rocket and Jackie’s Warrior with six furlongs in 1:09.11.
In the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, the late-running Elite Power defeated Gunite by 1 1/2 lengths, running an even faster time of 1:08.34 under Irad Ortiz Jr.
“So I think he’s a pretty special horse, a Curlin with speed. Obviously that is what attracts an awful lot of people to him as a stallion prospect,” O’Rourke said.
This year, he stands at Juddmonte near Lexington for $50,000.
Elite Power was retired from racing following the Breeders’ Cup with a 9-1-1 record in 13 career starts with earnings of more than $3.7 million. Bought for $900,000 during the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Elite Power is out of graded stakes-winning Vindication mare Broadway’s Alibi , the 2012 Kentucky Oaks (G1) runner-up.
