Mitole, Vino Rosso, Omaha Beach, Covfefe among Eclipse Award finalists

Three horses who will begin their stallion careers at Spendthrift Farm in 2020 were nominated for Eclipse Awards when the finalists were announced on Jan. 4^th. The Eclipse Awards ceremony will be held Jan. 23 at Gulfstream Park.

The brilliant 3-year-old sprinter Mitole was nominated in two categories: Male Sprinter and Older Dirt Male, as well as being one of the three Horse of the Year finalists. Mitole won six of his seven starts in 2019, capped by a win in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1), when he earned a 112 Beyer Speed Figure. Mitole, a son of Indian Charlie, is standing for $25,000 live foal.

Vino Rosso is also a Older Dirt Male nominee. Like Mitole, he finished the year with a Breeders’ Cup win, by 4 ¼-lengths in the $6 million Classic (G1).  The son of Curlin earned over $4.8 million in his career. He will stand for $30,000 this coming season.

Omaha Beach rounds out the trio of nominees, in the 3-Year-Old Male category. Omaha Beach won the Dec. 26 Malibu S. (G1) in his most recent start, his third Grade 1 of 2019. He is scheduled to race one more time, in the Pegasus Inv. (G1) at the end of January, before taking up stud duties at Spendthrift, where he is currently slated to stand for $45,000.

Into Mischief, the runaway champion general sire in 2019, was led by Breeders’ Cup F&M Sprint (G1) champion Covfefe, who is a front-runner for both 3-Year-Old Filly and Female Sprinter. Bred by Alexander-Groves Thoroughbreds, the brilliant filly scored four other wins in 2019 including Saratoga’s Test (G1). She is campaigned by owner LNJ Foxwoods and trainer Brad Cox.