The 2023 Eclipse Awards, recognizing this year’s champions in the sport of horse racing, will be held Jan. 25, 2024, and as in every year there will be several very competitive divisions. One of those for 2023 is Outstanding Trainer, where three nominees will be narrowed down from a dozen or so worthy recipients.

Two trainers in particular stand out for amassing impressive statistical seasons and, even more so training horses that stand a good chance of earning Eclipse Awards for their own accomplishments.

Brad Cox has by this point established himself in the upper echelon of trainers who enjoy success on a nationwide scope, racking up winners in his Midwest base but also shipping horses around the country for big races. The Louisville, Ky., native won his first Eclipse Award as Outstanding Trainer in 2020 and picked up another one in 2021. In 2023 he will end up leading all North American trainers in purse earnings for the second time after also having done so two years ago.

Hall of Fame member Bill Mott has been ensconced in that aforementioned upper echelon of his profession for nearly five decades. The pride of Mobridge, S.D., entered the Hall of Fame in 1998 at age 45 (the youngest person to be elected) following Eclipse Awards in 1995 and 1996 as Outstanding Trainer. Those came during the reign of two-time Horse of the Year Cigar, whose name will always be linked to Mott in racing history. Mott received a third Eclipse in 2011 and he stands a very good chance of picking up a fourth this year. If he does, it will come largely due to his management of another racehorse whose name is destined to endure in memory: Cody’s Wish.

Let’s review the credentials for both Cox and Mott. The final nominee will probably come from the group of Steve Asmussen, Todd Pletcher, and Chad Brown. Those trainers, each of whom has won multiple Eclipses, rank second, third, and fourth, respectively in 2023 purse earnings.

Anne Eberhardt/BloodHorse

Brad Cox

2023 Wins (rank): 264 (3^rd)

2023 Earnings (rank): $30,750,587 (1^st)

2023 Stakes Wins (Graded): 65 (30)

2023 Grade 1 Wins: Idiomatic, Saudi Crown, Angel of Empire, Caravel, Timberlake, Set Piece, Wet Paint, West Will Power, Matareya, A Mo Reay

2023 Accomplishments: Conditioned Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Idiomatic, the favorite to receive the Eclipse Award as Champion Older Female and also a candidate for Horse of the Year. Enjoyed success in multiple divisions: juveniles (Timberlake, Champagne Stakes), 3-year-olds (Angel of Empire, Arkansas Derby and third in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve), turf sprinters (Caravel, Jaipur Stakes), turf routers (Set Piece, Arlington Million Stakes), etc. In addition to leading all trainers in purse earnings, Cox won at an eye-catching 28 percent clip with his starters in 2023, and he finished first in wins among trainers at his home track of Churchill Downs for two of its three 2023 meets, checking in second in Churchill’s November meet.

Eclipse Sportswire

Bill Mott

2023 Wins (rank): 100 (26^th)

2023 Earnings (rank): $17,241,387 (5^th)

2023 Stakes Wins (Graded): 30 (25)

2023 Grade 1 Wins: Cody’s Wish, Elite Power, Just F Y I, Art Collector, War Like Goddess, Casa Creed

Accomplishments: Trained three winners at the 2023 Breeders’ Cup: Just F Y I (NetJets Juvenile Fillies), Cody’s Wish (Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile), and Elite Power (Qatar Racing Sprint). All three are potential Eclipse Award winners in the divisions of Champion 2-Year-Old Female, Champion Older Dirt Male, and Champion Male Sprinter, respectively – and Cody’s Wish is also a leading candidate for Horse of the Year. Also won top-level races with War Like Goddess and Casa Creed, horses that sustained excellence over multiple years, and helped Art Collector earn one final marquee victory in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Presented by Baccarat before that veteran horse’s untimely death.

* All statistics current through Dec. 27