If you ever needed proof that horse racing can spark the same kind of arguments usually reserved for group chats during fantasy football draft season, look no further than this year’s Eclipse Award sprint divisions. Voters aren’t just choosing the best male and female sprinters. They’re choosing a philosophy. Do you reward the horse who showed up all year, stacking graded stakes wins like a wily old veteran? Or do you salute the one who saved the absolute fireworks for the biggest stage in the sport?

That tug-of-war mirrors the sport’s biggest cultural conversation: horses race less and retire earlier, leaving fans longing for the days of old when champions hit the track every few weeks.

Let’s start with the boys, because the champion male sprinter debate has all the makings of a holiday dinner disagreement.

On one side: Bentornato, the definition of “quality over quantity,” who ran only twice in 2025 but delivered a Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint performance so electric it should’ve come with a hazard warning. It was brilliance in its purest form. It was the kind of performance that instantly stamps a horse as divisional royalty, even if the resume looks a little light on total races.

On the other side: Book’em Danno, the blue-collar Jersey-bred who punched the clock five times, won four, reeled off three straight graded stakes wins, and took down multiple Grade 1 winners just for fun. He did everything voters typically want. Everything except show up for the Breeders’ Cup, thanks in part to his owner’s season-long disinterest in the year-end finale and the late-season suspension of regular rider Paco Lopez.

It's also worth noting Danno is a gelding. No future stud career. No pressure to chase prestige. He’ll be back next year, which is a refreshing promise in a sport where careers feel shorter than our social media attention span.

And that’s the twist. A vote for Bentornato doesn’t necessarily mean a voter is OK with modern horses running so few times. It may simply acknowledge that racing strategies shift just like football’s did when the league realized defense might win championships but quarterbacks sell tickets. The sport evolves. Connections adapt. Fans debate. Rinse. Repeat.

The female division? Same ingredients, different recipe.

Splendora showed up six times this season but saved her mic-drop moment for when the world was watching. Her PNC Bank Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint win at Del Mar wasn’t just a breakthrough, it was the kind of emphatic performance that makes even casual fans nod and say “wow.” She flirted with the top level all year, finishing second in a pair of Grade 2s, but the Breeders’ Cup was her first graded stakes win, and it was a monster.

Then there’s Shisospicy, the model of consistency and toughness. Seven starts. Five wins. And, oh yeah, she beat the boys in the Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. She also accomplished something no horse had done in a decade: win a Breeders’ Cup race after prepping at Kentucky Downs. Thirty-two tried in the last 10 years. None succeeded until Shisospicy.

Shisospicy wins Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (Eclipse Sportswire)

If she wasn’t going up against Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets, and DraftKings Travers Stakes winner Sovereignty, she’d have a strong case for Horse of the Year honors. Perhaps Sovereignty missing the Breeders’ Cup Classic leaves that door open just a crack?

Both sprint divisions boil down to the same central conflict: do we reward steady participation or once-in-a-year brilliance? It’s not just about the individual horses. It’s about what the sport values in 2025. Durability or dazzle, longevity or high-end peak.

And maybe that’s why this year’s sprint debate is so fascinating. It’s not just about Bentornato vs. Book’em Danno or Splendora vs. Shisospicy. It’s about the identity of modern racing. Voters will pick the horses they believe deserve the trophies, but their choices quietly signal something bigger: They’ll tell us exactly where the momentum of the sport is sprinting next.