2025 was a year to remember in Thoroughbred racing, delivering unforgettable moments from start to finish and finishing with single-season North American earnings records set by leading owner Godolphin and leading jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.
Allen Jerkens took out his trainer’s license as soon as he turned 21, and he only waited that long because his father forbid him to do so any sooner. He enjoyed solid success almost from the very beginning and won his first stakes race in 1955 with a horse named War Command, whom Jerkens had claimed for $8,000. Seven years later, he agreed to become the private trainer for Jack Dreyfus Jr.’s Hobeau Farm. Though Hobeau Farm didn’t always deal in the most fashionable of pedigrees, it did provide Jerkens with volume. And Jerkens certainly had a knack for getting the most out of his horses.
Welcome to Kentucky Derby Prospect Profiles, where we take a look each week at a recent winner on the Road to the Derby schedule that offers qualifying points to the 1 ¼-mile classic race May 2, 2026, at Churchill Downs.
The 55th annual Eclipse Awards will be presented on Jan. 22, 2025, at The Breakers Palm Beach, a resort in Florida. There are 17 categories, for both humans and horses, to determine the best in Thoroughbred racing each year.
As Thoroughbred racing heads into a new year, it faces the inevitable challenge of learning from the past 12 months and applying those lessons to a new year.
With 2026 at hand, BloodHorse has reprised its online year-end survey to ask some of the sport’s leading individuals for their opinions on pertinent issues facing the sport.
