The American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse is an American

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

honor awarded annually in Thoroughbred

flat racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

. It became part of the

Eclipse Award The Eclipse Award is an American Thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th-century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. An Eclipse Award Trophy is presented to the winner in each division that is made by a few small selected American ...

s program in 1971. The award originated in 1936 when both ''Turf & Sports Digest'' (TSD) the '' Daily Racing Form'' (DRF) began naming an annual champion. Starting in 1950, the Thoroughbred Racing Associations (TRA) began naming its own champion. The following list provides the name of the horses chosen by these organizations. The only disagreement came in 1968, when Turf & Sports Digest named

Forward Pass In several forms of football, a forward pass is the throwing of the ball in the direction in which the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line. The forward pass is one of the main distinguishers between gridiro ...

as champion whereas the other two organizations voted for

Stage Door Johnny Stage Door Johnny (May 22, 1965 – November 21, 1996) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for his win in the third leg of the 1968 U.S. Triple Crown series, the Belmont Stakes. Background Stage Door Johnny was a chestnut ho ...

. Champions from 1887 through 1935 were selected retrospectively by a panel of experts as published by ''

The Blood-Horse magazine ''BloodHorse'' is a multimedia news organization covering Thoroughbred racing and breeding that started with a newsletter first published in 1916 as a monthly bulletin put out by the Thoroughbred Horse Association.

''. There were co-champions chosen retrospectively for 1876, 1882, 1885, 1886, 1888, 1893, 1894, 1904, 1906, 1917, 1923, and 1932. The ''Daily Racing Form'', the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, and the National Turf Writers Association all joined forces in 1971 to create the Eclipse Award. As of 2021, Bob Baffert won the award 10 times as a trainer. No other trainer won the award more than twice.

Honorees

Eclipse Awards

Daily Racing Form, Turf & Sport Digest and Thoroughbred Racing Association Awards

Daily Racing Form and Turf & Sport Digest Awards

''The Blood-Horse'' retrospective champions

A ‡ designates co champion three-year-olds.

References

The Eclipse Awards at the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of America, Inc.

''The Bloodhorse.com'' Champion's history charts

{{short description, Award for American racehorses Horse racing awards Horse racing in the United States