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Courtney, Eurton, Gaudet and Yu To Host Eclipse Awards

Acacia Courtney, Britney Eurton, Gabby Gaudet and Michelle Yu have been named as the hosts of the 51st Annual Eclipse Awards to be held Thursday evening, Feb. 10, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. Courtney, Eurton and Gaudet began hosting the event together in 2020, while this will be Yu's first appearance as a host.

Courtney is in her sixth year as on-air talent at Gulfstream Park, while also working for the New York Racing Association as the host for 'America's Day at the Races' and Saratoga Live on FOX Sports.

Eurton is primarily a reporter with TVG, having joined the network in 2014, but also contributes to NBC Sports' coverage of the Triple Crown, Royal Ascot and the Breeders' Cup.

Now a TVG analyst, Gaudet, the daughter of trainers Linda and the late Eddie Gaudet, began her career as a paddock analyst for the Maryland Jockey Club in 2013 and has held similar positions at Arlington, Gulfstream and Keeneland. She also served on the NYRA broadcast team as a racing analyst and reporter and is a current member of the on-air talent at TVG. Gaudet joined the network in 2019.

Yu is a member of the Santa Anita simulcast team who broke into the business as a hotwalker before moving on to TV production. Her resume includes FOX, Breeders' Cup, HRTV, TVG and a variety of international programming.

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Courtney, Eurton, Gaudet, And Yu To Host Eclipse Awards On Feb. 10 At Santa Anita

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers And Broadcasters (NTWAB) announced today that preeminent broadcast talent Acacia Courtney, Britney Eurton, Gabby Gaudet and Michelle Yu will host the 51st Annual Eclipse Awards on Thursday, Feb. 10 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.

The Eclipse Awards, which honors the 2021 champions of Thoroughbred racing, will be held in California for the first time since 2012. Winners in 17 horse and human categories will be announced at Santa Anita and live on TVG, and other outlets, beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The evening will culminate with the announcement of the 2021 Horse of the Year.

Eclipse Awards tickets and information on the awards show, dinner and party is available at the NTRA website https://www.ntra.com/eclipse-awards/.

Courtney, Eurton and Gaudet began hosting the Eclipse Awards ceremony together in 2020. Yu joins as a host for the first time.

Courtney is in her sixth year as a handicapper and paddock reporter for Gulfstream Park's simulcast feed. She also works with the New York Racing Association and is one of the hosts of the popular show America's Day at the Races, and a paddock reporter for Saratoga Live, both on FOX Sports. A native of Connecticut, Courtney began riding at the age of eight, training in the hunter-jumper and dressage disciplines.

In 2011, Courtney founded the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Racing for Home, Inc., which she runs with her mother, Sherrie. Accredited by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, Racing for Home is dedicated to retraining and re-homing Off-Track Thoroughbreds for new careers after the track.

Eurton serves as a reporter and host for many of horse racing's largest events through her continuing work with TVG Network and NBC Sports, including the Triple Crown, Royal Ascot, and the Breeders' Cup World Championships. Eurton began her broadcasting career in 2014 with TVG Network, where she covers Thoroughbred racing across the U.S. and internationally.

Eurton, who made her NBC Sports debut in June 2017 on the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series, worked her first Triple Crown for NBC Sports in 2018 and was a co-host for the network's coverage of Royal Ascot in 2019. She resides in Los Angeles and is a graduate of the University of Southern California. She is the daughter of Peter Eurton, a former jockey and accomplished Thoroughbred trainer.

Gaudet grew up in a horse racing family as her parents, Linda and the late Eddie Gaudet, were trainers in the Mid-Atlantic region. She began her career as a racing analyst and paddock reporter for the Maryland Jockey Club in 2013 and from there went on to cover horse racing nationally at Arlington Park, the Breeders' Cup, and at Gulfstream Park. In 2016, she joined the New York Racing Association's broadcast team as a racing analyst and reporter.

In 2019, Gaudet joined TVG on a year-round basis as an analyst and reporter covering premier racing including the Gulfstream Park Championship Meet, Keeneland and Churchill Downs. In addition to being part of the Keeneland team in April as co-host of “Today at Keeneland” and as paddock commentator, Gaudet expanded her responsibilities with the track to include U.S. sales representation and recruitment. Gaudet is married to trainer Norm Casse. Her sister, Lacey Gaudet, is also a trainer.

Yu is currently a member of the award-winning Santa Anita Park simulcast team. An avid horsewoman from a young age, Yu's first foray onto the backside was as a hotwalker before moving onto TV production. Eventually this landed her in front of the camera as an analyst and presenter. After nearly two decades in the industry, her resume includes FOX, Breeders' Cup, HRTV, TVG and various international shows. Yu is married to Santa Anita based trainer Ryan Hanson and they have two children, Olivia (5) and Spencer (3). Still involved in horses daily, Yu assists in yearling pretraining and is also an owner.

The Eclipse Awards are sponsored by Roberts Communications, Four Roses Bourbon, Daily Racing Form, Breeders' Cup, FanDuel Group, The Stronach Group and 1/ST Racing, Santa Anita Park, TVG, Dean Dorton, Stonestreet Farm, Keeneland, Racetrack Television Network, Jackson Family Wines, Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, Hallway Feeds and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.

The Eclipse Awards are named after the great 18th-century racehorse and foundation sire Eclipse, who began racing at age five and was undefeated in 18 starts, including eight walkovers. Eclipse sired the winners of 344 races, including three Epsom Derbies.

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Agent Ron Anderson: Knicks Go ‘Seems To Run Around The Turn As Fast As He Does Around The Straight’

Bet on this: there are at least two sure things when the 2021 Eclipse Award winners are announced at the 51st annual dinner Feb. 10 at Santa Anita: Joel Rosario will be named top jockey and Knicks Go will be named Horse of the Year.

Take it from Ron Anderson, agent for Rosario, the regular rider of Knicks Go, who is set to make his 2022 debut in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park a week from tomorrow on Jan. 29.

“I don't know how they could deny Joel,” said Anderson, who has been his agent since 2012 and who also represents Hall of Fame veteran John Velazquez.

“Joel led the country in graded stakes wins and purse earnings, and he would have broken the records if he hadn't missed time due to injuries, but he had an outstanding year and it's justified that he wins.”

Rosario was aboard Knicks Go in his last four races, winning wire-to-wire as is his wont, including the Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar last Nov. 6.

“He was riding at Keeneland last Fall,” Anderson recalled, explaining how Joel got the mount, “and Brad (trainer Brad Cox) needed a rider for Knicks Go in an allowance race. Joel rode him and the horse ran freaky.

“It just so happened the Breeders' Cup was at Keeneland in 2020 and we rode him back and won the (Dirt) Mile. There's no big story to it. I just was riding at Keeneland on the right day, and ended up on Knicks Go who's an awfully unique horse.

“You can't run with him, or you're going to come out feet first, and if you let him go, he's probably one of the very, very best horses around the turns that I've ever seen.

“He seems to run around the turn as fast as he does around the straight. He would have been a crazy bull ring horse back in the day when we had bull rings. When he gets to the three-eighths pole he just takes off, and he runs the turns so well that many can't catch him. If they try and catch up, they spend their energy trying to get within range and then he just takes off again.

“From 1984 to 2021, I've won 38 Breeders' Cup races as an agent, my point being I've been around a lot of really good horses, a lot of good three-year-olds and won 15 Triple Crown races but Knicks Go is maybe as unique a horse as I've ever seen.

“He's going to make the lead, so it will be interesting to see what happens (against Life Is Good in the Pegasus), because basically it's going to be a match race.”

In his most recent race, likely Pegasus starter Life Is Good won the Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile wire-to-wire by 5 ¾ lengths on Nov. 6.

“There will be others in the race but it comes down to Life Is Good and Knicks Go,” Anderson said. “Good luck to Life Is Good, but he's not going to be in front of my horse; there's just no way.

“He's not only fast, but more important, he's quick on his feet. It doesn't take him but three or four strides to be gone. When they leave the gate, he's going to be in front, and they're going to have to try and get him at some point.

“It's happened far more than once. He leaves there in front, he's a length or two further in front at the first turn, then it seems they try and catch up going into the turn, and just about that time he takes off again.

“He's a very unique animal and he's been very good to us.”

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Friday Show Presented By PHBA: Snubbed In Eclipse Award Voting

Finalists were named last week for the 2021 Eclipse Awards in the various human and equine categories, and it should come as no surprise that there are differences of opinion about which horses and people were snubbed by voters and should have made the top three.

In this week's edition of the Friday Show, Paulick Report bloodstock editor Joe Nevills is joined by news editor Chelsea Hackbarth and horse racing writer and handicapper Andrew Champagne to review some of those who didn't get the support among voters representing the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, Daily Racing Form and National Thoroughbred Racing Association/Equibase.

Nevills thinks Dr. Schivel should have been a finalist in the Sprint category. Hackbarth asks, “Who did he beat?” Nevills and Champagne both think G1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Golden Pal should have been a finalist, either in the sprint or male turf division. He didn't make either list.

Nevills said he abstained from voting in the steeplechase category, insisting it isn't his area of expertise. Hackbarth reminded Nevills that she expanded Paulick Report's horse racing coverage to include major North American steeplechase races in 2021.

Champagne mostly wants people to agree to disagree respectfully.

On that we can all agree.

Watch this week's Friday Show, presented by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, below:

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