Epicenter Takes Home Champion 3-Year-Old Honors

A new member of the Coolmore America roster, Epicenter added another accolade to his record on Thursday evening when named the Eclipse Awards Champion 3-Year-Old Male.

Earning 155 first place votes from Eclipse voters - nearly 100 more than the runner up – Epicenter’s championship comes on the back of a season that saw him finish first or second in all seven races he finished as a 3-year-old.

The grandson of late Ashford stalwart Giant’s Causeway’s shining moment came in the Grade I Travers Stakes at Saratoga. It was in that race that he proved to be much the best with a 5 ¼ length victory against many of the other top 3-year-old dirt colts of the year.

In all, Epicenter won four of his starts in 2022 with each coming at the graded stakes level.

"Epicenter was solid all year and the Travers was the breakout performance he needed and deserved, and he did it in an emphatic way," trainer Steve Asmussen said. "He put everything together on a grand stage."

He also made a large impact in the Triple Crown when second in both the Grade I Kentucky Derby by just three quarters of a length and the Grade I Preakness Stakes to fellow Ashford resident Early Voting.

Standing for $45,000 in 2023 for his first season, Epicenter is the best son of leading sire Not This Time and bred on the reverse of rising superstar sire Gun Runner’s Candy Ride/Giant’s Causeway cross.