With four wins in four Grade I starts, including the Breeders Cup Classic, the four-year-old son of Awesome Again gained his last victory of the year in the ballot box. Ghostzapper easily outdistanced his main competition, Smarty Jones, for Horse of the Year honors.
	Azeri closed out her career in 2004 with some impressive credentials.                                    She had 17 wins in 24 career starts, including 11 grade I wins.                                                    With over 4 million in earnings she is the  all-time North American female earnings winner.                                                               She won Eclipse Awards in three different years, including Horse of the Year in 2002. Azeri won The Apple Blossom Handicap three consecutive years. This mare is sure to enter the Hall of Fame on the first year of eligibility.
Smarty Jones created quite a stir in the racing world as he became the first undefeated Kentucky Derby winner since Seattle Slew did it in 1977. His notoriety continued to increase with a win in The Preakness Stakes. A record crowd of 120,139 saw Smarty make a gallant attempt to win the Belmont Stakes. In the final 70 yards Birdstone passed Smarty and denied him a place in history. Smarty Jones was retired after The Triple Crown with the detection of bruises in the fetlock joints.
	With five Grade 1 wins topped by  The Breeders' Cup Distaff and The Kentucky Oaks the Todd Pletcher trained Ashado earned the top honor for her generation. The Saint Ballado filly also had wins in The Fair Ground Oaks, The Coaching Club American Oaks, and The Cotillion Handicap. She is being aimed at The Apple Blossom Handicap for her first 2005 start.
Kitten's Joy was under consideration for Eclipse Awards in two categories, Three-year-old male and male turf horse. With six stakes wins (at six different tracks) and two seconds (including a troubled trip in The Breeders' Cup Turf) he was  a model of consistency. Grade I wins included the Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park and The Turf Classic at Belmont.
She only had one win in North America this year, but that race was The Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. The only horse in training for owner Lord Derby, the three-year-old daughter of Cape Cross, had won both the Epsom and Irish Oaks earlier in the year. Ouija Board is being aimed at a 2005 campaign that would end with Breeders' Cup Turf at Belmont Park.
As the year was coming to a close, the battle for top sprinter was between Speightstown and Pico Central. Both had impressive records but Pico Central had beaten Speightstown in their only head-to-head race, The Vosburgh Stakes. While Speightstown ran and won The Breeders' Cup Sprint, the connections of Pico Central elected to skip that race and run in The Cigar Mile at Aqueduct, which was won by Lion Tamer. Speightstown's victories came in The Artax , True North and Vanderbilt Handicap. The six-year-old Storm Cat horse will stand at Taylor Made/Winstar in Versailles, Kentucky.
She ran a half a second faster than Wilko on Breeders' Cup Day, and with the addition of two west coast stakes wins (The Del Mar Debutante & The Oak Leaf) Sweet Catomine was the clear choice for top honors in her division. The Storm Cat filly appears to be headed towards The Santa Anita Oaks in March with an idea of taking on the boys on the first Saturday in May if all goes well.