The title of American Champion Older Dirt 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 c ...

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 p ...

honor awarded annually to a stallion or gelding, four years old and up, for performances on dirt and main track racing surfaces. In 1971, 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 as the award for Champion Older Male Horse. The award originated in 1936 when the ''

Daily Racing Form The ''Daily Racing Form'' (DRF) (referred to as the ''Racing Form'' or "Form" and sometimes "telegraph" or "telly") is a tabloid newspaper founded in 1894 in Chicago, Illinois, by Frank Brunell. The paper publishes the past performances of race ...

'' (DRF) began naming an annual champion. In the same year, the Baltimore-based ''Turf and Sports Digest'' magazine instituted a similar award. 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. Whenever there were different champions named, the horses are listed side-by-side with the one chosen as champion by the ''Daily Racing Form'' noted with the letters (DRF), the one chosen by the Thoroughbred Racing Associations by the letters (TRA) and the one chosen by ''Turf and Sports Digest'' by the letters (TSD). Prior to 1971 this award was referred to as "Champion Handicap Male Horse". The ''Daily Racing Form'' version was open to any horse, three years old and up and this award was given to some Champions at the age of three, such as

Citation A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose of ...

, Buckpasser,

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and

Arts and Letters Arts and Letters (April 1, 1966 – October 16, 1998) was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Background Arts and Letters was a chestnut horse owned and bred by American sportsman and philanthropist Paul Mellon, and tra ...

. 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.

''. In 2015, the ''Daily Racing Form'', the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, and the

National Turf Writers Association The National Turf Writers Association (NTWA) is an American association of journalists, columnists and other writers involved with reporting on the horse racing industry. The organization was founded by prominent sports writer Joe Hirsch who served ...

decided that the award would be renamed and awarded to older horses proficient in dirt and main track races.

Honorees

Eclipse Award for Champion Older Dirt Male

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

Daily Racing Form and Turf & Sport Digest Awards

''The Blood-Horse'' retrospective champions

''Thoroughbred Heritage'' retrospective champions

References

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

''The Bloodhorse.com'' Champion's history charts from 1887

Notes

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