In a year in which three Maryland-bred runners were Grade 1 winners, including a Breeders’ Cup win, Mindframe is the 2025 Maryland-bred Horse of the Year, as well as champion older male, as announced at this year’s ninth annual Renaissance Champion Awards, held Sunday afternoon, March 22, at Laurel Park. The event is a collaborative effort between the Maryland Horse Breeders Association and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, which recognizes excellence in Thoroughbred racing and breeding in Maryland in the past year.
The richest state-bred runner of 2025 with $1,407,220 earned in five starts, Mindframe ranked as one of the best of his generation. He came into the year after taking the title of Maryland-bred champion 3-year-old male when recording two seconds in his only two stakes starts, both Grade 1s, including the Belmont Stakes. In his first start at 4, the Todd Pletcher-trainee returned after a nearly eight-month layoff to record his first stakes victory in the Gulfstream Park Mile-G2 in March. His next two starts were at the highest level. Dropping back to seven furlongs for the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes on Kentucky Derby day, he rallied to get up at the wire over one of the best fields assembled all year, which included Book’em Danno, Nysos and Mullikin.
Back at Churchill in late June, Mindframe faced five rivals, including Sierra Leone, First Mission, Mystik Dan and Hit Show, in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster and won decisively while stopping the clock in 1:47.48 for the mile and an eighth, just .22 seconds off the track record.
Racing for Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables LLC, which purchased the son of Constitution for $600,000 as a yearling at the Keeneland September sale from breeder Larry Johnson, Mindframe was the second-choice against seven others in the Jockey Club Gold Cup-G1 at Saratoga in August but was eliminated at the start when slammed from the outside, losing rider Irad Ortiz. He would not run again until the Breeders’ Cup Classic-G1 at Del Mar in November and, after battling on the front end into the far turn, he weakened late to finish fifth. Now at stud at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., he retired with a career record of 9-5-2-0 while earning $2,054,580.
Other divisional champions:
Champion 2-Year-Old Male: Romeo
Dk.b./br.c., 2023, Honor A. P.–Fancy Love, by Not For Love. Bred by John C. Davison. Owned by Joseph Lloyd. Trained by John J. Robb. Foaled at Glade Valley Farm, Frederick.
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Champion 2-Year-Old Filly: Dazzling Dame
B.f., 2023, Girvin–Awesome Dama, by Corinthian. Bred by Maria M. Haire. Owned by Respect the Valleys LLC. Trained by Brittany T. Russell. Foaled at Northview Stallion Station, Chesapeake City.
Champion 3-Year-Old Male: Barbadian Runner
Dk.b./br.g., 2022, Barbados–Quiet Run, by Northern Afleet. Bred by Shamrock Farm. Owned by AJ Will Win Stables LLC. Trained by Henry Walters. Foaled at Shamrock Farm, Woodbine.
Champion 3-Year-Old Filly: Onyx Ten
B.f., 2022, Street Magician–Chattolanee, by Rock Hard Ten. Bred and owned by Frank T. Sample. Trained by Gary Capuano. Foaled at Dance Forth @ Roland Farm, Warwick.
Champion Older Female, Sprinter: Splendora
Dk.b./br.m., 2021, Audible–Miss Freeze, by Frost Giant. Bred by The Elkstone Group LLC. Owned by By Talla Racing LLC. Trained by Bob Baffert. Foaled at C-Dog Farm, Chesapeake City.
Champion Turf Runner: Future Is Now
B.m., 2020, Great Notion–Past as Prelude, by Bernardini. Bred by R. Larry Johnson. Owned by the Estate of R. Larry Johnson. Trained by Mike Trombetta. Foaled at Dance Forth @ Roland Farm, Warwick.
Champion Steeplechaser: Keys Discount
Dk.b./br.g., 2019, Medal Count–Divertimento, by Rizzi. Bred by Bryan Minnich. Owned by Mrs. John R.S. Fisher. Trained by Jack Fisher. Foaled at Anchor and Hope Farm, Port Deposit.
The awards for Breeder, Broodmare, and Stallion of the Year are familiar names. For the second year in a row, the late R. Larry Johnson, breeder of Mindframe and additional 2025 champion Future Is Now, is Maryland Breeder of the Year.
Slow and Steady, the dam of two stakes winners in 2025, and four total for the partnership of ZWP Stable and Non Stop Stable, gets her second award, having previously been so honored in 2022.
Great Notion, now pensioned at his longtime home at Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City, earns his 10th consecutive award as Maryland Stallion of the Year.
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