American Pharoah unanimous pick as horse of the year

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. (AP) American Pharoah is the horse of the year, and the vote was unanimous.

The Triple Crown winner and Breeders' Cup Classic champion received all 261 votes for top honors at the Eclipse Awards, handed out Saturday night at Gulfstream Park.

American Pharoah was also the unanimous winner of 3-year-old male honors. He's the first horse to get every vote in either of those divisions under the current balloting system that's been in place since 2003.

In all, American Pharoah and his connections combined to take five Eclipse Awards. Zayat Stables won as top owner as well as top breeder, the first time it prevailed in those categories. And trainer Bob Baffert got his fourth Eclipse, his first since 1999.

It wasn't a sweep for American Pharoah's team: Jockey Victor Espinoza finished a distant second to Javier Castellano in the race for top jockey. Castellano prevailed for the third straight year.