53 American Thoroughbred Horse of the Year

A.P. Indy was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the Belmont Stakes and Breeders' Cup Classic on his way to American Horse of the Year honors in 1992. His time in the Belmont Stakes tied Easy Goer for the second-fastest running in the history of the race, behind his damsire Secretariat.

Ack Ack was an American Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse.

Affirmed was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was the eleventh winner of the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. Affirmed was also known for his famous rivalry with Alydar, whom he met ten times, including in all three Triple Crown races. Affirmed was the last horse to win the Triple Crown for a 37-year period, which was ended in 2015 by American Pharoah.

Alysheba was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won two legs of the Triple Crown in 1987. A successful sire, he produced 11 stakes winners.

American Pharoah is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the American Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2015. He was the 12th Triple Crown winner in history, and in winning all four races, became the first horse to win the Grand Slam of Thoroughbred racing. He won the 2015 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year and 2015 Champion three-year-old. He was bred and owned throughout his racing career by Ahmed Zayat of Zayat Stables, trained by Bob Baffert, and ridden in most of his races by Victor Espinoza. He now stands at stud at Ashford Stud in Kentucky.

Assault was an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse who won the U.S. Triple Crown in 1946.

Black Tie Affair was a thoroughbred racehorse. Bred by American businessman Stephen D. Peskoff, he was out of the mare Hat Tab Girl and sired by Miswaki, who also sired Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Urban Sea and who was a two-time Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland.

California Chrome is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He was named the 2014 and 2016 American Horse of the Year. He won the 2014 Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the 2016 Dubai World Cup. In 2016, he surpassed Curlin as the all-time leading North American horse in earnings won.

Chance Play was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse and Champion sire. In a career which lasted from 1925 to 1928 he ran in thirty-nine races and won sixteen of them. Although he was successful in his early career over sprint distances, he did not reach his peak until the age of four in 1927, when he was arguably the best horse in the United States, winning several major races including the two-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Cigar, was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Originally campaigned on turf tracks he showed useful but unremarkable form, but he emerged as an outstanding performer when switched to racing on dirt in 1995. In 1996, he became the first American racehorse racing against top-class competition to win 16 consecutive races since Triple Crown winner Citation did so between 1948 and 1950. Cigar retired as the leading money earner in Thoroughbred racing history and was later inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. After his retirement from racing he stood as a breeding stallion but proved to be infertile and was quickly retired from stud duties. He nevertheless enjoyed a long retirement at Kentucky Horse Park before dying at the age of 24.

Citation was an American Triple Crown-winning Thoroughbred racehorse who won 16 consecutive races in major stakes race competition. He was the first horse in history to win one million dollars.

Colin was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who was undefeated in 15 starts. In 1907, he swept the major two-year-old stakes races including the Belmont Futurity and Champagne Stakes and was the consensus Horse of the Year. His three-year-old campaign was cut short by injury but he was still Horse of the Year based on his three wins including the Belmont Stakes. As a sire, he suffered from fertility problems but still sired multiple stakes winners.

Commando (1898–1905) was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse.

Count Fleet was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse. In 1943, he became the sixth American Triple Crown winner when he won the Belmont Stakes by a then record margin of twenty-five lengths. After an undefeated season, he was named the 1943 Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old. Also a champion at age two, he is ranked as one of the greatest American racehorses of the twentieth century. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1961.

Curlin is an American Thoroughbred racehorse and from 2008 until 2016 was the highest North American money earner with over US$10.5 million accumulated. His major racing wins include the 2007 Preakness Stakes, 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic, and 2008 Dubai World Cup.

Damascus was a Thoroughbred race horse sired by Sword Dancer out of Kerala foaled at the Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. In 1967, he won the Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes*, Jockey Club Gold Cup*, Wood Memorial, Travers Stakes, Dwyer Stakes, and Woodward Stakes and was named Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old colt, plus he shared the champion handicap male honors with Buckpasser. Also in 1967, Damascus finished third in the 1967 Kentucky Derby. A high-strung horse, he was enervated by the humidity and spooked by the crowd noise, so he was thereafter given a stable pony to calm him. During the same year, top horses Dr. Fager and Buckpasser were also competing. In Blood-Horse magazine's top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, Buckpasser ranks 14th and Dr. Fager ranks 6th. In a race many consider the "Race of the Century," Damascus won the 1967 Woodward by 10 lengths over both of these horses after his connections, as well as those of Buckpasser, used stablemates to set a blistering pace, thus weakening Dr. Fager. Damascus himself ranks number 16 in the Blood Horse listing.

Domino (1891–1897) was a 19th-century American thoroughbred race horse.

Exterminator was an American Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse, the winner of the 1918 Kentucky Derby and in 1922 of Horse of the Year honors.

Fitz Herbert was an American Thoroughbred National Champion racehorse. Bred by Perry Belmont, he was owned by trainer A. J. Joyner, who sold him in early 1908 to Herman Brandt for $3,500. Later that year, Brandt sold the colt to trainer Sam Hildreth.

Forego was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won eight Eclipse Awards including Horse of the Year, Champion Handicap Horse and Champion Sprinter.

Grey Lag (1918–1942) was a Thoroughbred race horse born in Kentucky and bred by John E. Madden. At his Hamburg Place near Lexington, Kentucky, Maddon had a good stallion called Star Shoot which he bred to all of his mares. Out of a failed racemare called Miss Minnie who had produced no previous winners, he got Grey Lag. In his later days, Maddon said Grey Lag was the best horse he ever bred.

Gun Runner is a retired American Thoroughbred racehorse who was the 2017 American Horse of the Year after winning four Grade I races at age four. He retired with earnings of nearly $16 million.

Hamburg (1895–1915) was an American Thoroughbred race horse. The leading American colt of his generation, Hamburg was retrospectively named the American Horse of the Year for 1898. After his racing career he went on to be a successful sire.

Hanover (1884–1899) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse that won his first 17 race starts. He was the last American stallion to head the leading sire in North America list for four consecutive years until Bold Ruler did so in 1965.

Havre de Grace is an American Thoroughbred Racehorse who was 2011 American Horse of the Year. During her racing career, she was owned by Fox Hill Farms and trained by J. Larry Jones. Her sire is the 2005 American Horse of the Year, Saint Liam. Her dam is the mare Easter Bunnette, a daughter of Carson City. Her name derives from the city and racetrack of Havre de Grace, Maryland.

Henry of Navarre (1891–1917) was an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred Champion racehorse.

Hermis was an American Thoroughbred racehorse.

Imp (1894–1909) was a pure black Thoroughbred racing filly with a white, diamond-shaped star between her eyes. She was sired by Wagner (GB) out of Fondling and was foaled on March 5, 1894. Owned and bred by Daniel R. Harness of Chillicothe, Ohio, and trained by both Charles E. Brossman and Peter Wimmer, Imp's male line of descent was the great Eclipse. Imp, nicknamed "My Coal Black Lady" after a popular song of the day, was a bit of a homely-looking thing, the daughter of parents who each raced only once. Her sire won the Wilton Park Stakes in England but her dam was injured in her only start.

Invasor is a Thoroughbred racehorse bred in Argentina by Haras Clausan. The winner of the 2005 Triple Crown in Uruguay, he was later purchased by Sheik Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who paid approximately US$1.4 million for the horse. His two biggest wins were the 2006 Breeders' Cup Classic, in which he defeated heavily favored Bernardini and highly fancied Lava Man, and the 2007 Dubai World Cup, the world's richest horse race. He finished racing with a record of eleven wins in twelve starts and career earnings of $7,804,070. He was voted the Eclipse Award for American Horse of the Year and led the year-end World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings in 2006. In 2013 he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York.

John Henry was an American champion Thoroughbred racehorse. He was sired by Ole Bob Bowers out of Once Double. John Henry had 39 wins with $6,591,860 in earnings, was twice voted the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year, and was listed as #23 on Blood Horse magazine's Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century.

Man o' War was an American Thoroughbred who is widely considered one of the greatest racehorses of all time. Several sports publications, including The Blood-Horse, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and the (AP) Associated Press, voted Man o' War as the outstanding horse of the 20th century. During his racing career, just after World War I, Man o' War won 20 of 21 races and $249,465 in purses. He was the unofficial 1920 American horse of the year and was honored with Babe Ruth as the outstanding athlete of the year by The New York Times. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1957. On March 29, 2017, the museum opened a special exhibit in his honor, "Man o' War at 100".

Meridian (1908–1935) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 1911 Kentucky Derby, setting a new record by running 11⁄4 miles in 2 minutes, 5 seconds. The previous record of 2:061⁄4 had been set by Lieut. Gibson in the 1900 Derby. Meridian was determined to be the historical Champion Three-Year Old and Horse of the Year of 1911.

Nashua was an American-born thoroughbred racehorse, best remembered for a 1955 match race against Swaps, the horse that had defeated him in the Kentucky Derby.

Native Dancer, nicknamed the Gray Ghost, was one of the most celebrated and accomplished Thoroughbred racehorses in American history and was the first horse made famous through the medium of television. He was a champion in each of his three years of racing, and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1963. In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century, he was ranked seventh.

Point Given is a Thoroughbred racehorse who was the 2001 American Horse of the Year. That year, he won the Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, Haskell Invitational, and Travers Stakes, becoming the first horse to ever win four $1 million races in a row. The only time he finished out of the money was in the 2001 Kentucky Derby, where he ran 5th. Point Given was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2010.

Roamer (1911–1920) was an American thoroughbred racehorse. In the Blood-Horse magazine's list of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, the gelding Roamer was ranked #99.

Round Table was an American Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse. He is considered the greatest turf horse in American racing history.

Salvator (1886–1909) was an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse considered by many to be one of the best racers during the latter half of the 19th century.

Seabiscuit was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money winning racehorse up to the 1940s, as noted in films and books. He beat the 1937 Triple-Crown winner, War Admiral, by 4 lengths in a 2-horse special at Pimlico and was voted American Horse of the Year for 1938.

Seattle Slew was an American Thoroughbred race horse who won the Triple Crown in 1977 — the tenth of thirteen horses to accomplish the feat. He is one of two horses to have won the Triple Crown while having been undefeated in any previous race; the second was Justify, who won the Triple Crown in 2018 and who is descended from Seattle Slew. Honored as the 1977 Horse of the Year, he was also a champion at ages two, three, and four. In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century Seattle Slew was ranked ninth.

Secretariat was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who, in 1973, became the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years. His record-breaking victory in the Belmont Stakes, which he won by 31 lengths, is widely regarded as one of the greatest races in history. During his racing career, he won five Eclipse Awards, including Horse of the Year honors at ages two and three. He was nominated to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1974. In the List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century, Secretariat is second only to Man o' War, who also was a large chestnut colt given the nickname "Big Red".

Sir Barton was a chestnut Thoroughbred race horse who in 1919 became the first winner of what would come to be known as the American Triple Crown.

Spectacular Bid was an American Thoroughbred race horse. In a racing career which lasted from 1978 through 1980, Spectacular Bid won 26 of 30 races, set several track records and earned US$2,781,607, a then-record sum. He won Eclipse Awards in each of his three seasons.

Sunday Silence was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and Sire. In 1989, he won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes but failed to complete the Triple Crown when he was defeated in the Belmont Stakes. Later in the same year, he won the Breeders' Cup Classic and was voted American Champion Three-Year-Old Colt and American Horse of the Year. Sunday Silence's racing career was marked by his rivalry with Easy Goer, whom he had a three to one edge over in their head-to-head races. Easy Goer, the 1988 American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt finished second to Sunday Silence in the Kentucky Derby by 2 1⁄2 lengths and the Preakness by a nose then in the Breeders' Cup Classic by a neck. Easy Goer prevailed by eight lengths in the Belmont. Both horses were later voted into the American Hall of Fame.

Tammany was an American Thoroughbred race horse. He was the favorite horse owned by Marcus Daly. Out of the American mare Tullahoma, a granddaughter of King Tom, the leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland in 1870 and 1871, Tammany's sire was Iroquois, the first American horse ever to win England's Epsom Derby.

Tiznow is an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for his wins in the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2000 and 2001, becoming the only horse to win this race twice. He was the 2000 American Horse of the Year and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2009.

Tom Fool was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, a winner of the American Horse of the Year award and a Hall of Fame inductee. He sired the outstanding racehorses Buckpasser and Tim Tam.

War Admiral was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, best known as the fourth winner of the American Triple Crown and Horse of the Year in 1937, and rival of Seabiscuit in the 'Match Race of the Century' in 1938. During his career toward the end of the Great Depression, War Admiral won 21 of his 26 starts with earnings of $273,240 After his retirement to stud, he was the leading sire in North America for 1945 and was also an outstanding broodmare sire whose influence is still felt today in descendants such as American Pharoah and Justify.

Whirlaway was an American champion thoroughbred racehorse. The chestnut horse was sired by English Derby winner Blenheim, out of the broodmare Dustwhirl. Whirlaway was bred at Calumet Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. Trained by Ben A. Jones and ridden by Eddie Arcaro, Whirlaway won the U.S. Triple Crown in 1941. With his win in the Travers Stakes, he remains to this day the only horse to have won the Grand Slam of Thoroughbred racing. Whirlaway was widely known as "Mr. Longtail" because his tail was especially long and thick and it would blow far out behind him during races, flowing dramatically in the wind.

Whisk Broom II (1907–1928) was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who raced in the United Kingdom and in the United States. Whisk Broom showed high class form during four seasons of racing in Europe, but produced his best performances when returning to America in 1913. He claimed the New York Handicap Triple by winning the Metropolitan Handicap, the Brooklyn Handicap, and the Suburban Handicap, a feat unmatched until Tom Fool achieved it forty years later. Kelso in 1961 and Fit To Fight in 1984 later joined them as the only other horses to win the Handicap Triple. Whisk Broom II's career was ended by injury after his triple success, but he went on to become a successful breeding stallion.

Wise Dan is a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse. He is the first horse to win the same three Eclipse Awards in consecutive years, having been named American Horse of the Year, Champion Older Male and Champion Male Turf Horse in 2012 and 2013.

Zenyatta is a retired American Thoroughbred race horse mare, winner of 19 starts in a 20-race career. Her sole defeat came in her final race, the 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic where she lost by a neck to Blame in an attempt to repeat her win in the 2009 event. Despite the loss, she was named the 2010 American Horse of the Year. She was also the American Champion Older Female Horse in 2008, 2009 and 2010. She was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2016.

Zev (1920–1943) was an American thoroughbred horse racing Champion and National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame inductee.