Mindframe is champion Maryland-bred of 2025
Human awards also presented
Press Release
March 23, 2026
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.
This article contains affiliate links. If you click and buy, we may earn a commission at no extra charge to you.
Pick up reliable and rewarding tickets for major events!
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.
MARYLAND-BRED CHAMPIONS
- Maryland-bred Horse of the Year: Mindframe
- Champion 2-Year-Old Male: Romeo
- Champion 2-Year-Old Filly: Dazzling Dame
- Champion 3-Year-Old Male: Barbadian Runner
- Champion 3-Year-Old Filly: Onyx Ten
- Champion Older Male: Mindframe
- Champion Older Female: Splendora
- Champion Sprinter: Splendora
- Champion Turf Runner: Future Is Now
- Champion Steeplechaser: Keys Discount
- Broodmare of the Year: Slow and Steady
- Stallion of the Year: Great Notion
- Breeder of the Year: R. Larry Johnson
MARYLAND THOROUGHBRED HORSEMEN’S ASSOCIATION award winners
- Backstretch Worker of the Year: Charles Sniffen
- Owner of the Year: Madison Avenue Racing Stable, Morris Kernan Jr. and Jagger Inc.
- Trainer of the Year: Brittany Russell
- Jockey of the Year: Yedsit Hazlewood
- Male Dirt Horse of the Year: Barbadian Runner
- Male Turf Horse of the Year: Witty
- Female Dirt Horse of the Year: Complexity Jane
- Female Turf Horse of the Year: Lifelovenlaughter
- Claimer of the Year: Zero Blitz
Pick up reliable and rewarding tickets for major events!
LATEST NEWS
