With the New Year upon us, we take this opportunity to recall the exciting 2005 racing season.

The Triple Crown series belonged to Alex. Not just the colt named Afleet Alex, but also Alex Scott and her charity for pediatric cancer research. Almost every track in North America had an Alex's Lemonade Stand while Cash Is King Stable pledged a portion of Afleet Alex's earnings towards the charity. The Preakness gave us one of the scariest yet most exciting moments of the year, when Scrappy T and Afleet Alex clipped heels at the top of the stretch and the favored Afleet Alex almost went down.

However, jockey Jeremy Rose hung on as Afleet Alex found his footing and easily drew away to win by 4 1/2 lengths. After winning the Belmont, Afleet Alex was taken off the track due to an injury he would never recover from, and he was retired at the end of the year.

Hurricane Katrina made landfall near New Orleans on August 29th, causing widespread damage to the city. Fair Grounds was mostly underwater and part of its grandstand roof collapsed. Fortunately there were no horses on the grounds and the security guards on duty escaped unharmed. The NTRA established the "Racing to the Rescue" fund to provide financial relief to members of the racing community affected by this disaster. The Fair Grounds winter meet was moved to Louisiana Downs.

The Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships determine most of the Eclipse Awards, and Saint Liam's win in the Classic may have earned him the Horse of the Year title, although Afleet Alex still has a lot of support. Huge longshot Pleasant Home scored for the home team as the Phipps homebred shocked the Distaff, while defending champ Ouija Board could not run down Intercontinental in the Filly and Mare Turf.

German-bred Shirocco captured the Turf while Artie Schiller beat his old nemesis Leroidesanimaux in the Mile. Silver Train took the Sprint after undefeated favorite Lost in the Fog tired in the lane. And for the 2-year-olds, Stevie Wonderboy won the Juvenile and Folklore captured the Juvenile Fillies.

The Breeders' Cup drew attention to the many problems with the once-proud New York Racing Association, operators of host track Belmont Park as well as Saratoga and Aqueduct. Despite having some of the richest stakes races and highest purses in the country, NYRA was awash in red ink. President Charles Hayward is expected to declare NYRA bankrupt early in 2006, and the state is expected to sell the franchise to the highest bidder when NYRA's current term comes up for renewal in 2007. Former NTRA president Tim Smith formed "Friends of New York Racing" to work collectively at saving the proud racing tradition in the state.

Long-time troubles at the Jockey's Guild finally came to a head when president Dr. Wayne Gertmenian was fired by a majority of members after some financial irregularities and the failure of Guild management to notify members the organization's $1-million catastrophic insurance policy for jockeys had lapsed. This followed a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing which labeled his management a "disgrace".

Records were made to be broken, and 2005 is no exception. Hong Kong sprinter Silent Witness became the first modern era horse to win 17 straight races, beating the record set by Citation and tied by Cigar and Hallowed Dreams. The streak ended when stablemate Bullish Luck beat him in the Champions Mile. Jockey John Velazquez set a new single-season earnings record while Todd Pletcher set a new single-season record for earnings by a trainer. Among the "distaff" set, apprentice jockey Emma- Jayne Wilson became the first female to win the Woodbine riding title in the 50-year history of the track, and the mare Makybe Diva won her third consecutive Melbourne Cup, a feat that had never been accomplished.

Two of racing's greatest riders, Pat Day and Gary Stevens, announced their retirements this year. After his retirement, Day was honored with "Big Sport of Turfdom" award for his accomplishments. As well, there were some high profile horses that left the track for good. 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper looked to be on his way to repeat as champion with his win in the Met Mile, but was injured in the race. As well, 2004 champion turf horse Kitten's Joy was being prepped for a return trip to the Breeders' Cup when an injury was discovered after his 2nd place finish in the Arlington Million. Rock Hard Ten, who was expected to be one of the favorites in the Breeders' Cup Classic off his win in the Goodwood, was scratched a few days before the Cup and was retired shortly after.

2005 Major Race Recaps
2005 Obituaries