After an excellent campaign that same him win four graded stakes, Epicenter was named the Champion 3-year-old Male of 2022 at the Eclipse Award ceremony on Thursday evening.

He is the first champion for Not This Time, who topped the 2022 Third-Crop Sire list with over $12.8 million in progeny earnings and 14 individual stakes winners, seven of them graded.

Competing exclusively in graded stakes last year, Epicenter won both the Risen Star S. (G2) and Louisiana Derby (G2) in the spring. After heart-breaking losses in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness S. (G1), the bay colt redeemed himself by winning the Jim Dandy S. (G2) and the Travers S. (G1), winning the latter by 5 ¼-length in arguably the best performance by a 3-year-old all year.

“Epicenter was a medium-sized foal that was really smart. He grew into an extremely well-balanced yearling with a great walk, very cat like. Very proud of Epicenter and thankful for the hands he got in. (Owner Ron) Winchell and (trainer Steve) Asmussen, can’t do any better,” said Epicenter’s breeder Mike Harris, of Westwind Farms.

Winchell purchased Epicenter for $260,000 out of the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling sale. After being retired at the end of 2022, Epicenter finished his career with a record of 6-3-0 in 11 starts and earned $2,940,639, making him Not This Time’s leading lifetime earner.