Having plundered so many prizes at last year’s Breeders’ Cup meeting, Europe did not fare quite so well at the 39th annual Eclipse Awards ceremony on Monday night.

Four of the European horses who won at the Breeders’ Cup had been nominated but only one carried off a prize. Goldikova, who became a dual Breeders’ Cup Mile-winner at Santa Anita in November, was though the landslide winner of the female turf horse category.

The Freddie Head-trained mare received 172 votes, polling 131 more than the runner-up Ventura. The daughter of Anabaa is the latest in a long line of European-trained horses to win this award, following the likes of Pebbles, Miesque and Ouija Board.

Goldikova is one of only 11 horses to win multiple Breeders’ Cup races and is back in training this season to attempt an historic third successive victory in the Mile, which would add yet another Breeders’ Cup record to her story. Head is the only man who has both ridden and trained a two-time Breeders’ Cup winner as he was in the saddle when Miesque  won the Mile in 1987 and ’88.

Other awards winners with a European connection were Godolphin, who won the owner’s award for the success of their American division and Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte team won the vote for the breeder’s award.

Paul Wheeler