From opening day to the final tally, these are the leaders who set the pace in 2025.

© Coady Media

By Emily Paulk, StallioneSearch

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK–JANUARY 13, 2026– By the time the final numbers were tallied and the year-end charts came into focus, the 2025 season showed a clear pattern. Across nearly every category - sires, horses, breeders, owners, trainers, and jockeys - the same names surfaced repeatedly, not by coincidence, but through sustained performance. Success overlapped across categories, with horses, breeders, and connections appearing on multiple year-end lists. Those overlaps ultimately shaped the 2025 AQHA Champion roster, reflecting how performance across the season translated directly into year-end honors.

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The Horses That Set the Pace

At the center of the season stood Favorite Cartel, who finished 2025 as the AQHA Leading Sire by earnings with progeny earnings of $8,875,919. Standing at Burns Ranch, the son of Favorite Trick TB led both the overall sire list and the sire of two-year-olds standings, producing 23 stakes winners in 2025. His juveniles alone earned more than $5 million, driven in large part by one defining campaign.

That campaign belonged to Toby Sis, whose $856,157 season made her the leading 2-year-old filly by earnings and a central figure across multiple year-end categories. The AQHA Champion 2-Year-Old Filly, owned by Valeriano Racing Stables, LLC and bred by Edward C. Allred, consistently delivered results that elevated not only her division, but also the sire and breeding standings she helped secure.

King Of The Tide. © Coady Media

If one horse symbolized the season’s dominance across charts, however, it was King Of The Tide. The AQHA Champion 2-Year-Old Gelding by Eye Am King finished as the leading horse by money earned in 2025 with $1,595,087, while also topping the 2-year-old gelding division. From just six starts, he became the defining runner of the juvenile season. Owned by Tod and Gene Bradley in partnership with Ware Brown and bred by MJ Farms, King Of The Tide’s breakout year resonated far beyond the racetrack.

That influence was felt most clearly in the breeder standings. MJ Farms finished 2025 as the AQHA Leading Breeder by earnings, with homebreds accumulating $6,694,377. Their impact extended across age groups and divisions, producing multiple stakes winners and key contributors in both juvenile and aged categories. While Steve D. Burns, DVM led breeders by races won, MJ Farms also topped the standings by stakes victories, highlighted by King Of The Tide’s headline performance.

While Favorite Cartel ultimately claimed the leading sire title, the overall sire race was anything but one-sided. Apollitical Jess finished 2025 essentially neck-and-neck with Favorite Cartel, with progeny earnings exceeding $8 million for the year. The multiple AQHA Champion Sire also crossed a historic milestone in 2025, pushing his all-time progeny earnings beyond the $80 million mark. Together, Favorite Cartel and Apollitical Jess separated themselves from the rest of the sire ranks, setting a standard few stallions in modern history have reached.

Two-time Champion and Leading First Crop Sire Dulce Sin Tacha. © Mark Herron, TRACK

Among the youngest stallions, Dulce Sin Tacha delivered one of the most statistically significant freshman seasons in the past two decades. Finishing as the AQHA Leading First-Year Sire with $2,193,584 in progeny earnings, he became one of only five stallions in the last 20 years to surpass $2 million with a first crop to race, joining Flying Cowboy 123, One Famous Eagle, First Moonflash, and Good Reason SA. His results placed him immediately among elite company and established his long-term trajectory early.

One year removed from his freshman crop, Chilitos led the AQHA second-year sire standings with nearly $2.6 million in earnings and finished the year with almost $3 million in total progeny earnings. Double-registered, Chilitos also topped the APHA second-year sire list with $373,579, underscoring his versatility across registries. His year was fueled by leading Quarter Horse and Paint performers, positioning him as a sire with broad and sustained influence.

Few stallions in recent history have maintained momentum across multiple crops like Flying Cowboy 123. The young sire first shattered the first-year sire earnings record with $4.3 million, surpassing the mark set by One Famous Eagle. In 2024, he followed that performance by breaking the second-year sire record with more than $5.3 million. In 2025, he completed the run by leading all third-year sires with over $7.2 million in earnings. Flying Cowboy 123 finished the year ranked third overall among all sires, trailing only Favorite Cartel and Apollitical Jess, and remains among the leading sires with every crop to race.

The season also reinforced the lasting influence of established broodmare lines. Corona Cartel once again led the broodmare sire standings, as daughters produced runners earning $8,501,411. His impact was visible across multiple age divisions, including through top earners that bridged juvenile success with aged competition.

Among individual producers, Ms Riptide topped the dams of money earners list in 2025, with progeny earnings totaling $1,663,746, led almost entirely by King Of The Tide. The 2007 mare also finished as the leading freshman dam. Treasured Dreams ranked second among dams by earnings, driven by one of the season’s most accomplished runners, while Fast Dash N Deb, C Twister Seis, and London Laura rounded out the top five.

What separated the leaders of 2025 from the rest of the field was repetition across fundamentally different lists. King Of The Tide appeared across overall earnings, juvenile gelding rankings, wins, and stakes charts, while also driving breeder, owner, and sire standings. RF Fast Dash N Blood, the AQHA Champion Aged Gelding, surfaced simultaneously among leaders by races won, stakes victories, and earnings, maintaining elite performance throughout the season.

Toby Sis. © William Zuazo

Toby Sis appeared repeatedly across juvenile earnings, wins, and overall money rankings, while her season directly contributed to both the leading juvenile sire and overall sire standings. Among the three-year-olds, FDD Dreams showed similar crossover, leading the 3-year-old gelding earnings list while also appearing prominently on stakes-winner charts and owner and breeder earnings summaries. His results reflected the strength of the 2022 foal crop, which produced leaders in multiple divisions.

In the aged ranks, Flashtoglory, the AQHA Champion Aged Mare, led her division by earnings, while RF Fast Dash N Blood dominated among aged geldings. Unrelentless, the AQHA Champion Aged Stallion, topped the aged sire division, underscoring the continued relevance of seasoned runners alongside emerging stars.

The three-year-old divisions reflected similar balance. FDD Dreams led all 3-year-old geldings by earnings, Karmalites, the AQHA Champion 3-Year-Old Filly, topped the fillies, and Just Dulce, the AQHA Champion 3-Year-Old Colt, led the colts.

The People Behind the Numbers

Ownership success followed two distinct paths in 2025. Edward C. Allred led all owners by races won, while Champion Owner La Feliz Montana Ranch, LLC topped the owners by earnings list with $2,256,479, driven by a smaller but highly efficient stable that included King Of The Tide and multiple stakes performers.

The trainer standings echoed that same pattern. Jason L. Olmstead led all trainers by wins, while James Gonzales, III finished atop the earnings list with runners collecting nearly $3.8 million. Xavier Rodriguez, who finished third in earnings, rounded out the top tier following a season that culminated in AQHA Champion Trainer honors.

In the saddle, Juan Pulido led all jockeys by races won with 120 victories at a 29 percent win rate. Francisco Calderon finished as the leading rider by earnings at $3,990,700, while Champion Jockey Luis Martinez, second in earnings, further reinforced the depth of riding talent reflected across the standings.

Several AQHA Racing Champions helped define the 2025 season through championship-caliber performances on the sport’s biggest stages, even when their seasons were not reflected atop cumulative leader boards. Among them were Enforce, named Champion 2-Year-Old Colt following a Grade 1-winning campaign highlighted by the Golden State Million Futurity, and Flying Joy 1, the Champion 2-Year-Old Filly whose consistency carried her through Oklahoma’s premier juvenile races. Political Twist earned Champion 2-Year-Old Gelding honors with multiple Grade 1 victories, while Shaken Goin On captured Champion 3-Year-Old Filly after a dominant season that included wins against both her peers and older company. In the aged ranks, Unrelentless claimed Champion Aged Stallion, Curls Joyful Wagon earned Champion Aged Mare, and Hooked N Gone secured Champion Aged Gelding, each distinguishing themselves through elite stakes performances rather than volume alone. Handin Out Candy’s rise from claimer to Champion Distance Horse underscored the depth of competition across divisions, while international standouts Rey De Manny and Had To Be Fabulous repeated as Mexico and Canadian Champions, respectively. Together, these champions rounded out a roster shaped not only by statistics, but by impact in racing’s defining moments.

A Season Defined by Intersection

Champion 3-Year-Old Gelding FDD Dreams. © William Zuazo

One of the most complete campaigns of the season belonged to Champion 3-Year-Old Gelding FDD Dreams, whose 2025 resume placed him firmly among the defining horses of the year and a leading contender to be crowned the 2025 AQHA World Champion. The New Mexico-bred gelding closed the season with career earnings of $2,151,835, compiling 10 wins from 17 starts while delivering Grade 1 victories in the Ruidoso Derby, All American Derby, and Champion of Champions. In doing so, he became the only horse in more than 35 years to win both the All American Derby (G1) and Champion of Champions (G1) in the same season, a feat that underscored his dominance across multiple divisions. His consistency at the sport’s highest level carried across earnings, stakes, and championship categories, reinforcing his place atop the 2025 rankings. A homebred for Champion Owner La Feliz Montana Ranch, LLC, FDD Dreams is by FDD Dynasty and out of Treasured Dreams, herself a winning mare and finalist in the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity (G1), further extending a family line that played a central role in shaping the 2025 season.Taken together, the 2025 season was not defined by a single leaderboard, but by how often the same names crossed categories. Horses like King Of The Tide, Toby Sis, RF Fast Dash N Blood, and FDD Dreams did more than win races, they moved sires, breeders, owners, trainers, and jockeys up the standings at the same time.

These year-end leaders ultimately culminated in the AQHA Champion roster for 2025. As the industry turns toward 2026, StallioneSearch will provide complete coverage of the AQHA Champion Awards Banquet, including exclusive interviews from the ceremony and continued analysis of the horses and people who defined the year just completed.

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