The unbeaten racehorse Eclipse won 18 official races.
Eclipse was an English Thoroughbred foaled in 1764 and named after the solar eclipse that occurred on 1 April that year. He began racing at the unusually late age of five, but quickly dominated competition. His 18 recorded starts all ended in victories, and he was never seriously challenged in many of them.
Eclipse’s superiority produced the saying “Eclipse first, the rest nowhere,” a phrase used when he finished so far ahead that the other horses were not placed close behind him. He retired from racing in 1770 after winning the King’s Plate at Newmarket.
His influence continued through breeding. Eclipse became an important sire, and modern Thoroughbred pedigrees trace a large proportion of racehorses through his male line. The phrase “Eclipse” also appears in later racehorse names, so the undefeated 18th-century horse should not be confused with those descendants.