Eclipse Award Musings
by Bill Finley, special to ESPN.com
My ballot is in and it was not an easy task this year. There were too many categories where you’d just as soon vote for no one, where none of the contenders had worthy Eclipse credentials.
Without boring you with the obvious (e.g. why I voted for Untapable for the 3-year-old filly championship) here are some general thoughts on this year’s Eclipse races:
1. With Main Sequence having had a strong year he may just win the older male championship, which would bring up an old debate: should turf horses be considered for this award since they already have their own category? I say no. Why should turf horses be eligible to win in two categories, but dirt horses in only one? The same applies to the older female championship.
If you already have an official category for the outstanding turf horse, why can’t you have an official category for the outstanding dirt horse? The Eclipse committee should change the official titles to “Older Male Dirt Champion” and “Older Female Dirt Champion.” Problem solved.
2. I have been among those who have argued that the Eclipse Award for apprentice jockey should be done away with. The problem has been that the category has rewarded mediocrity far too many times over recent years, going to jockeys on the fast road to obscurity once their apprentice allowance is gone.
But this year there was not just one, but two outstanding candidates, jockeys likely to develop into stars.
My vote went to Drayden Van Dyke, a runaway leader among apprentices in both wins and earnings. Van Dyke didn’t compile those numbers at a minor league track, but on the Southern California circuit. Not only is the riding colony strong there, but apprentices rarely have any impact at those tracks. He’s a star in the making.
Van Dyke was an easy choice but the award could have just as easily gone to Trevor McCarthy.
3. Wayne Lukas doesn’t come close to the leaders in wins, stakes wins or earnings and his winning percentage (12%) isn’t impressive. But he got my vote for Trainer of the Year. Todd Pletcher was the easy winner in the money-earned category and may win, but, by Pletcherian standards, he had a bad year.
The Lukas vote is statement vote. He is the last major trainer in the sport who isn’t afraid to run horses more than three or four times as year and in spots where they’re not going to be 6-5.
His management of Take Charge Brandi was brilliant. He entered her in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies when it looked like she didn’t have a prayer. But she won at 61-1. Just about any other trainer would have stopped on her for the year right there and had Lukas done that she would not have won an Eclipse. Instead, he charged ahead, winning the $400,000 Delta Princess and the $350,000 Hollywood Starlet. Not only did those two wins wrap up an Eclipse Award for her they put an extra $450,000 into the pocket of owner Willis Horton. Had Horton employed any other trainer he’d be $450,000 poorer today. And isn’t that what a trainers’ job is all about, to make money for their owners?
4. Sometimes horses that deserve Eclipses walk away with nothing only because someone else in their category was just a little bit better, Last year it was Princess of Sylmar in the 3-year-old filly division. This year it will be Bayern, who has the credentials to get the 3-year-old male championship and Horse of the Year, but will likely come away with neither.
5. Close Hatches couldn’t have finished the year worse. She was fourth at 2-5 in the Spinster and then last in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. But she still got my vote, primarily because she beat the best field assembled this year in her division in the Odgen Phipps. The competition included Princess of Sylmar, Beholder and Belle Gallantey, who have won a combined 12 Grade 1 races.
6. The Sprint division was another head scratcher. Two candidates who will likely get votes are Private Zone and Goldencents. But anyone who votes for them for an Eclipse will likely give them credit for wins in one mile races. Goldencents won the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and Private Zone won the Cigar Mile. In my book those aren’t sprints and don’t count. Others may disagree.
Though pretty much a one-race wonder, I voted for Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Work All Week.
Originally published by ESPN.com and reprinted here with permission. For more articles on horse racing by Bill Finley and others, visit http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/