The Galloping Hat Rack

The problem with the Breeders’ Cup in addition to the Triple Crown races is that while they’re considered among the most prestigious races in the States, they are given too much emphasis when determining the year’s very best horses. A handicap star might lose out to the winner of a single Classic while injuries plague an otherwise gifted horse from securing proper recognition. The Eclipse Awards were designed to revel the year’s best horses, but have been known to leave out a lot of horses in its short-list. Excuses aside, here are my personal picks for the Eclipse Awards.

Award: Winner [Second Choice, Third Choice]

• Best Two-Year-Old Male: Union Rags [Hansen, Creative Cause]

Creative Cause, while talented, doesn’t stand much of a chance against BC Juvie winner Hansen, who while extremely gifted, doesn’t strike me as a real future champion. The best horse of the bunch is Union Rags, hands down, who came up short in the BC after impressively winning stakes such as the Champagne and Saratoga Special earlier.

• Best Two-Year-Old Filly: My Miss Aurelia [Stephanie’s Kitten, Killer Graces]

Aurelia’s body of work is astounding and promising, as much as I love Stephanie’s Kitten and Killer Graces.

• Best Three-Year-Old Male: Caleb’s Posse [Animal Kingdom, Stay Thirsty]

AK, while brilliant, did not get the chance to further prove himself as I would have liked to see. Stay Thirsty had a phenomenal summer campaign, but that was about his limit. Caleb’s Posse always impressed, beating Uncle Mo, Shackleford, Wilburn, and older horses to stay unbeaten around one turn. Who says it has to go to a classic winner?

• Best Three-Year-Old Filly: Royal Delta [It’s Tricky, Zazu]

The other two noms are great in their own way, but Bill Mott had Royal Delta primed to fire when it truly counted. Aside from a show spot with a sore hoof, she’s beaten just about everybody in her age group!

• Best Older Male: Acclamation [Tizway, Game On Dude]

Acclamation reads like a dream iron horse that doesn’t exist anymore, winning races against top horses on turf and synthetic to win 5 graded stakes despite a sidelining injury. When I think of brilliance, I think Tizway this year. He showed beautifully in the Met Mile as well as the Whitney to overpower the handicap division in the most competitive company of milers and beyond, but had his career cut a little too early. Game On Dude was consistently edgy and great all year.

• Best Older Female: Havre de Grace [Blind Luck, Awesome Maria]

Grace had the most impressive campaign, despite a narrow defeat to Blind Luck.

• Best Sprinter: Amazombie [Jackson Bend, Force Freeze]

Each talented in their own right, Amazombie was a stand-out this year with excellent wins in the BC Sprint and Ancient Title.

• Female Sprinter: Pomeroys Pistol [Turbulent Descent, Musical Romance]

An unfortunately shallow division, Turby had too many bad days to really make an impact. Pomeroy Pistol’s scores were stand-outs to me and came even after the Breeders’ Cup where she ran a short fourth. Musical Romance kind of got lucky and I’m not convinced of her ability yet.

• Turf Male: Cape Blanco [Acclamation, St. Nicholas Abbey]

I love Acclamation, but Cape Blanco probably would have devoured him and St. Nicholas Abbey on any grassy spot. He was always dominating and impressive this year with three straight G1s.

• Turf Female: Never Retreat [Stacelita, Winter Memories]

Stacelita was powerful this year and Winter Memories a talented but troubled runner, but among the truly strong runs were done by Never Retreat who won 5 graded stakes.

• Horse of the Year: Havre de Grace [Cape Blanco, Acclamation]

The second filly to win the Woodward, she led a great campaign all year long to draw the crowds