By Steve Davidowitz | While there was no truly dominant Horse of the Year in 2011, the 4-year-old filly Havre de Grace did enough to convince the majority of Eclipse Award voters that she deserved to be the third straight female racehorse to be named Horse of the Year. Two years ago, the 3-year-old filly RACHEL ALEXANDRA narrowly edged the great 5-year-old race mare ZENYATTA for the 2009 Horse of the Year Award;while last year, ZENYATTA was voted 2010 Horse of the Year over the 4-year-old colt BLAME, narrow winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic over Zenyatta in the latter’s only career defeat.
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Havre de Grace may have only finished fourth in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic to DROSSELMEYER, but she won five of her seven starts last year, including a trio of Grade-1 stakes. One of those Grade-1’s was in the Beldame at Belmont in which she defeated the 3-year-old filly ROYAL DELTA, who was given an Eclipse in the annual Eclipse Award dinner on Monday night.
Another of Havre de Grace’s more important G-1 victories was in the Woodward at Saratoga when she clearly bested the Grade-1 winning 5-year-old male, FLAT OUT. The voting was conducted as usual amongst actibve members of the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, Daily Racing Form employees and track officials who are members of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association.
I did not submit a vote for Horse of the year on my ballot, but I did vote in all other categories and was particularly glad to see Hall of Fame trainer Billy Mott win his third Eclipse for his outstanding work with Royal Delta, Drosselmeyer and many other in a barn that was 1/20 th the size of statistical leading trainers Todd Pletcher and Steve Asmussen — whose wins and money won totals were great achievements, but did not merit the Trainer’s Eclipse Award that should go and in this case did go to the trainer who exhibited the year’s best horsemanship.
Here are the Eclipse Award winners and their respective voting totals, as reported by Daily Racing Form, a co-sponsor of the Eclipse Awards this year:
Horse of the Year: Havre de Grace, 166; Acclamation, 26; Game On Dude, 10
*****
Older Male: Acclamation, 95; Game On Dude, 70; Tizway, 52
ACCLAMATION won the Pacific Classic on Polytrack and was a star older horse on turf. GAME ON DUDE was second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic among other good races. TIZWAY won a pair of Grade-1’s in New York early in the year.
*****
2-Year-Old Male: Hansen, 194; Union Rags, 52; Secret Circle, 1
Hansen was undefeated in three starts, including an important albeit narrow win over previously undefeated UNION RAGS. SECRET CIRCLE won the inaugural running of the BC Juvenile Sprint.
*****
2-Year-Old Female: My Miss Aurelia 247; Stephanie’s Kitten, 1
MY MISS AURELIA was undefeated in four starts including a facile win in the $2 million BC Juvenile Fillies and was a near unanimous choice. STEPHANIE’S KITTEN received the only other vote as the filly who won the $1 million BC Juvenile Fillies Turf.
*****
3-Year-Old Male: Animal Kingdom 114; Caleb’s Posse, 111; Shackleford, 12
In a very close vote, Kentucky Derby winner ANIMAL KINGDOM, who was second in the Preakness and injured in the Belmont, just did get the nod over multiple G-1 winner CALEN’S POSSE, a top class, one turn specialist. Preakness winner SHACKLEFORD finished a distant third.
*****
3-Year-Old Female: Royal Delta, 243; Awesome Feather, 2; Plum Pretty, 2
ROYAL DELTA won the Alabama Stakes was second to Havre de Grace in the Beldame and went on to thoroughly dominate the $2 million BC Ladies Classic. AWESOME FEATHER won both her starts in Oct. and Nov but came on too late to make a serious challenge in this division. At the same time my clockers in Florida say she is training superbly for a 2012 campaign. PLUM PRETTY won $1.3 million last year winning the Kentucky Oaks, but she was no match for Royal Delta in their two meetings and really did not deserve a first place vote.
*****
Older Female: Havre de Grace 245; Blind Luck, 2; Awesome Maria, 1
HAVRE DE GRACE traded decisions this year with last year’s champion 3-year-old filly BLIND LUCK but gained the edge over her arch rival when Blind Luck was injured while finishing last in the Lady’s Secret Stakes at Santa anita Park in Oct. to end her career. In my mind, Blind Luck was the better filly but she never had a chance to prove it in a rematch. AWESOME MARIA was undefeated in four starts last year — all Graded Stakes — but did not race after winning the G-1 Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont in June. While I respect Havre de Grace, I believe this 4 year old also would have given her a stiff battle if she had stayed in training.
*****
Male Turf Horse: Cape Blanco (IRE), 172; Acclamation, 55; St Nicholas Abbey (IRE), 16
The European based CAPE BLANCO won three consecutive Grade-1 stakes in three American starts, including the prestigious Arlington Million and despite not running in the BC Turf, clearly was the best turf horse seen on these shores in 2011. ACCLAMATION, the versatile winner of five straight Graded stakes, including the G-1 Pacific Clasic on Polytrack won a pair of G-1 turf stakes and a G-2 in southern California to be a hard luck loser in this category. ST. NICHOLAS ABBEY won the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf in his only North American appearance.
*****
Female Turf Horse: Stacelita (FR), 158; Perfect Shirl, 28; Never Retreat, 25
The French import STACELITA was a good third to males in the United Nations Handicap and then won a pair of G-1 Turf stakes against her own sex, including the prestigious Beverly D at Arlington. PERFECT SHIRL won the $2 million BC Filly and Mare Turf. . NEVER RETREAT won five Graded stakes in 2011.
*****
Male Sprinter: Amazombie, 201; Caleb’s Posse, 42; Regally Ready, 2
AMAZOMBIE won five of nine in 2011 including an award clinching score in the $1.5 million BC Sprint. CALEB’S POSSSE was well regarded in the 3 year old division and was a decisive winner of the one turn $1 million BC Dirt Mile. REGALLY READY a turf specialist won six of his nine on grass last year including the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
*****
Female Sprinter: Musical Romance, 131; Hilda’s Passion, 53; Sassy Image, 46
MUSICAL ROMANCE had a very active campaign winning five of 14 with three seconds and a third. Her win in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint was the decisive reason she won this award. HILDA’S PASSION was four for seven including the G-1 Ballerina at Saratoga and she did not race again which was unfortunate because she had run fast enough often enough to have been a major force in the BC F & M Sprint. SASSY IMAGE won a pair of G-1 stakes in 2011 but also was unable to race after the Ssaratoga meeting due to injury.
*****
Steeplechase Horse: Black Jack Blues (IRE), 137; Tax Ruling, 80; Decoy Daddy (IRE), 1
The steeplechase horses often race outside the public eye, but they are a hearty, entertaining group. Irish import BLACK JACK BLUES won both of his American starts including the G-1 Grand National, a non betting event at Fair Gill in Maryland. TAX RULING won two G-1s, both non betting races including the prestigious Colonial Cup at Camden, South Carolina, while DECOY DADDY won three of seven starts to get enough ppoints for third. Personally, I was more impressed with Tax Ruling, but did not see enough of these horses to really know which one was best.
*****
Trainer: Billy Mott, 83; Bob Baffert, 60; Todd Pletcher, 57
BILLY MOTT, a graduate of the Jack Van Berg school of horsemanship, came on late in the season with his handling of Royal Delta and Drosselmeyer. A truly great, Hall of Fame horseman, Mott was a deserving winner of this award. BOB BAFFERT certainly had a very good year and so did the ubiquitous TODD PLETCHER, as did GRAHAM MOTION, DALE ROMANS and STEVE ASMUSSEN.
*****
Owner: Ken and Sarah Ramsey 66; Midwest Thoroughbreds, 60; Team Valor International, 25
The Ramseys had their best year ever mostly with the progeny of their 2004 Turf Champion KITTEN’S JOY, while MIDWEST THOROUGHBREDS won a lot of races on many fronts and TEAM VALIR had ANIMAL KINGDOM and a few other top horses win important races.
*****
Breeder: Adena Springs, 151; Ken and Sarah Ramsey, 62; Ocala Stud, 5
ADENDA SPRINGS actually is FRANK STRONACH and has won this award seven total times with hundreds of home bred race winners in this and all those other years. KEN AND SARAH RAMSEY’s winners were mostly homebreds, while OCALA STUD was prominent in many major stakes last year.
*****
Jockey: Ramon Dominguez , 197; John Velazquez, 30; Javier Castellano, 14
RAMON DOMINGUEZ clearly was the best rider in 2011; he had the most money won, was second in victories and was leading rider at several race meets. JOHN VELAZQUEZ has been a top rider for more than a decade while the same can be said for JAVIER CASTELLANO.
*****
Apprentice jockey: Kyle Frey, 77; Ryan Curatolo, 57; Rosario Montanez, 19
KYLE FREY won 153 races in 2011 but I never saw him ride a single race. RYAN CURATOLO was second in the voting and was the best of the apprentices I did see in action. ROSARIO MONTANEZ was third in this category and was another young rider I really did not have a chance to evaluate.
*****
Two additional Eclipse Awards were given:
The Award of Merit: COT CAMPBELL was given this award by the Executive Eclipse Committee for starting horse buying syndicates more than 20 years ago that permit people who do not have the large bankrolls to buy expensive yearlings.
A Special Eclipse Award – RAPID REDUX, for winning all 19 of his races in 2011, a streak that has actually began in 2010 and has continued with his 22nd consecutive victory earlier this month.
*****
There were a handful of other Eclipse Awards. . . for photography, for news writing, TV and radio productions etc. But all the above were the Eclipse Awards most will remember.
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