Two Minute Lick: Eclipse Voting, 2011, Horse of the Year

Horse of the Year

It is often with some degree of confusion that I approach consideration for the ultimate year end award, the Eclipse for Horse of the Year (HOY). At least a portion of my confusion stems from a lack of consensus and direction as to what qualifications a horse must display to be a legitimate candidate for this award.

For some, the vote should go to that horse who is felt to be the best horse to race in

America

in a given year, that horse who, if all reasonable candidates lined up in the gate, would prove victorious on the majority of occasions. This seems like a reasonable starting point, but it opens the door to many questions. At what distance would such a mythical race be run? Six furlong sprint? Perhaps a flat mile but, if so, around one turn or two? Most would likely support the classic distance of 1¼ miles even though the majority of our major dirt races are run at 1 1/8^th miles. On what surface would we contest this race. Dirt? Turf? Perhaps, just to be accommodating and meet in the middle, a synthetic, but which synthetic should we choose?

Others might hold that the award should rightfully be awarded to that horse who has generated the greatest excitement within the racing year. Often this may well coincide with the “best” horse proposition as outlined above, but not always so. Even this year there are proponents of giving the HOY to that very fine animal, Rapid Redux, even though fully understanding that his actual racing ability is surpassed by a huge number of horses competing this season. His supporters would argue, with at least some degree of veracity, that his contribution to the welfare of racing may well have exceeded that of any other individual horse in this past calendar year, such proponents appearing to give more credence to popularity and press coverage than to actual racing quality and capability. Surely, however, there can be no serious support for such a movement, and nor should there be.

Another qualification held by many, overtly or covertly, is that pure turf horses are still accorded status as second class race horses, but this truth bears several caveats. If the animal at some point has demonstrated excellent dirt form in the highest level of competition, then co=existing predominant turf form could be over looked. Further, if that turf horse excels at 1 ¼ miles and shorter this will be much more acceptable than that turf horse, no matter how successful, who excels at 1 3/8^th miles and beyond. For many American racing enthusiasts the combination of turf and extreme distance spells plodder, and this carries relatively little respect in the North American racing culture compared with middle to classic distance on the dirt.

How much emphasis should be given to end of year form versus early season form? Should a grade 1 victory in April be as meaningful as a similar victory in October? How much emphasis should participation and success in Breeder’s Cup races be given? Does a Breeder’s Cup victory over an adversary trump two earlier season losses to that foe? What preference, if any, is given to that female who chooses to take on the boys in the Breeder’s Cup as opposed to that lady who stays with her own and proves victorious? Is such a victory out done by, for instance, a good 4^th place finish against the opposite sex?

Such confusion infiltrates the HOY decision on many occasions while, thankfully, in other years the answer appears relatively simple and quite straight forward. Over the years I have incorporated, often rather loosely, many formulations to come to my decision. In essence, however, I believe the award should, unless exceptional circumstance dictates otherwise, be given to that horse, male or female, who is singularly most outstanding within their respective division. The lone exception to this dictum, and I believe it justified, is that there is almost no case for a two year old being given racing’s most prestigious award, for there are too many elements about two year old racing that mitigate against such a practice. By the end of the Juvenile season, a large proportion of the most talented youngsters have yet to have their first outing or, if they have started, lack adequate maturity to be competitive at the highest level. Further it is the nature of success in two year old racing to reward not only precocity but also those whose form and capabilities lean towards speed or, at best, middle distance. Those tending towards classicism, and thus those who are most probable to challenge for the most prestigious races in their 3 year old and subsequent years, will frequently emerge late in their Juvenile season or only early in their Sophomore year, and thus are never recognized until later in their careers. To give our highest award to a two year old, therefore, bodes likely to prove folly within a few short months. For every Secretariat there will prove far too numerous disappointments to consider this path.

With this preamble in mind, therefore, I have perused the numerous champions I have selected and will summarize my selections now:

Two Year Old Male Hansen

Two Year Old Female My Miss Aurelia

Three Year Old Male Caleb’s Posse

Three Year Old Female Royal Delta

Older Male Game On Dude

Older Female Havre de Grace

Male Turf Cape Blanco (IRE)

Female Turf Starcelita (FR)

Male Sprinter Amazombie

Female Sprinter Hilda’s Passion

Of these, I felt there were three who stood apart from the others and deserved serious consideration for our ultimate award, these three being Royal Delta, Cape Blanco (IRE), and Havre de Grace.

In years past we have witnessed 3 year old fillies dominate by year end, often sending their older brethren to inglorious defeat in the season finale of the Breeder’s Cup. On this occasion there can be little doubt about the dominance by Royal Delta within the sophomore filly class, and without question she is most worthy of the Eclipse in her division. She however, along with all the competitors in the Ladies’ Classic, benefited greatly by the absence of Havre de Grace, this filly competing instead the following day in the Breeder’s Cup Classic where she confronted the males. Although Royal Delta dominated her field in the Ladies’ Classic, having previously fallen to defeat by 8 widening lengths at the hands (or should we say, feet?) of Havre de Grace in the Beldame a mere one month earlier unfortunately made it illogical to consider Royal Delta as a legitimate candidate for the HOY honor. She is an outstanding filly with tremendous natural stamina and she is in the best possible hands with Bill Mott. She appears to have limitless potential and perhaps we shall be fortunate enough to see her again face Havre de Grace in this forthcoming racing season.

In my writing on the Male Turf category I expounded upon my great respect for the brilliant, but abbreviated, campaign of Ireland’s Cape Blanco. His outstanding victories, particularly in the face of three separate trans-Atlantic flights, had initially placed him in the forefront of my mind when considering the HOY award. With further review, however, I came to recognize that the Gio Ponti behind Cape Blanco (IRE) on two occasions this season was just not quite the same Gio Ponti of another year, for as wonderful as Gio was it appears near certain that he had lost a step or two from his previous championship form. Further, Dean’s Kitten, narrowly defeated by Cape Blanco (IRE) in all three of the latter’s North American starts, could fare no better than a very soundly beaten (15 lengths) ninth and last in the Breeder’s Cup Turf. Thus, while most deserving of the Turf title, those he defeated in his three grade 1 wins did not fare well in their final tests and this, unfortunately, most definitely takes some luster from his victories.

My HOY Eclipse for 2011 (if I had a vote) would most definitely go to the outstanding filly, Havre de Grace, thereby making it three consecutive years that a female has won this coveted award. I have heard it said that interest in the HOY Eclipse this year wanes in comparison to the two past years, and that the resume of this years winner, whoever that might be, is destined to pale in comparison to Zenyatta in 2010 and Rachel Alexandra in 2009. First, lets be very clear on this…the resume’s of many HOY recipients will pale in comparison to those two very special fillies! We should understand them for what they were…two of the greatest females to ever race in the entire history of the American turf. To have a resume somewhat less than they is no disgrace at all. That said, there is nothing at all shabby about the year’s work put in by Havre de Grace. She was undefeated by any filly this year with the exception of a nose loss to last year’s champion sophomore filly, the great Blind Luck, this defeat coming in the taxing 1 ¼ mile Delaware Handicap. Bear in mind that Havre de Grace was giving 2 pounds to her adversary on this occasion, this differential in most minds computing to a one or two length victory for Havre de Grace at even weights over the 1¼ mile distance. Further, in her only meeting with this year’s probable champion sophomore filly, Royal Delta, she handily defeated that exceptional filly by a widening 8½ lengths while winning in hand. She stepped up against the boys in the G1 Woodward at Saratoga and very handily defeated the likes of the very good Flat Out and Ice Box in that victory, winning comfortably by 1¼ lengths, in so doing becoming only the second female to win the Woodward, the other being of course the aforementioned Rachel Alexandra. Finally, bypassing almost certain victory in the Ladies’ Classic, she stepped into the ring with the males in the Breeder’s Cup Classic. While perhaps not at her very best that day, her fourth place finish, defeated by only 3 lengths, represented a wonderful effort, and she left in her wake that evening many highly accomplished males.

I see absolutely nothing deficient at all with this outstanding resume and, in fact, I am convinced that Havre de Grace is of such quality as to belong with the best females that have graced our racetracks in many years. Could she defeat Rachel at 11/8^th miles, or Zenyatta at 1¼ miles? I don’t know about that but suspect it unlikely, for such would be an extremely tall order for any horse, male or female, of this or any other generation. I have absolutely no doubt, however, that when it was over they’d know they’d been in one hell of a horse race! I have no understanding as to why we have been so blessed with such wonderful distaffers over these past several decades. While it appears true that, on average, our colts have failed to consistently excel to the level of performance we witnessed throughout the seventies, eighties and nineties, the same most definitely cannot be said about the fillies and mares. It seems we always have one or two, or even more, exceptionally talented, very consistent, females competing, and wonderful rivalries have emerged from this good fortune.

Blessed are the Ladies! Move over Rachel, move over Zenyatta! Put on the coffee, pull another chair up to the table, and call a meeting of your most special club, “The Society of Ladies for Horse of the Year!” There’s another pretty darned special lady joining your exclusive party, and they call her Havre de Grace! Around here, I call her Horse of the Year!

Murray D. West

January 15, 2011

The following photos of Havre de Grace were taken on the morning of 10-24-2011 at Keeneland, on the occasion of this filly working 5/8ths mile in 58.4. On board was Gabriel Saez, the lady leading Havre de Grace in the pink sweater is Cindy Jones, and the man with the riding chaps on is trainer Larry Jones. I do not know the names of the groom nor hotwalker. All photos by Murray West.