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***Corrected name of 2yo filly -- My Miss Aurelia COMMENTARY DECEMBER 15, 2011 Some Eclipse choices not so easy by Vance Hanson In the dozen years I've had the privilege of casting an Eclipse Awards ballot, I don't think I've approached the exercise with as much trepidation as I do this year. As is the case every year a majority of the selections are pretty straightforward, but the racing gods have chosen to be unusually cruel this time by making several divisions either completely inscrutable or an extremely difficult choice between two (relatively) worthy candidates. That's just my opinion, of course, but let it be known I've struggled in several instances to reach decisions I can justify and which leave my mind satisfied. As is our custom, we'll go from easiest to hardest while providing explanation where necessary. The Slam Dunks Two-year-old filly: MY MISS AURELIA. Three-year-old filly: ROYAL DELTA. She clinched this with a victory over her main rivals for the title, It's Tricky and Plum Pretty, in the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic. Older female: HAVRE DE GRACE. Her victory against the boys in the Woodward Stakes was a game-changer and put in her in the lead over Blind Luck, with whom she split decisions in the Azeri Stakes and Delaware Handicap earlier in the year. Divisional honors were wrapped up the first week of October when it was announced Havre de Grace would face males again in the Breeders' Cup Classic, while Blind Luck would forfeit the Breeders' Cup entirely after a career-ending clunker in the Lady's Secret Stakes. Male sprinter: AMAZOMBIE. Highly consistent this year, he nailed down honors with his Breeders' Cup Sprint triumph. The "Why Are These Debatable?" Two-year-old male: HANSEN. Call me crazy, but I didn't get quite get the post-Breeders' Cup Juvenile debate regarding this one and Union Rags. Yes, the margin was close and Union Rags was arguably better given his rough trip. But can the end result really be overlooked? This year's Juvenile reminded me of the 2000 edition between Macho Uno and Point Given. We all know Point Given was running out of his mind at the end and needed just one more jump, and he likely would have beat the stuffing out of Macho Uno any other time. But that was indeed Macho Uno's nose that crossed the finish line first. Kudos to Hansen for winning while bucking a track that wasn't overly kind to speed on Breeders' Cup weekend. Turf male: CAPE BLANCO. Overcoming the effects of three transatlantic flights, two of them round-trip, the Coolmore representative swept the Man o' War Stakes, Arlington Million and Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational while beating nearly every noteworthy U.S.-based grass performer. Among the vanquished was two-time grass champ Gio Ponti, who might have been in line for a third title if not for the presence of Cape Blanco, whom he finished second to in the Man o' War and Arlington Million. Acclamation won four of five grass stakes appearances in California, but the quality of competition was often suspect in those lesser-endowed events. For example, his closest rivals in the Charles Whittingham Memorial and Jim Murray Handicap lost claiming races this year. Turf female: I was originally going to put this in the "Difficult" category, but the closer I looked the more it appeared that there really isn't much standing between STACELITA and divisional honors. While her season ended on a sour note when 10th of 11 in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, she benefits from the fact that the hard-to-figure Perfect Shirl won that race rather than an Eclipse worthy candidate from overseas. Goldikova's loss in the Breeders' Cup Mile also helped. This is not to say Stacelita benefits solely from others' misfortunes. She cleaned up in the Beverly D. Stakes and Flower Bowl Invitational, and was a solid third against males in the United Nations Stakes in her U.S. debut. She did enough to put her in the pole position entering the Breeders' Cup, and caught some breaks despite flopping at Churchill Downs. Never Retreat perhaps had the best chance of making a late-season surge, but a loss in the Matriarch Stakes dashed her title hopes. It was a longshot chance at any rate given her seventh-place finish behind Stacelita in the Beverly D. Steeplechaser: TAX RULING. The only member of the jump set to capture two major events this year (Iroquois and Colonial Cup), he's given a pass for a poor showing in the Grand National after reportedly scoping badly after the race. His wins also offset another bad loss in the Carolina Cup in his seasonal bow. Black Jack Blues, also owned by Irv Naylor, convincingly won the Grand National in his second U.S. appearance but was a late scratch from the Colonial Cup. He might truly have been the best of the division, but now we'll never know. The Difficult Older male: There is more to dislike than like about the candidacies of the major contenders. The three who I believe will receive the most support are Acclamation, Game on Dude and Tizway. Acclamation, as alluded to above, spent most of the season running on grass. With two questionable exceptions in history, this award has honored horses for their excellence on the main track, and that is the criteria I've used in the past to judge the merits of contenders for the award (we already have a turf award for horses who primarily compete on grass). Acclamation made two stakes appearances on non-turf surfaces this year. He trailed in the Charles Town Classic on dirt, finishing far behind both Game on Dude and Tizway, and he won the Pacific Classic over the Del Mar Polytrack while gaining a measure of revenge over Game on Dude. While the severity of his defeat in the Charles Town Classic perhaps isn't representative of his true talents, it's telling that Acclamation was hardly under consideration for any other non-turf race following the Pacific Classic. Indeed, his connections pondered running in either the Canadian International or the Breeders' Cup Turf to end the season, a clear signal to this observer that their intention was to try and win the turf male championship. Given the objective evidence available, I can not support him against either Game on Dude or Tizway. Game on Dude danced a lot of dances this year, but fell short more often than not. A game but controversial winner of the Santa Anita Handicap, he won over the same track in October in taking the Goodwood Stakes, and then beat all save longshot (and non-Eclipse worthy) Drosselmeyer in the Breeders' Cup Classic. His first career attempts on synthetic surfaces were mixed: he was second by a nose in the Hollywood Gold Cup, but a tiring fourth behind Acclamation in the Pacific Classic. In his other two stakes outings, he was a distant second in the Charles Town Classic (finishing a head in front of Tizway), and an inexplicable third in the Texas Mile as the 1-2 favorite. Tizway had the shortest campaign of the trio, a mere four starts. Third by a neck in the Gulfstream Park Handicap prior to the Charles Town Classic, he ended his brief season with a 2 3/4-length win in the Metropolitan Handicap and a three-length triumph in the Whitney Handicap. A physical setback forced him out of the Jockey Club Gold Cup and ultimately the Breeders' Cup. While I will not begrudge Game on Dude should he win the award on the basis of his acceptable performance at the Breeders' Cup, not to mention outfinishing Tizway at Charles Town, I will be supporting TIZWAY. His victories in the Metropolitan and Whitney were arguably the best seen by an older horse on the main track this season, and simply put his resume has far fewer holes than that of any other contender for the award. Female sprinter: Given the upset results of the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, this division comes down to Hilda's Passion and Sassy Image, two older fillies who both missed the Breeders' Cup due to injury. Hilda's Passion was a daylight winner of the Hurricane Bertie Stakes, Inside Information Stakes, Vagrancy Handicap and Ballerina Stakes. Sassy Image was far up the track in the latter, but she had grabbed a quarter leaving the gate and was not pushed after racing erratically down the backside. Sassy Image was no slouch, winning three straight over the summer including the Humana Distaff, Winning Colors Stakes and Princess Rooney Handicap. A confirmed lover of her home track, Churchill Downs, Sassy Image beat Hilda's Passion by three lengths in the Humana Distaff while in receipt of four pounds. Later, in the Princess Rooney at Calder, she made an incredibly wide rally from eight lengths down in the final quarter-mile to edge Musical Romance by a neck. Of course, Musical Romance flattered that performance with an upset win in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. Both fillies threw in a serious clunker during the season. Sassy Image was the trailer in the Sabin Stakes at Gulfstream, but that was over a mile. Less excusable was Hilda's Passion incredulous defeat in the Bed o' Roses Handicap, where she would have paid a whopping $2.70 to win if she had done so. This is one of the rare cases where I would have no qualms with either horse winning. Both are highly deserving, but I can only vote for one. At their individual best, my gut instinct is that HILDA'S PASSION is the swifter of the two. Perhaps that's a bad way to decide, but arguably preferable to flipping a coin. The Inscrutable Three-year-old male: No matter how this result turns out, history of some sort will be made. Should Animal Kingdom win he would be the first divisional champion whose last stakes win occurred as early as the first Saturday in May. Should Caleb's Posse win he would be the first divisional champion not to have won a stakes beyond 1 1/16 miles. Should either Shackleford or Ruler on Ice be selected they would have the fewest stakes wins (1) of any divisional champion ever. And in the unlikely event To Honor and Serve or Stay Thirsty win, well, let's just say a plurality of voters didn't watch their efforts in the Breeders' Cup Classic closely enough. As someone with a traditionalist bent, the prospect of seeing any of this rankles me. We've come to expect champions with unconventional qualifications emerge in other divisions on occasion, but the three-year-old male division is supposed to be more sacrosanct, not least because it's yielded the sport's most historically important stars as well as attracted it's biggest audiences. The hope is that this season will be looked back at as a one-off and not as a precursor of what racing fans can expect from future classic generations. Half of me would prefer to abstain from the category, which I can do. If asked which bit of history I would find least egregious, it would be ANIMAL KINGDOM not winning beyond the first Saturday in May. The cachet of winning the Kentucky Derby has nothing to do with the selection. I've never seen myself as the kind to purposely give extra weight to a horse simply because he/she won a certain race or races that carried relatively more importance or prestige. Like Tizway, Animal Kingdom has fewer holes on his record, and his Belmont Stakes performance is excusable in light of the physical problems he incurred during the race. Horse of the Year With neither the three-year-old male or older male champion (whomever they might be) qualified to be the season's national champion, the focus turns to other divisional heavyweights. A consensus of undetermined size seems to be forming around Havre de Grace, who enhanced her credentials by stepping out of her division and winning the Woodward against the boys. A case for her would have been even more powerful if she had placed higher than fourth in the Breeders' Cup Classic. Instead, she was a beaten horse three furlongs out and finished behind the likes of Drosselmeyer and Ruler on Ice. While I would be content if the vote went Havre de Grace's way, I found CAPE BLANCO the most distinguished and capable of the season's performers. Though European-based, his undefeated North American campaign of three starts fits within the parameters set by All Along, the French filly who ripped through the Canadian International, Turf Classic and Washington D.C. International en route to Horse of the Year honors in 1983, another season when no standout main-track performer existed. Though All Along also had the advantage of winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe prior to her arrival, while Cape Blanco was winless on his home continent and Dubai, foreign success or lack thereof does not enter the equation. Cape Blanco exploited the domestic turf male division to great effect and arguably turned in the most courageous performance of the year, valiantly winning the Turf Classic despite running on a fractured knee. In a racing year often filled with disappointment and ambiguity, Cape Blanco always delivered on U.S. soil and left few, if any, doubts.
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