Eclipse Award Finalists
 

• Horse of the Year: Blame, Goldikova (IRE), Zenyatta

• Two-Year-Old Male: Boys at Tosconova, To Honor and Serve, Uncle Mo
• Two-Year-Old Filly: Awesome Feather, R Heat Lightning, Turbulent Descent

• Three-Year-Old Male: Eskendereya, Lookin At Lucky, Paddy O’Prado
• Three-Year-Old Filly: Blind Luck, Evening Jewel, Havre de Grace

• Older Male: Blame, Quality Road, Richard’s Kid
• Older Female: Life at Ten, Unrivaled Belle, Zenyatta

• Male Sprinter: Big Drama, Majesticperfection, Smiling Tiger
• Female Sprinter: Champagne d’Oro, Dubai Majesty, Rightly So

• Male Turf Horse: Dangerous Midge, Gio Ponti, Winchester
• Female Turf Horse: Goldikova (IRE), Proviso (GB), Tuscan Evening

• Steeplechase Horse: Arcadius, Percussionist, Slip Away

• Owner: Claiborne/Dilschneider, M/M Jerome S. Moss, WinStar Farm

• Breeder: Adena Springs, Claiborne/Dilschneider, Brereton C. Jones

• Trainer: Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher, John Shirreffs

• Jockey: Ramon Dominguez, Garrett Gomez, John Velazquez
• Apprentice Jockey: Forest Boyce, Omar Moreno, Angel Serpa

Horse of the Year
Blame
Two-Year-Old Male
Uncle Mo
Two-Year-Old Filly
Awesome Feather
Three-Year-Old Male
Lookin At Lucky
Three-Year-Old Filly
Blind Luck
Older Male
Blame
Older Female
Zenyatta
Male Sprinter
Majesticperfection
Female Sprinter
Champagne d’Oro
Male Turf Horse
Gio Ponti
Female Turf Horse
Goldikova (Ire)
Steeplechase Horse
Percussionist
Owner
Claiborne Farm and Adele B. Dilschneider
Breeder
Claiborne Farm and Adele B. Dilschneider
Trainer
Bob Baffert
Jockey
Ramon Dominguez
Apprentice Jockey
Angel Serpa

Three-Year-Old Male
Eskendereya, Lookin at Lucky, Paddy O'Prado


Jesus.

Picks
 

Two-Year Old Male
Uncle Mo
Two-Year-Old Filly
Awesome Feather
Three-Year-Old Male
Lookin At Lucky
Three-Year-Old Filly
Blind Luck
Older Male
Blame
Older Female
Zenyatta
Male Sprinter
Big Drama
Female Sprinter
Dubai Majesty
Male Turf Horse
Dangerous Midge
Female Turf Horse
Goldikova (Ire)
Steeplechase Horse
Percussionist
Owner
WinStar Farm
Breeder
Adena Springs
Trainer
Todd Pletcher
Jockey
Garrett Gomez
Apprentice Jockey
Omar Moreno

yeah... had a hell of a 3yo season, didn't he? :zz:

Ya gotta figure if they are going to include an auto-toss, they might as well have gone w/ the Derby winner.

Eskendereya was very likely the most talented 3yo this year. . . Even if he didn't have much of a campaign. Obviously Lucky's a lock in that category and he did much less than previous winners.

• Horse of the Year: Blame
• Two-Year-Old Male: Uncle Mo
• Two-Year-Old Filly: Awesome Feather
• Three-Year-Old Male: Lookin At Lucky
• Three-Year-Old Filly: Blind Luck
• Older Male: Blame
• Older Female: Zenyatta
• Male Sprinter: Smiling Tiger
• Female Sprinter: Rightly So
• Male Turf Horse: Gio Ponti
• Female Turf Horse: Tuscan Evening
• Steeplechase Horse: Slip Away

• Owner: Claiborne/Dilschneider
• Breeder: Brereton C. Jones
• Trainer: Todd Pletcher
• Jockey: Ramon Dominguez
• Apprentice Jockey: Omar Moreno

Dangerous Midge trumps Paddy O Prado on the turf list.

I would have given serious thought to betting Eskendereya to win the Triple Crown in Las Vegas if given the chance. And knowing now how the races panned-out, I think the bet would have been live.

The fact Goldikova made the finalists list (didn't last year's have only two?) further affirms my feeling that Zenyatta wins the award. Goldikova is far more likely, in my opinion, to take votes away from Blame than Zenyatta, unless there's only one or two votes for Goldikova.

John Shirreffs is on the ballot for Trainer of the Year and Bill Mott is not? That's comical.

All 84 starts..

I know to be a Florida resident (tax purposes) you have to live in the state at least 6 months. To be considered a trainer shouldn't you have to have at least more then 1.6 starters per week..It really is insane.

Makes you think that since Zenyatta isn't going to win Horse of the Year, her connections will win in every other category that they are nominated in. Including the Team Zenyatta lifetime achievement award (or whatever they are calling it).

Why is Bob Baffert there? I'm not saying he isn't a good trainer, but there are others I would consider first like Hollendorfer or A. Dutrow (the latter, if you're using stats as the deciding factor).

No contest IMO, he deserves it.

Do you get to vote?

I would have preferred Hollendorfer to be included and Mott as well. Mott had a better year than Baffert, hands down. Between Proviso, Drosselmeyer and Unrivaled Belle, he deserved to be up there. Baffert got skunked at the BC, and had one horse run big all year, Lookin at Lucky. Hollendorfer had a better year than Baffert as well.

If Shirreffs even gets any votes for Trainer of the Year it's laughable.

If he's really voting that ballot I hope not.

Good points. I don't think anyone really thinks out that category.

Not currently. May join the revised NTW+BA ("+B" = Broadcasters) this year...


More of a gut level reaction as opposed to a 'vote'.

Someone had to jab you about Rightly So and Smiling Tiger (to a lesser extent).

She wins the Bias Aided Eclipse.

Why wouldn't Smiling Tiger be worthy of it? A bob from a Malibu win that arguably guarantees him the award as a 3X G1 winner (plus the good 3rd in the BC Sprint). Majesticperfection ran the best single race in a G1, but why does that lock it up? And Big Drama to me is a cop out selection.

Rightly So was so good in the Ballerina that it left the best impression on me (Suppose that makes her similar to Majesticperfection.) Dubai Majesty is going to win and deserves it. Certainly deserves it more than Big Drama does on the other side. Champagne is a personal fave but tailed off to such an extent that it's hard to embrace her for the Test-Acorn Double only..

I would vote Switch before Champagne or Rightly So and am surprised she isn't a choice.


Don't you think you're overrating that Ballerina considering the track that day? Agree that Dubai Majesty will take it, but I can't look it up right now, what was her record away from CHD?

Tuscan Evening, as I mentioned on ATR this week, was 6 for 6 before her sad passing from 6.5f to 10f. Proviso viable and Goldikova Ouija Board-style worthy... but for all the genuflecting over a nearly unbeaten mare, why not respect Tuscan Evening given this final opportunity? (And as an aside, would have liked it if Wasted Tears had gotten a little nod.)

Winchester barely edged by Gio Ponti in my mind via the latter's versatility winning the Shadwell and placing being Goldikova. Winchester has finally won my respect though.

Where can we find out how many starters the Moss's had in 2010. And how does Midwest TB's not make owner of the year? How many races did they win?

7/2-4-1

Smiling Tiger beat up on horses that weren't even in the mix for the BC Sprint. He's a nice horse, I really like him going forward, but the best horse he beat in the CA races was Cost of Freedom. Had he made the BC Sprint decision a little bit closer than the argument would carry a bit more water I think. I'd vote for Majesticperfection, even being fully aware that his campaign was cut short. His Iowa Sprint Handicap and Alfred G. Vanderbilt wins were the two best sprinting performances of the year in a landslide.

I wasn't as taken by Rightly So's Ballerina and thought Dubai Majesty slammed the door on everyone in the Breeders' Cup. She won races on synth, dirt, and turf, beat horses who were at the top of their game at the time like West Ocean sprinting on the turf, Secret Gypsy on the dirt at Churchill, Informed Decision on her favorite track and everyone on 11/6.

Let's remember, we've seen some non-finalists get more votes than actual finalists.

According to "Stats Central" at equibase.com, the Mosses had 111 starters in 2010, with a 25-16-19 record, and nearly $2.7 million in purse earnings.

Midwest Thoroughbreds won 310 races.

Midwest won approximately 3 times as many races as Moss had starters. Doesn't Zenyatta win 1.2 for the BC Classic? Nothing against Sherriffs I am sure he is a Marvelous horseman , but Trainer of the Year has to go to someone who trains horses for a profession. What is Sherriffs going to do this year have 78 starters that earn 700k?

How is Nick Zito not inked for Trainer of Year. He was at every dance from Jan thru Nov(not just one mare), he was a 1/2 a length a way in total in crushing virtually every significant race. He has a ton of starters at every level, and is a great ambassador to the sport (not that that should count)..

:D

When?

It drives me crazy that many who have publicly stated they have voted for Blame feel compelled to apologize for not voting for Zenyatta.

Not to mention how egregious the rationale used by some voters among the DRF writers has been for voting for her. I had stopped thinking about it for a month but now that it's getting close the stupidity is flowing in full force.

This is probably the category that people care least about but it's interesting (well I think it is) because there are only 5 G1s and each one of these horses won one this past year.

I'm wondering why Arcadius and Percussionist are here and not Tax Ruling (won the Iroquois) and Sermon of Love (won the NY Turf Writers Cup at Toga). I mean it seems almost random to me but what do I know?

I don't know if it's fair to judge who should win by a single race (you gotta base it on something though), but I think my vote would go to Slip Away cause of his win in the Colonial Cup. He won by something like 25 or 26 lengths and that's after the 2 and 3/4ths of a mile.

Arcadius beat him this year... by a length at Monmouth. It was his first G1 win and it was special cause it was the 1,000th steeplchase win for Sheppard.

Percussionist, who a lot of people here probably know from when he ran in England (he's actually a big star in Scandinavia. He lives in Denmark but since there's no jump racing there they bring his over to Norway and I think Sweden. Whatever the biggest race in Norway is? He won that one.) won the Grand National which I think is the race with the biggest purse.

Anyway it'll be interesting to see which one wins.

Oh yeah and I agree with the Hollendorfer posts. He should be a nominee...