2020 Eclipse Award Ballot & Discussion ~ Finalists
 

My 2020 Eclipse Ballot

Horse of the Year: 1st - Authentic, 2nd - Monomoy Girl, 3rd - Improbable

Two-Year-Old Male: 1st - Essential Quality, 2nd - Jackie's Warrior, 3rd - Fire At Will
Two-Year-Old Filly: 1st - Vequist, 2nd - Dayoutoftheoffice, 3rd - Aunt Pearl

Three-Year-Old Male: : 1st - Authentic, 2nd - Tiz the Law, 3rd - Nadal
Three-Year-Old Filly: 1st - Swiss Skydiver, 2nd - Gamine, 3rd - Shedaresthedevil

Older Dirt Male: 1st - Improbable, 2nd - Vekoma, 3rd - By My Standards ~ [Maximum Security]
Older Dirt Female: 1st - Monomoy Girl, 2nd - Serengeti Empress, 3rd - Valiance ~ [Midnight Bisou]

Male Sprinter: 1st - Whitmore, 2nd - Vekoma, 3rd - Volatile
Female Sprinter: 1st - Gamine, 2nd - Serengeti Empress, 3rd - Bell's the One ~ [Glass Slippers]

Male Turf Horse: 1st - Channel Maker, 2nd - Zulu Alpha, 3rd - Domestic Spending ~ [Order of Australia]
Female Turf Horse: 1st - Rushing Fall, 2nd - Tarnawa, 3rd - Starship Jubilee ~ [Audarya]

Steeplechase Horse: 1st - Moscato, 2nd - Snap Decision, 3rd - Rashaan

Owner: 1st - Gary Barber, 2nd - Klaravich Stables, 3rd - Three Diamonds Farm ~ [Godolphin; Team Authentic]
Breeder: 1st - WinStar Farm, 2nd - Calumet Farm, 3rd - Godolphin ~ [Peter Blum]

Jockey: 1st - Joel Rosario, 2nd - Luis Saez, 3rd - John Velazquez ~ [Irad Ortiz Jr.]
Apprentice Jockey: 1st - Luis Cardenas, 2nd - Alexander Crispin, 3rd - Yarmarie L. Correa

Trainer: 1st - Brad Cox, 2nd - Bob Baffert, 3rd - Chad Brown ~ [Steve Asmussen]

Finalists
 

HOY

Authentic (Into Mischief)
Improbable (City Zip)
Monomoy Girl (Tapizar)


2YO Male

Essential Quality (Tapit)
Fire At Will (Declaration of War)
Jackie’s Warrior (Maclean’s Music)


2YO Female

Aunt Pearl (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire})
Dayoutoftheoffice (Into Mischief)
Vequist (Nyquist)


3YO Male

Authentic (Into Mischief)
Nadal (Blame)
Tiz The Law (Constitution)


3YO Female

Gamine (Into Mischief)
Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil)
Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil)


Older Dirt Male

Improbable (City Zip)
Maximum Security (New Year’s Day)
Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg})


Dirt Female

Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute)
Monomoy Girl (Tapizar)
Serengeti Empress (Alternation)


Male Sprinter

Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg})
Volatile (Violence)
Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect)


Female Sprinter

Gamine (Into Mischief)
Glass Slippers (GB) (Dream Ahead)
Serengeti Empress (Alternation)


Turf Male

Channel Maker (English Channel)
Order of Australia (Ire) (Australia {GB})
Zulu Alpha (Street Cry {Ire})


Turf Female

Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB})
Rushing Fall (More Than Ready)
Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal)


Steeplechase

Moscato (GB) (Hernando {Fr})
Rashaan (Ire) (Manduro {Ger})
Snap Decision (Hard Spun)


Owner

Godolphin
Klaravich Stables
Spendthrift/MyRacehorse/Madaket/Starlight


Breeder

Peter Blum Thoroughbreds
Calumet Farm
WinStar Farm LLC


Jockey

Irad Ortiz, Jr.
Joel Rosario
John Velazquez


Apprentice

Luis Cardenas
Yarmarie Correa
Alexander Crispin


Trainer

Steve Asmussen
Bob Baffert
Brad Cox

As usual, some indefensible voting.. and as is typical, in the human categories

That Gary Barber isn't a finalist is an embarrassment considering he should be honored as the year's top Owner.

Tough to separate the HOY top 3 but I'm would go with Monomoy Girl. Undefeated in 2020 gives her an edge.

Baffert being a finalist for champion trainer, after all that went on with his barn in 2020, is a disgrace.

Steve i dont say alot but You are 100% Correct, How in the World Did he Get left Off, I don't Know, as you could imagine this was a huge topic at CTC the other Day :)

I would have had Charlatan as the third finalist for top 3yo male over Nadal.

'Barry Adams'.. Beyond embarrassing. Just hopeless.

Authentic's right hind leg was starting to feel like Chekhov's gun during the ceremony appearances he made, so I'm glad Mr. Hughes was at a safe distance on the other side for HOY.