Eclipse Awards … at First Blush

The Breeders’ Cup can make or break a horse’s quest to be named an Eclipse Award winner, and that may be especially true this year. The excitement over the past few days at Churchill Downs not only drew great emotion, it also went a long way in deciding who would be named a champion at year‘s end. With less than two months remaining in the calendar year there are several big races yet to be run. What impact any of those races may have is questionable though, as the Breeders’ Cup appears to have put most of the divisional championships firmly in the grasp of the following ten horses. Two-Year-Old Filly - Awesome Feather left Calder unbeaten and untested, now she is an undefeated Breeders’ Cup champion and has clinched the juvenile filly championship.  As of today, she is owned by Frank Stronach. Two-Year-Old Colt - Uncle Mo is an electrifying and undefeated Breeders’ Cup champion and has sewn up the divisional championship. He also will be a strong Winter book favorite for the Kentucky Derby. Sprint Female Horse - Dubai Majesty was one of many who had credentials to be considered beforehand, but with her impressive win in the Filly & Mare Sprint, she zoomed to the head of the class. Sprint Male Horse - Big Drama may have earned his first grade one victory in the BC Sprint, but the hard knocking Florida bred has been very consistent this year. Saturday’s win should wrap up the award. Turf Female Horse - Goldikova again. The great mare won her third BC Mile, and she did it more impressively than ever. Proviso and the ill-fated Tuscan Evening racked up wins, but no one touches Goldikova in this division. Turf Male Horse - Paddy O’Prado would have been the BC Turf winner if he only ran. Of course, he did not, but with a longshot Turf winner, and Goldikova beating Gio Ponti in the Mile, he may hold on to a slim advantage in an unspectacular division. Three-Year-Old Filly - Blind Luck is this year’s rags to riches to story. The little filly that could fired every time, and her 2nd place finish in the Ladies’ Classic is plenty to solidify her position as the top sophomore filly in America. Three-Year-Old Male Horse - Lookin at Lucky came up a little short in the final furlong of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, but in no way tarnished his well earned reputation. Not always the luckiest of runners, Lucky’s four stakes wins, including the Preakness and Haskell, carry the day. Older Female Horse - Zenyatta. No need to say more. Older Male Horse - Blame was able to fulfill the promise so many had seen in the son of Arch for a long time. His win in an epic BC Classic may have been unpopular with many, but he earned it on the track. It took a special horse to finally beat Zenyatta, and his name is Blame. Horse of the Year - Blame was terrific this year and won the Classic, but Zenyatta was one stride short of perfection … I am going to need a little more time before I make a final decision on this one.

Ladies’ Day

It feels funny to call it Ladies Day when Zenyatta and Goldikova did not make their way to a Breeders’ Cup starting gate, but that is exactly what we had on a cool and crisp Friday card at Churchill Downs. The atmosphere was one of excitement, as day transformed into evening midway through the opening act of the World Championships of Racing. My star of the day was Awesome Feather, who took flight today when soaring home in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. The Jacks or Better owned bay filly, easily handled her transition into grade 1 competition, winning by 2 ¼ lengths over surprise pacesetter, R Heat Lightning. In the process, the daughter of Awesome of Course completed a perfect 6 for 6 season. The Florida bred miss had never raced away from Calder Race Course previously, but the acid test proved to be no problem. Awesome Feather wrapped up the divisional championship with the win, and will now enter the auction next week at Keeneland. Unrivaled Belle finally won the big one in the Ladies’ Classic. The grey filly, trained by Bill Mott, ran the race of her life to repel the late run of the reliable Blind Luck, to win by 1 ¾ lengths. The popular Blind Luck finished one length clear of her familiar sophomore rival Havre de Grace, who was third. Unrivaled Belle displayed a new dimension tonight as she relaxed in fifth in the early stages, before taking command as the horses were nearing the stretch. The victory broke a string of three straight seconds since running her previous best when defeating Rachel Alexandra over the Churchill Downs oval this April. The day’s big payoff came when Shared Account shocked the crowd of over 41,000 by outfighting heavily favored Midday to take the BC Filly & Mare Turf. Under her usual rider, Edgar Prado, Shared Account relaxed off the early pace, and along with Midday, burst through from between horses on the inside. It briefly looked like the European champion would be too tough for the American longshot, but that idea was quickly squashed as it was the 46-1 who proved strongest late. She reached the wire clear by a neck over Midday in the eleven furlong race on firm turf. Dubai Majesty is only getting better with age, and now in her 34th career start, the five-year-old Bret Calhoun trained sprinter is a Breeders’ Cup winner. Impressively sweeping by her competition turning for home and easily drawing clear to win by an impressive 2 ¼ lengths over bridesmaid Switch. Much like Awesome Feather, the win will not prevent Dubai Majesty from being up for sale. She will be enter the sales ring next Sunday in the upcoming Fasig-Tipton sale in Lexington. More Than Real, despite running erratically, proved much the best in the Juvenile Filly Turf, serving up a tasty main dish for owner and celebrity chef, Bobby Flay. The daughter of More Than Ready registered a decisive two-length victory by easily holding off the heavily favored Winter Memories and the late running Kathmanblu in the one mile turf affair. It was only the third lifetime start for the winner, who seems to have a bright future for trainer Todd Pletcher. Eldaafer won the race, but the real story in the Marathon was the post-race fisticuffs between riders Calvin Borel and Javier Castellano. I had the feeling that I was at the fights and a horse race broke out. If not for the rather large men pulling Borel away from Castellano, things could have turned into quite the donnybrook. Borel was incensed, while Castellano was DQ‘d from second place aboard Prince Will I Am for his dangerous maneuver entering the stretch. Martin Garcia did well to stay aboard his mount Romp after the incident. What will tomorrow bring? My guess is everything good we saw today, times ten. Zendemonium anyone? Photo Courtesy of Reed Palmer