2yo
Female:
Chriselliam (IRE), Ria Antonia, She’s a Tiger
Chriselliam
made the US fillies look silly in the JFT and She's a Tiger crossed
the wire first in the JF before being dq'ed handing the title to Ria
Antonia. She's a Tiger should win, but don't be surprised if
Chriselliam takes some votes away.
2yo
Male:
Havana, New Year’s Day, Shared Belief
New
Year's Day had one stakes start and that was a win. However, he might
have lost votes for the announcement of his retirement before the
deadline. Shared Belief seems to be the hot horse after doing well on
synthetic in the fall and winter. Havana won the Champagne before
finishing second in the Juvy. I think NYD may have enough votes, but
SB prob will win.
3yo
Female: Beholder,
Princess of Sylmar and Close Hatches
Of
the horse categories this is going to be the toughest. Princess won
the Oaks, but Beholder turned the tables in the Distaff. Close
Hatches is in a good spot as her legendary stablemate is now retired.
Had Princess skipped the BC like they had planned, she prob wins
this, but I like Beholder to win now in a very close vote. This is
one that could go either way.
3yo
Male:
Orb, Palace Malice, Will Take Charge
Even
though WTC will win this by a comfortable margin, it's who is missing
that is shocking. Goldencents won the SA Derby and the Dirt Mile, but
didn't get enough votes to be in the top 3. Orb had a great late
Winter and Spring, Palace Malice had a great late Spring and Summer,
but WTC was the only one who won a stakes race in the Spring, Summer
and Fall. Add on his runner up finish in the Classic to that.
Older
Female:
Joyful Victory, Royal Delta, Tiz Miz Sue
This
was the best case senerio for Delta. Joyful 's G1 win was in the
Winter, Tiz's was in her career finale. The legend will take her
final Eclipse by a comfortable margin now. Either way I'm so happy
I've seen 2 of the 3 of these horses in person.
Older
Male:
Game On Dude, Mucho Macho Man, Wise Dan
Poor
Dude, going against 2 BC winners and even with his great season it
won't be enough to get an Eclipse. This was the worst case senerio
for W. Dan. MMM should take this off his 2 G1's at the end of the
year. It's not how he started the year, it's how he finished it.
Female
Grass: Dank,
Laughing, Mizdirection
RIP
Laughing who passed away this week from colic surgery. Dank destroyed
the fields both times in the States. Mizdirection who defeated the
boys in the Turf Sprint again has a better chance in her other
category.
Male
Grass: Magician,
Point of Entry, Wise Dan
W.
Dan should win this as he was undefeated on the turf (and had the
Shadwell not come off he prob. would have won that too), however
Magician beat a good field in the Turf and had POE not been injured
he would have been cleaning up the distance races.
Female
Sprinter: Dance
to Bristol, Groupie Doll, Mizdirection
Bristol's
connections should be honored to be a finalist after the great Spring
and Summer she had. However Doll and Miz are veterans of this
division. Even though she didn't have the greatest year, Doll should
win, but if there is any year for a turf sprinter to do it this might
be the year.
Male
Sprinter: Points
Offthebench, Sahara Sky, Secret Circle
Sahara
Sky didn't run past May, Secret Circle won the Sprint off an
allowance which was over a year after he had last run. Points
Offthebench passed away before the Sprint, but he grabbed 2 G1 wins.
If he wins, he will join Prairie Bayou, Swale and Go For Wand as
horses who won an Eclipse after passing away.
Steeplechase: Divine
Fortune, Gustavian, Italian Wedding
abstain
App.
Jockey: Victor
Carrasco, Manuel Franco, Edgard Zayas
abstain
Jockey:
Gary Stevens, Javier Castellano, Joel Rosario
This
usally goes to the jockey who leads the nation in wins which is
Javier in which he also broke the earnings mark. However, Joel won
both the Dubai World Cup and Kentucky Derby. Even with those
accomplishments, coming off a 7 year retirement at 50 is amazing. All
Gary did this year was win the Preakness, finish 2nd
in the Belmont, win the Distaff and Classic. A second snub here is
Mike Smith who had just as good season as Gary and picked up the best
jockey award at the BC. It was def a jockeys year as injuries plagued
regular finalist Johnny V, and ended the career of Ramon Dominguez
both who otherwise might have been on this finalist list.
Trainer:
Bob Baffert, Bill Mott, Todd Pletcher
The
Bob nomination is very contraversial after 7 deaths and an
investigation. Bill of course had Royal Delta and her replacement
Close Hatches could be just as good. When it was announced that D.
Wayne Lukas was getting basically the equivilent of a Lifetime
Achievement Award, it basically opened the door for someone to take
his spot on the Finalists list. Which is a shame because he had his
best year in a long time thanks to Will Take Charge and Oxbow's wins.
His former asst. Todd should win this award again.
Owner:
Ken and Sarah Ramsey, Juddmonte, Midwest Thoroughbreds
Sure
the BC didn't go their way, but the Ramseys had a good year with the
Kitten's.
Breeder:
Adena, Morton Fink, Ken and Sarah Ramsey
Adena
owns this category, but didn't win last year, Fink has the Dans, but
the Ramseys with the Kittens get it done again.
HOY:
Mucho Macho Man, Will Take Charge, Wise Dan
After
the BC, I had posted that I thought that Wise Dan was going to be
HOY. I still felt that way until the finalists where announced. The
only one who I think has no chance is Will Take Charge on the count
on one of his 2 G1 wins was restricted to 3yo's. Mucho Macho Man
really didn't get going until the end of the year. If look at the
entire year then yes Wise Dan is your choice, but a Classic winner
has not won Horse of the Year since 2007 when Curlin took home both
titles (he finished 4th
in his HOY defense season, Rachel took it home in 2009, Z in 2010,
Grace in 2011 and W. Dan last year). For that reason I think MMM gets
it done. However if W. Dan wins which is my gut feeling anyway it
wouldn't be all that suprising either.
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