And the Winners Are …
Everyone you expected. There were few surprises at last night’s Eclipse awards … Saint Liam took Horse of the Year in a landslide, Afleet Alex was named three-year-old champion, and Lost in the Fog won champion sprinter easily.
Jay Hovdey catalogs the hits and misses. Among the latter: Michael Gill’s “Nixonesque” acceptance speech upon winning the owner’s Eclipse.
Bill Handleman found the whole ceremony a joke: “This year you didn’t have to be a hardcore cynic to enjoy the Eclipse Awards … such was the power of the message. Evidently it no longer matters how openly you violate the spirit of racing, not to mention the rules of the game. If you win enough, you will be rewarded. And at the end of the year, those who do the voting for the awards will disgrace themselves by honoring some of the game’s worst offenders.”
West: No Vote for HOTY
“No vote” is what Gary West will write next to Horse of the Year on his Eclipse ballot:
The Horse of the Year, like Caesar’s wife, must be above suspicion. But Saint Liam, because he’s trained by Dutrow, simply isn’t…. For the sport’s highest honor, I simply will not vote for any horse whose trainer has been suspended or fined for a serious medication or ethical violation during the season. From here, Saint Liam’s victories in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the Woodward, the Stephen Foster and the Donn Handicap look just like so many Sosa home runs.
As for voting another horse HOTY: “A Horse of the Year for 2005 would be like a Most Valuable Player for the Houston Texans. The options are worse than few; they’re embarrassing.”
Related: Paul Daley reports that the owners of Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Silver Train, another Richard Dutrow trainee, have sent Eclipse voters a gift:
What emerged from the box was a beautifully embroidered
baseball cap of the finest quality. On the back of the black cap, stitched
in white lettering was Breeders’ Cup Sprint Champ. The green and red jockey
silks and cap on the side were immediately recognized as those belonging to
Buckram Oak Farm. The front was equally impressive, with Silver stitched in,
guess what color, with a silver express train atop. The red embroidery in
the word train connoted, to me, the imperative to STOP and vote for this
worthy candidate, Silver Train, for Sprint Champion of 2005.
baseball cap of the finest quality. On the back of the black cap, stitched
in white lettering was Breeders’ Cup Sprint Champ. The green and red jockey
silks and cap on the side were immediately recognized as those belonging to
Buckram Oak Farm. The front was equally impressive, with Silver stitched in,
guess what color, with a silver express train atop. The red embroidery in
the word train connoted, to me, the imperative to STOP and vote for this
worthy candidate, Silver Train, for Sprint Champion of 2005.
Daley plans to vote for Lost in the Fog, but the hat’s arrival has caused some unease. “Why do I feel like a hooker?” he wonders.
Neither West nor Daley would have a problem if they followed the lead of San Diego Union-Tribune sports columnist Tim Sullivan, who’s opted out of all awards voting and polling, reasoning that:
Just as Church and State should be separate entities, so should Journalists and Jocks. Voting on awards or rankings is a privilege and, to some extent, a power base, but it also involves inherent conflicts of interest and, in the steroids era, an uncomfortable reliance on circumstantial evidence.
Maybe I’m taking myself too sanctimoniously here, but this is a headache I no longer need. I shouldn’t be casting ballots that can trigger contractual bonuses or endorsement opportunities for athletes I might have occasion to interview. Neither should I accept the responsibility of deciding whether Mark McGwire is still entitled to the presumption of innocence following his clumsy evasions before Congress….
Better to recuse oneself than to render a judgment based on unsubstantiated suspicion.
Tainted Liam
The rush to annoint Saint Liam as Horse of the Year after his Breeders’ Cup Classic win last Saturday could prove premature, writes Gary West:
Yes, Saint Liam won the country’s richest race, the Breeders’ Cup Classic; and, yes, in 2005 he constructed an admirable edifice of accomplishment that included three other major stakes wins. He’s the champion older horse; give him that.
But at least for the moment, there are two reasons not to hand over the sport’s highest honor to Saint Liam. The obvious reason is Afleet Alex. The other is Saint Liam’s trainer, [Richard] Dutrow.
This past summer, Dutrow paid a $5,000 fine and served a 60-day suspension — he originally had been suspended 120 days — for a variety of offenses, including two medication violations. As a result, his winning the Classic with Saint Liam was, for some, an unsatisfying outcome.
In getting to the winner’s circle, Dutrow had stepped on and over the rules of racing.
Yes, he had paid his fine and served his suspension, but the sight of him there left traditionalists feeling uneasy.
And should Saint Liam become Horse of the Year, well, that would be the ultimate raspberry.
If you find that an unreasonable attitude, try for a moment to imagine how you’re going to feel when Barry Bonds hits No. 756 over the horizon.
Expect debate over the propriety of naming Saint Liam the 2005 Horse of the Year (and possibly Silver Train as sprint champion) to intensify in the next six weeks, given the cloud of suspicion that hangs over Dutrow.
The Awards Picture
It’s not technically the end of the year, but there’s little likely to happen in the next eight weeks that could shake up division standings now. With his Breeders’ Cup Classic win, Saint Liam is assured of the champion older horse and Horse of the Year honors, in whatever judgment scheme you prefer, whether it’s a points system like the Standings, or a voting system like the Eclipse Awards.
The other divisions will be ripe for debate: First Samurai vs. Stevie Wonderboy for two-year-old champion, for instance, or Flower Alley vs. Afleet Alex for three-year-old honors. The biggest fight looming will be over naming a champion sprinter. Lost in the Fog, Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Silver Train, and Vosburgh winner Taste of Paradise are likely finalists for the award. It seems bizarre that either Silver Train or Taste of Paradise could win the title over a horse that won eight straight (including five graded stakes) before losing, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it happen. You need only consider what’s been written about Lost in the Fog over the past couple of weeks to realize the strange fickleness of an awards system that relies solely on the subjective votes of racing media and officials. A week ago, there were quite a few who suggested Lost in the Fog could be Horse of the Year if he won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Since his seventh place finish on Saturday, the meme floating around seems to be that he might not even deserve sprint champion.
HOTY Race
With the Breeders’ Cup less than four weeks away, the race for Horse of the Year is on. In the standings (to the right), Saint Liam leads by 25 points over three-year-old filly In the Gold, with Sweet Return, Ashado, and Island Fashion rounding out the top five. Borrego vaulted into sixth place with his win in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Flower Alley, Summerly, Afleet Alex, and Megahertz follow, completing the top 10. What all this means is that Horse of the Year is still wide open — and the Breeders’ Cup results really will decide this year’s champion.
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Jessica Chapel writes and edits in Massachusetts. Railbird is a Thoroughbred horse racing blog published from June 2004 to July 2019. More / Contact
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