The 2019 Eclipse Award finalists were revealed earlier this month. The winners in each category will be announced at Gulfstream Park on Thursday at the 49th annual Eclipse Awards dinner presented by The Stronach Group, Daily Racing Form and Breeders’ Cup. The first year that I made Eclipse Award predictions in this column was for […]
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Established in 1971, the Eclipse Awards are presented annually to recognize outstanding achievements in North America by Thoroughbreds and individuals. Eclipse Awards are voted on by members of the Daily Racing Form, National Thoroughbred Racing Association and National Turf Writers and Broadcasters. Eclipse Awards also are bestowed to members of the media for outstanding coverage […]
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Now that the Breeders’ Cup has come and gone, many racing fans are looking ahead and contemplating which horses stand a good chance to be honored with a 2019 Eclipse Award. This is the 49th year of the Eclipse Awards. Voting closes on Dec. 31. The 2019 recipients will be announced at Gulfstream Park early […]
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For two magnificent days, at the foot of the beautiful San Gabriel Mountains under warm Southern California sunshine, Santa Anita Park played the perfect Breeders’ Cup host. That’s not surprising. I love Santa Anita. Spent 30 years there, even lived in a condo on Huntington Avenue directly across from the track. Will always call it […]
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VENUE: Santa Anita Park on Nov. 1-2. Main Track: dirt, fast Friday and Saturday; Turf Course: firm Friday and Saturday. $6 MILLION CLASSIC (NOV. 2) Results: (1) Vino Rosso, who paid $11.20, (2) McKinzie, (3) Higher Power. Winner: Owned by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable; trained by Todd Pletcher; ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. […]
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$1 MILLION JUVENILE TURF SPRINT (FRIDAY) 1. FOUR WHEEL DRIVE (3-1 on the morning line) Ward-trained colt has won by daylight both starts 2. KIMARI (7-2) Ward-trained filly is 3 for 3 in United States 3. A’ALI (6-1) Euro youngster is 3 for 3 when ridden by Dettori Nice-price danger: CHIMNEY ROCK (10-1) Son of […]
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Talk about a Breeders’ Cup record that has stood the test of time. Thirty-five years ago, Precisionist won the second running of the six-furlong Breeders’ Cup Sprint by three-quarters of length at Aqueduct. He was credited with a 125 Beyer Speed Figure. It remains the highest Beyer ever posted by the winner of a Breeders’ […]
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The distance from the last turn to the finish on the main track at Santa Anita measures 990 feet. It’s the standard length of the stretch run in terms of a typical one-mile oval. It turned out that Omaha Beach and Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith needed every bit of that 990 feet of […]
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The NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll each week gives everyone an indication as to where the race for Horse of the Years stands if Eclipse Award votes were cast that particular week instead of at the end of the year. The Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita Park on Nov. 1-2 no doubt will, as usual, […]
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With the Breeders’ Cup returning to Santa Anita Park this year on Nov. 1-2, it’s perfectly understandable if some folks might think back to a Breeders’ Cup performance at that Southern California track in 2009. It’s hard to believe that 10 years have passed since Zenyatta’s thriller of a victory in the BC Classic at […]
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Now that the 2019 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita Park on Nov. 1-2 is on the horizon, I have formulated my own early odds for what currently is shaping up to be a pretty wide-open Breeders’ Cup Classic. The Grade I event, which has a purse of $6 million, will be contested at 1 1/4 […]
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In a marvelous “triple play” executed by trainer Chad Brown, he won all three Grade I races held last Saturday at Arlington Park. In order, Brown won the Grade I Beverly D. with Sistercharlie, Grade I Secretariat Stakes with Valid Point and Grade I Arlington Million with Bricks and Mortar. No other trainer has ever […]
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Can Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert in 2019 extend his streak to five consecutive 3-year-old male champions? I posed that question back in January. Daily Racing Form first conducted voting for champions in 1937. The Eclipse Awards were born in 1971. Going back to 1937, Baffert is the only person who has trained four […]
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Now that it is July, it’s time for my list of the Top 10 performances by a Thoroughbred in the United States during the first half of 2019. A Thoroughbred’s performance can make this list for a variety of reasons, such as: –A win by a big margin while showing brilliance. –Recording a fast final […]
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We are just about halfway through 2019. With that in mind, what if there were such a thing as Mid-Year Eclipse Awards? These would be my votes, excluding the 2-year-old, human and steeplechase categories. MID-YEAR THREE-YEAR-OLD MALE: 1. War of Will, 2. Maximum Security, 3. Omaha Beach. If Maximum Security had won the Pegasus Stakes […]
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