Two-Year-Old Male
Eclipse voters will
Say “Mo money, Mo problems”
For the ’08 crop
Two-Year-Old Female
A well-rounded group
Cup win makes eclipse Awesome
Calder celebrates
Three-Year-Old Male
Uninspired crop
Lucky was the best last year
The title stays his
Three-Year-Old Female
Division runs deep
Blind Luck wins races by heads
Wins award by lengths
Older Male
Top two going in
Are the top two at the end
Blame swept the series
Older Female
One choice – Zenyatta
Nary a filly or mare
Could dent her armor
Turf Male
Two hit the wire
Cup effort gives Gio nose
Over Winchester
Turf Female
Her lone U.S. start
Is the tip of the iceberg
Goldi is solid
Male Sprinter
All worthy options
Majestic’s campaign cut short
Big Drama gets it
Female Sprinter
Champagne tailed off late
Rightly So checked out early
Dubai Majesty
Steeplechase
Each has a Grade One
Hard to top 25 lengths
Slip Away’s the champ
Jockey
Go-Go’s gutsy Cup
Earns honorable mention
But it’s Ramon’s year
Apprentice Jockey
The leader by wins
Also leader by earnings
Omar Moreno
Owner
Two classic winners
Three others on Derby trail
Winstar was loaded
Trainer
Derby demons quashed
Along with everyone else
The world is Pletcher’s
Breeder
If Stronach ran tracks
Like he runs Adena Springs
We’d be better off
Horse of the Year
Zenyatta or Blame?
Winning head-to-head won’t trump
Winning hearts and minds
Richard the Handicapper
A few quick thoughts from last night’s Eclipse Awards broadcast…
– My Haiku Handicapper picks went 13 for 17.
– The Horse of the Year voting wasn’t nearly as close as a lot of people speculated it to be. I figured the winner could be decided by how many votes get siphoned away by Big Brown. It turns out Big Brown’s 13 votes would have still made it a blowout. Either way, I’m glad to see Curlin get it.
– How burned must Michael Iavarone be after losing the owner award by one vote?
– Speaking of IEAH, it will be interesting to see if Benny The Bull will be the same horse when he comes back from injury.
– Whose idea was it to have such a high podium at an awards ceremony where many of the people involved stand under five feet tall?
– I’m not sure how I feel about Zenyatta’s owner, Jerry Moss, getting additional stage time for a do-over speech. Was it the class thing to do to get back up there to thank Zenyatta’s jockeys after forgetting to do it the first time around? Without a doubt. I just worry about what kind of precedent this sets for future award shows. Now that it is out there, where do we draw the line for who gets a mulligan and to thank whom?
– The MVP of the night was easily Handicapper of the Year Richard Goodall. Yes, his speech went longer than it needed to, but he used his platform to its fullest extent and got the messages that many have been championing directly to the people that can do something about it. As much as we, as bloggers, like to think our messages are reaching the difference-makers in the industry, the only way we can know that we are even on their radar is for them to acknowledge us through comments or emails. There is no question that Goodall’s message got to his intended audience.
Could this guy be racing’s answer to Joe the Plumber?
Edit: Whoops, I read the wrong press release and got the names mixed up. My apologies to Mr. Goodall.
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Tagged as Curlin, Eclipse Awards, Horse of the Year, IEAH Stables, Joe The Plumber, Richard Goodall, Zenyatta