Rapid Redux to get Special Eclipse Award

Rapid Redux, perhaps the most famous starter-allowance horse in racing history, will be honored for his 2011 accomplishments with a Special Eclipse Award, it was announced Wednesday.

Special Eclipse Awards periodically are given when accomplishment during a racing season falls outside established championship parameters, and Rapid Redux presents just such a case.

The gelding, who just turned 6, won all 19 of his starts during 2011, equaling a record for calendar-year wins held since 1948 by the great Citation. Rapid Redux’s 20th victory without a defeat, in November at Mountaineer Park, surpassed the 19-race winning streaks compiled in recent seasons by Peppers Pride and Zenyatta.

Rapid Redux was based throughout 2011 with trainer David Wells in Pennsylvania, and is owned by Marylander Robert Cole, who claimed the horse for $6,250 in October 2010. Rapid Redux’s 19 wins during 2011 came at seven different racetracks and at distances ranging from five furlongs to 1 1/8 miles.

Cole will receive Rapid Redux’s award at the Eclipse ceremony on Jan. 16 in Beverly Hills, Calif.