2018 Eclipse Awards: Accelerate
On the first edition of last year’s Top Thoroughbred Poll sponsored by the NTRA, published Jan. 29, 2018, a total of 49 different horses received at least one vote of support from the 38 racing experts who submitted opinions.
Accelerate was not among the 49.
A few days later the 5-year-old son of Lookin at Lucky recorded an efficient victory in the Grade 2 San Pasqual Handicap at Santa Anita to register a blip on the radar. What happened over the ensuing nine months was nothing less than the flowering of a superstar. With trainer John Sadler at the helm for owners Pete and Kosta Hronis, Accelerate compiled a record that combined an old-school ability to carry speed over a distance of ground with a modern-era campaign that pinpointed the most important events with laser precision.
After the Feb. 3 San Pasqual, Accelerate returned on March 10 with a 5 1/2-length triumph in the Santa Anita Handicap, then journeyed to Arkansas for the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap on April 14 and a narrow loss to the younger colt City of Light, already a two-time Grade 1 winner.
:: 2018 Eclipse Finalists: Profiles and photos for all categories
On May 26, Accelerate was back for the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita. City of Light was in the field, and slightly favored, but it was hardly a contest. Accelerate played the part of the thorough professional, drawing off in the stretch to win by 4 1/4 lengths. City of Light finished third.
With Joel Rosario taking over for the injured Victor Espinoza, Accelerate further polished his résumé at Del Mar with a breathtaking display in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic. His 12 1/2-length margin over Stephen Foster Handicap winner Pavel was the largest in the 28-year history of the event.
At that point, winning California’s three major 1 1/4-mile races was admirable, but it was not enough. Accelerate had to add the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs or else be branded as just another West Coast whiz who couldn’t take his game out of town. To get there, Sadler used the Grade 1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita on Sept. 29, a nine-furlong race in which Accelerate managed to break poorly, race wide, and still win by 2 1/4 lengths.
The field that assembled for the Classic included international flavor from Godolphin’s Thunder Snow and Coolmore’s Mendelssohn, along with Woodward winner Yoshida, the consistent Mind Your Biscuits, and West Coast, runner-up in both the Pegasus World Cup and Dubai World Cup. But in the end it was all Accelerate, who won by a length to give Sadler his first Breeders’ Cup victory after 44 tries.
Accelerate was the first older horse to capture four Grade 1 races at 1 1/4 miles in a single season since Horse of the Year Cigar in 1995. Clearly, the pundits were impressed. Not only is he an Eclipse Award finalist for Horse of the Year and older dirt male, in the final NTRA poll he received 24 first-place votes, compared to 19 for Justify, winner of the Triple Crown.