Breeders' Cup clarifies picture for most Eclipse Awards

ARCADIA, Calif. – The victory by Arrogate in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday was one of several results last week at Santa Anita that should have a significant impact on the year-end Eclipse Awards.

Arrogate had just one stakes win going into the Classic, in the Travers Stakes, and as brilliant as was that performance, he likely needed do so something equally spectacular to wrest the 3-year-old male title from Nyquist, the Kentucky Derby winner, and Exaggerator, the Preakness winner, both of whom had multiple Grade 1 victories earlier in the year.

Running down the acknowledged prerace front-runner for Horse of the Year more than qualifies. Arrogate put himself in position to be named champion 3-year-old male and likely will garner significant support for Horse of the Year, although California Chrome’s overall body of work – six wins in seven starts, three Grade 1 or Group 1 wins, including the Dubai World Cup – makes him the favorite for Horse of the Year. California Chrome is a slam dunk for champion older dirt male.

The Breeders’ Cup first came into existence in 1984, providing a clear-cut, year-end forum for deciding championships. This year’s running was no exception. Most of the 11 equine divisions on the flat were undoubtedly determined Friday and Saturday.

For instance, Beholder’s nose victory over Songbird in a battle of champions in the Distaff was the kind of result for which the Breeders’ Cup was invented. The older female dirt category had several worthy contenders prior to the race – most notably the champion Stellar Wind, who held a 2-1 edge over Beholder entering the Distaff – but now there is no doubt who deserves the title. It will be Beholder’s fourth Eclipse Award. Songbird lost for the first time, but she’ll be the champion 3-year-old filly.

Several other categories look equally easy to decipher.

Classic Empire won the Juvenile against every other leading contender for the 2-year-old male title. And although the Juvenile Fillies was run in a far slower time than the Juvenile, the race included every top contender in that division, and Champagne Room beat them for her second graded stakes win of the year.

Tepin just missed in the Mile against males, but she is an overwhelming favorite to win the female turf title for the second straight year. She won six times in eight starts, was second in her two losses, won three Grade 1 or Group 1 races, and beat males twice, including, most notably, in the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot. That’s a champion’s résumé. There’s bound to be sentimental support for Lady Eli, who missed by a nose to Queen’s Trust in the Filly and Mare Turf, but Tepin is the heavy favorite.

The remaining categories are more opaque.

Tourist, in beating Tepin in the Mile for his second Grade 1 win of the year, leaped boldly into the echelon of prospects for the male turf title, a category in which Flintshire and perhaps even Highland Reel will get support. Flintshire also has two Grade 1 wins but could only finish second to runaway winner Highland Reel in the Turf.

Finest City surged to the fore of the wide-open female sprint division with her victory in the Filly and Mare Sprint, but that was only her second win in eight starts on the year. There are others with more wins, but no one has a superior number of Grade 1 wins, and all the top contenders for the title were in the Filly and Mare Sprint.

The male sprint title has several worthy prospects, including Drefong, who won the Sprint. That was his second Grade 1 win of the year, and he beat A. P. Indian in their only head-to-head meeting. But that was A. P. Indian’s lone loss in seven tries this year, and he too owns a pair of Grade 1 wins. And what to do with Lord Nelson, who is unbeaten this year and has three Grade 1 wins but had to miss the Sprint with an ill-timed setback?

Ballots usually go out in mid-December, and responsible voters wait until the end of the calendar year to decide. The male sprint category could give them a compelling reason to wait. Drefong may race again this year in the Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, and a victory there would give him as many Grade 1 wins as Lord Nelson.