Eclipse apprentice finalists unchanged in new vote

Meet the three new finalists for the 2011 Eclipse Award for Apprentice Jockey. Same as the old three.

Five days after the voting results for champion apprentice jockey were thrown out because of an error in the statistics distributed to voters, the same three finalists were announced on Wednesday as a result of new voting conducted Monday and Tuesday. The three finalists, in alphabetical order, are Ryan Curatolo, Kyle Frey, and Rosario Montanez.

When statistics were distributed to Eclipse voters near the end of 2011, the records for Montanez included wins and earnings after he had lost his apprentice allowance and became a journeyman in early August. Because of the erroneous data, the administrators of the awards, which include Daily Racing Form, decided to scrap the initial round of voting in the category, redistribute updated statistics, and tally new votes.

Voters were free to select any apprentice in the second round. The updated statistics disqualified 45 of Montanez’s 165 wins in 2011, along with approximately $1.4 million in earnings.

The winners of the Eclipse Awards in all categories will be announced at the Eclipse Awards ceremony in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Jan. 16.