There is much on the line in the Breeders’ Cup, not the least of which are year-end championships. Here’s a look at one man’s opinion of the Eclipse Award scenarios going into this Breeders’ Cup.
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Luis Ocasio, who was named the leading apprentice rider in North America at the Eclipse Awards dinner at Gulfstream Park last Saturday, is the third Mid-Atlantic rider in the last five years to win the award. He follows in the footsteps of Victor Carrasco, a top rider in Maryland who won in 2013, and Jose Montano, the leading rider at Charles Town each of the past five years who won in 2012.
As a bright chestnut with white points, City Zip is the sort of horse who catches the eye. But when it comes to his accomplishments in the breeding shed, he’s been somewhat overlooked despite a good deal of success.
At first glance, the Eclipse Awards ceremonies held at Gulfstream Park last Saturday night were a very traditional, by-the-numbers replay of dinners gone by. There was the gracious, personable host juggling introductions with a handful of thin jokes. There was the collection of video highlights, many of them flashing past with daunting speed. And there were the acceptance speeches, dizzy in their variety, from the raucously joyful to cool and classy, capped by an off-the-cuff ramble that channeled the spirits of both Don Rickles and Professor Irwin Corey.
Only a handful of representatives for Kenny and Lisa Troutt’s WinStar Farm could get up on the stage to accept the operation’s Eclipse Award as outstanding breeder last Saturday night at Gulfstream Park. However, farm president and chief executive Elliott Walden noted that there were dozens who belonged there.
“Of all the awards presented tonight, I think the breeder is one of the most collaborative efforts,” Walden said. “You have the stallion team, the broodmares, the yearlings, the owners that buy our horses at the sales, the trainers that they give them to.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Sunshine State became the Golden State on Saturday night at the 46th annual Eclipse Awards dinner, as California Chrome made off with the golden statuette as Horse of the Year for the second time and led a parade of California-based connections who won divisional titles.
California Chrome outpolled Arrogate for Horse of the Year, 202 to 40. Songbird received five votes and Highland Reel one.
The announcement of the 2016 Horse of the Year will cap the evening Saturday at Gulfstream Park when the Eclipse Awards are presented for the 46th time. If social-media chitchat and informal polls are right, then California Chrome, a 5-year-old last year, will top Arrogate for the honor, despite the fact that Arrogate, then 3, beat the older horse the only time they met in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. And, of course, polls are never wrong.
Since the Eclipse Awards began in 1971, just one horse – John Henry – has been named Horse of the Year in nonconsecutive years, a feat California Chrome could equal on Saturday night when the 46th annual Eclipse Awards dinner is held at Gulfstream Park.
California Chrome was named Horse of the Year in 2014. After a 2015 campaign cut short by injury and squabbles among his original owners, he rebounded in 2016 with a nearly flawless campaign highlighted by victories in the Dubai World Cup and Pacific Classic, his lone loss coming in the Breeders’ Cup Classic against Arrogate.
Joe Hirsch won the Eclipse Award of Merit for 1992 because he was a tireless ambassador for Thoroughbred racing, because he was instrumental in the birth of such events as the Arlington Million, the Japan Cup, and the Dubai World Cup, and because he spent most of his career as a one-man Michelin Guide for any young reporter who needed a crash course in the game.
He was also a journalist.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The itinerary is set, one that covers the nation from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to suburban Los Angeles with Kruljac men.
On Saturday, when Finest City starts in the $200,000 Santa Monica Stakes at Santa Anita, trainer Ian Kruljac will saddle the mare in her first start since an upset win in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in November.
Across the nation, his father, Eric, will be overdressed, by his standards, appearing on behalf of his son and client Tyler Seltzer at the Eclipse Awards at Gulfstream Park in Florida.