When a horse has raced 41 times, you have a general sense of that horse’s capabilities. Unless that horse happens to be a 6-year-old based at Charles Town named Go Maire Tu.

Heading into last November, Go Maire Tu had won consecutive races just once in his 41-race career. And you had to go all the way back to the summer of 2010 in the horse’s second and third races to find that “streak.” When Go Maire Tu entered the starting gate Nov. 7, the horse was on a 13-race losing streak.

As long as Beholder, Princess of Sylmar, and Close Hatches are still in the barn, awaiting their first appearances of 2014, it is safe for the rest of the 4-year-old filly generation to come out and play.

The Eclipse Awards to be handed out Saturday night at Gulfstream Park are all the same size, and only the statue for Horse of the Year is plated gold. But for argument’s sake, let’s say there are champions, then there are champions. As an exercise in contentious nostalgia, here are one fan’s selections as the all-time greatest in each of the categories since the Eclipse Awards were first presented in 1971.

LAS VEGAS – Last week’s NFL divisional playoff games were once again proof that sports is the best reality show on television.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – If you’re looking for a lot of suspense at Gulfstream Park Saturday night, try the poker room or the late simulcast races. The Eclipse Awards in the track’s banquet room that night will for the most part be the posting of “official” signs ratifying foregone conclusions.

Now that the Golden Globes ceremony of Hollywood self-flagellation is finished, and Jacqueline Bisset has concluded her acceptance speech, we can move on to the more important business of passing out the Eclipse Awards.

I decided to compare my Eclipse Awards ballot to the list of finalists in all the categories and was shocked to find out that King T. Leatherbury was not a finalist for trainer of the year. I voted for King, Jerry Hollendorfer, and Todd Pletcher in that order. The finalists were the usual suspects: Pletcher, Bob Baffert, and Bill Mott.

And, no, I did not farm out my vote to Deadspin. I actually had no feel for the category and did not think I would cause much harm by casting a protest vote. If one of the three finalists loses by one vote, I apologize in advance.

Only talented 2-year-olds improve their performance in every one of their first five races. That was the beautifully named Classic Giacnroll (son of 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo out of Classic Woman) heading into Jan. 4 Jerome at Aqueduct.

The colt did not win that day, but his second to favorite Noble Moon was probably his most impressive race yet. According to Trakus, Classic Giacnroll had to go 63 feet, or 7 1/2 lengths farther, than Noble Moon on his wide run around the racetrack.

Frank Mirahmadi awoke Friday morning to a layer of fog shrouding the backstretch of the racetrack at Oaklawn Park. Any other day such a weather event would be of no consequence. In fact, as Mirahmadi began his routine, it occurred to him that there were millions of frozen, snowbound Americans who would trade in a heartbeat for conditions no worse than a little low visibility and temperatures in the 50s.

It’s snowing and very cold, everywhere it seems, so how can there be any such thing as global warming?

The unassailable logic of that idea struck home when liberally applied to the most important Thoroughbred action taking place on both coasts Saturday, when 25 older male runners have been entered to run in one of three graded middle-distance stakes. With such a relative bounty of tough campaigners willing and able to run, how can anyone be concerned about a horse shortage?