Gulfstream Park hosts the Eclipse Awards in a couple of weeks, and the best of the best (granted, like the Breeders’ Cup there’s a category for EVERYONE) assume their respective thrones as the champions of 2013. Some awards are obvious, some are going to cause eight day debates on Facebook, and others deserve multiple winners. Now I of course will infuse my own opinion, but in keeping up with blogs & other sites already fueling the fights between candidates I’ve plucked out a few of the contested battles while ignoring the “Will Wise Dan be grass male of the year?” material.
First up…
Three Year OId Male of the Year: Goldencents vs. Will Take Charge
They nearly both captured Breeders’ Cup events, but the main argument from the West Coast camp is “Who won?” The Dirt Mile is one of those races that was a recent addition to the Breeders’ Cup and doesn’t really have an established prep schedule among its contestants. They’re sprinters stretching out or tired route horses, etc. They’re a far more mixed bag than the Classic. However, Goldencents worked hard for his money that day and deserves credit for defeating his elders for the first time. Will Take Charge had a few things work against him in the Classic (most notably Gary Stevens) but still showed up with another awesome performance in line with the rest of his fall races. He also capped off his year with a tie-breaker of sorts, the Clark. Goldencents could not muster a response to that effort in the Cigar Mile, or anything close for that matter.
I’d be very surprised if Will Take Charge doesn’t take the honors with his late-season surge. “Coastal Bias” aside, his body of work this year trumps his competition. Conversely, I’d give the training nod to Doug O’Neill for keeping his charge in competitive form from day one. It’s so difficult to keep a horse good from two to three in the Graded ranks, bravo! However, this is not a lifetime resume award – and 2013 was a better year for Will Take Charge.
Three Year Old Female of the Year: Beholder vs. Princess of Sylmar
Let me reiterate before I start: This crop of fillies are GOOD. In this instance, I’d love for both to receive the award as I don’t think sportsmanship (shipping the likely champion at the time out to get THUMPED in the Distaff) should be punished. The thing about Princess of Sylmar is the bad position she was put in by the Breeders’ Cup being in Beholder’s sandbox; wasn’t she kind of damned if she did and damned if she didn’t? Either she chances losing to Beholder or she gets accused of ducking her? The fact still remains that these two are 1-1 against each other. As brilliant as miss Beholder was on the day that often decides these awards, on a bit more level playing field (Churchill Downs) she was not as good as ‘Princess. If the entire year is to be kept in mind, they really do both deserve it but I would actually go the way of the caboose in the Distaff. Let’s see if that “Bias” is in play…
Horse of the Year: Wise Dan vs. Will Take Charge vs. Mucho Macho Man
This is not one that I’d split but I do not envy voters on these three. Personally, I don’t find this to be much of a contest but surprisingly I’ve seen several quarrels online. I know that WTC’s name was thrown in after the Clark, but Game On Dude has become less & less of a yardstick to measure the best against with the fields he womps in CA getting smaller. Game On Dude is fun to watch, he’s dominant when he’s on, he’s California’s golden boy……he’s not invincible. MMM tugs on the heartstrings and certainly that will send a few votes his way, but looking at his entire year it leaves something to be desired. Of course there was nowhere to go but up after not finishing in the Sunshine Millions, but it wasn’t really the hardest year in retrospect. He’s coming back for more and hooray for that, but when you only finish four of your five races and only three of them are graded is that enough? I don’t really think so, but this blog has more than a little evidence that he stole some of my money on BC Day. If you’re going to go by graded stakes wins in California, then the Dude has to be put back into consideration.
The point? Wise Dan is Horse of the Year for the second year in a row. Hopefully the same debate surfaces next year, as all of the above are projected to race in 2014.
There are more categories to glance at next week… and remember the Eclipse Awards will be shown on both HRTV and NBC Sports on January 18th. Suggestions for any of the above categories? Post a reply!
