The real miscarriage of justice was 1978. Exceller won 6 G1 races on turf and dirt that year - the Hollywood Gold Cup, the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the San Juan Capistrakno, the Hollywood Invitational Turf H, the Sunset H, and the Oak Tree Invitational. In the championship race, the JC Gold Cup, Seattle Slew ran off to a long lead on one of those speed-favoring wet-fast Belmont tracks; he was so far ahead on the far turn, it didn't look like anyone would finish in the same furlong with him. But Exceller came rolling like a freight train and ran down Slew AGAINST the track bias and all anybody could write about was how game Slew was in hanging close at the finish.
Moreover, despite winning 4 G1 turf races, he was stiffed for the turf championship, too; that went to the 3yo Mac Diarmida, who won a string of 3yo stakes races before taking two late fall G1s in the fall in the East.
So despite winning the championship race, winning more G1s than any other horse that year, on both dirt and turf, Exceller was denied even one Eclipse award. Only the most egregious case of East Coast bias against West Coast raced horses. Don't get me going about 1965's champion older horse voting!
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