2013 Eclipse Finalists

[Kasept]

Horse of the Year: Mucho Macho Man, Will Take Charge, Wise Dan

Two-Year-Old Male: Havana, New Year’s Day, Shared Belief
Two-Year-Old Filly: Chriselliam (IRE), Ria Antonia, She’s a Tiger

Three-Year-Old Male: Orb, Palace Malice, Will Take Charge
Three-Year-Old Filly: Beholder, Close Hatches, Princess of Sylmar

Older Male: Game On Dude, Mucho Macho Man, Wise Dan
Older Female: Joyful Victory, Royal Delta, Tiz Miz Sue

Male Sprinter: Points Offthebench, Sahara Sky, Secret Circle
Female Sprinter: Dance to Bristol, Groupie Doll, Mizdirection

Male Turf Horse: Magician (IRE), Point of Entry, Wise Dan
Female Turf Horse: Dank (GB), Laughing (IRE), Mizdirection

Steeplechase Horse: Divine Fortune, Gustavian, Italian Wedding

Owner: Juddmonte Farms, Midwest Thoroughbreds, Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey
Breeder: Adena Springs, Morton Fink, Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey

Trainer: Bob Baffert, Bill Mott, Todd Pletcher
Jockey: Javier Castellano, Joel Rosario, Gary Stevens
Apprentice Jockey: Victor Carrasco, Manuel Franco, Edgard Zayas

[Hickory Hill Hoff]

How is NOT Honor Code a finalist as Juvenile Colt????

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by Hickory Hill Hoff

How is NOT Honor Code a finalist as Juvenile Colt????

I think Honor Code has a lot of potential and he had a very good 2-year-old season ... but he shouldn't have been a finalist.

Winning at least a single Grade 1 race is generally important to having a championship season.

[FATPIANO]

Female Turf Horse: Dank (GB), Laughing (IRE), Mizdirection

Kind of sad Laughing died today of Colic........

[FATPIANO]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Horse of the Year: WISE DAN

Two-Year-Old Male: New Year’s Day
Two-Year-Old Filly: Ria Antonia

Three-Year-Old Male: Will Take Charge
Three-Year-Old Filly: Beholder

Older Male: Mucho Macho Man
Older Female: Royal Delta

Male Sprinter: Secret Circle
Female Sprinter: Groupie Doll

Male Turf Horse: Wise Dan
Female Turf Horse: Dank (GB)

Steeplechase Horse: Gustavian

Owner: Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey
Breeder: Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey

Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Jockey: Javier Castellano
Apprentice Jockey: Edgard Zayas

This is how I see the results this year,
__________________

[Sightseek]

I'm surprised that so many people who are writing about their selections are not choosing Will Take Charge as Horse of the Year.

Citing his performance in the Triple Crown series as a negative isn't entirely correct either considering his Derby finish could have been much different had Verrazano not stopped in front of him.

[King Glorious]

I can't agree with that Sightseek. We could find a number of "could have been" situations for a lot of horses. The most prominent might be that Princess of Sylmar could have been, would have been division champion and maybe one of the three finalists for HOY had she not run in the Distaff. We have to go with what did happen over what could have happened.

[RockHardTen1985]

Will Take Charge
Havana
The horse from Ireland
Will Take Charge
Princess
GOD
Delta
Secret Circle
Dance to Bristol
Point of Entry
Dank
Italian Wedding
Ramsey
Ramsey
Baffert
Rosario
Franco

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Sightseek

I'm surprised that so many people who are writing about their selections are not choosing Will Take Charge as Horse of the Year.

Citing his performance in the Triple Crown series as a negative isn't entirely correct either considering his Derby finish could have been much different had Verrazano not stopped in front of him.

i'd vote for him before MMM. but not ahead of wise dan.

[dellinger63]

Horse of the Year: Wise Dan

Two-Year-Old Male: Havana
Two-Year-Old Filly: Chriselliam (IRE)

Three-Year-Old Male: Will Take Charge
Three-Year-Old Filly: Princess of Sylmar

Older Male: Mucho Macho Man
Older Female: Royal Delta

Male Sprinter: Points Offthebench
Female Sprinter: Groupie Doll

Male Turf Horse: Wise Dan
Female Turf Horse: Laughing (IRE)

Steeplechase Horse: Italian Wedding (Don't care or know but like the soup)

Owner: Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey
Breeder: Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey

Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Jockey: Gary Stevens
Apprentice Jockey: Present

Mike Smith should have been nominated

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by helicopter11

Mike Smith should have been nominated

they don't have nominations, do they? the finalists, i believe, are the top vote getters in each category.

Originally Posted by Danzig

they don't have nominations, do they? the finalists, i believe, are the top vote getters in each category.

In either case the finalists are not picked randomly. Mike Smith had a stellar year regardless.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by helicopter11

In either case the finalists are not picked randomly. Mike Smith had a stellar year regardless.

they're picked randomly in that you never know what the various voters are thinking...or what they know, how closely they followed racing all year. there have been some interesting picks to show as finalists over the years.

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by Danzig

they're picked randomly in that you never know what the various voters are thinking...or what they know, how closely they followed racing all year. there have been some interesting picks to show as finalists over the years.

How closely the voters were following racing all year is clearly reflected in the utter embarrassment that Authenticity failed to appear on enough ballots to finish as a finalist. Because her PP's were mistakenly omitted from the Older Fillies & Mares stats, oblivious ballots didn't include her. As Jay Privman said last week on ATR, it's a litmus test on who takes the process seriously.

[FATPIANO]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

I can't agree with that Sightseek. We could find a number of "could have been" situations for a lot of horses. The most prominent might be that Princess of Sylmar could have been, would have been division champion and maybe one of the three finalists for HOY had she not run in the Distaff. We have to go with what did happen over what could have happened.

DITTO...............SHOULDA COULDA WOULDA

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Kasept

How closely the voters were following racing all year is clearly reflected in the utter embarrassment that Authenticity failed to appear on enough ballots to finish as a finalist. Because her PP's were mistakenly omitted from the Older Fillies & Mares stats, oblivious ballots didn't include her. As Jay Privman said last week on ATR, it's a litmus test on who takes the process seriously.

exactly the kind of stuff i'm talking about. if people don't know what they're doing, they should toss their ballot rather than do something stupid out of ignorance.

[Indian Charlie]

Originally Posted by Hickory Hill Hoff

How is NOT Honor Code a finalist as Juvenile Colt????

How on Earth can anyone really consider Honor Code to be the champion two year old male?

His only stakes win was the Remsen.

By default, you HAVE to have Havana higher rated. NYD won the BCJ, which is far more important than the Remsen.

That leaves Shared Belief vs Honor Code..............

[Merlinsky]

Originally Posted by Kasept

How closely the voters were following racing all year is clearly reflected in the utter embarrassment that Authenticity failed to appear on enough ballots to finish as a finalist. Because her PP's were mistakenly omitted from the Older Fillies & Mares stats, oblivious ballots didn't include her. As Jay Privman said last week on ATR, it's a litmus test on who takes the process seriously.

Not saying Authenticity didn't deserve to be on the ballot (consistency of quality ought to be acknowledged and her level and volume of races at that level are more than clear with not only graded wins but regular G1 appearances and placings against horses like Beholder), but people argue Honor Code shouldn't be a nomineee because he didn't win a G1 in 2013, so could they have conceivably been so stuck on that G1 winning achievement that they just went 'didn't win a G1, not gonna vote for her'? Maybe they did think of her despite the lack of PPs and didn't take the process seriously in a different way than you thought.

[Kasept]

There isn't a 'ballot'. The NTRA/NTWBA/DRF assembles a Past Performance booklet that has 'candidates' by division. Authenticity, Streaming and some others were left out of it in a case of apparent omissions. As for 'not a G1 winner', Funny Proposition managed to be included in the group of suggested Older Filly & Mare considerations but the winner of $830k between Jan-Nov wasn't.

Simply put, it's an embarrassment.