Breeders Cup Chat : Eclipse Awards

Sprint Championship Could Be a Bunch of Bull

jshandler — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:41:00 GMT

As we have seen during our heated debates regarding Horse of the Year and 3-year-old filly champion, the Eclipse Awards voting certainly brings out some strong opinions in all of us. On this blog especially, people voice their opinions loud and clear, and without much consensus. It's the same way in the Blood-Horse office, as even us writers have vastly differing outlooks on many of the upcoming awards.

Take the Sprint championship for example. To me, there is only one deserving winner of this award: Benny the Bull. The 5-year-old was spectacular is all four of his races this season, including the Dubai Golden Shaheen in which he beat a deep field of world-class sprinters. Although his season and career were ultimately cut short due to injury and he was forced to miss the Breeders' Cup, I strongly believe his four stakes wins (three of them graded) were more than enough to earn the award.

To my surprise, when discussing this division with my co-workers Lenny Shulman and Evan Hammonds, they had vastly different opinions. The conversation went something like this:

JS: At least, we can all agree that Benny wins the sprint championship, right?

LS: No way. It has to go to Midnight Lute. Did you not see the Breeders' Cup? He ran six furlongs in 1:07!

JS: Yeah, but he only raced twice this year and only won once!

LS: It doesn't matter. He is the defending champion and somebody had to knock him off in the Breeders' Cup to take it away.

JS: Evan, please be the voice of reason here. Tell him Benny wins it. You can't give a horse an award based on ONE win!

EH: What about Ventura? She deserves strong consideration too. She won three graded stakes this year, including the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, and she beat Kip Deville and all but one of the boys in the Woodbine Mile.

JS: C'mon guys. Look at the entire body of work for the year, not just the last couple months. Benny won three graded stakes and probably beat the deepest sprint field this year.

LS: Midnight Lute, hands down. He's been the best for the last two years. You can't take it away from him. His Breeders' Cup was phenomenal.

EH: I don't know who I'm voting for yet, but I will bet you anything Lenny is right; Midnight Lute will win. I've seen too many of these. That's the way the voters will go.

JS: You guys are nuts. Did you watch the Dubai race, the Tru North or the Smile Sprint? He was absolutely spectacular with that closing kick! Why does the first half of the year always seem to get forgotten about in these awards? It's like all anyone cares about is the Breeders' Cup and the rest of the year doesn't matter.

LS: You've got a lot to learn kid.

JS: You guys are getting so old that you're losing your minds...

As you can see, us bloggers are not the only ones who argue about these awards. It happens everywhere. And, as always, we never settle anything.

So, what do you say? Benny, Lute or Ventura?

Who Will Be the 3-Year-Old Filly Champion?

jshandler — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:28:00 GMT

Although we all have different opinions on it, I think we can all agree that we've beaten Horse of the Year debate to death. Let's move on to another topic; one that that I'm sure we also won't all agree on, but is an interesting debate nonetheless: 3-year-old female of the year.

This should be one of the closest Eclipse Award votes of the year, as both Proud Spell and Music Note have had terrific campaigns. Before I tell you which way I'm leaning, let's present each filly's résumé.

Proud Spell

*4-2-2 from eight starts, and really, her disqualification from second to third in the Mother Goose was a bad call, so in my book she should have three runner-ups.

*Won a pair of grade I events (Kentucky Oaks and Alabama) and a pair of grade II's (Fair Ground Oaks and Delaware Oaks).

*Earned $1.5 million this season

*Defeated Music Note in Alabama

Music Note

*4-1-1 from six starts

* Won three grade I races (Mother Goose, Coaching Club American Oaks and Gazelle). Her fourth win was in allowance company.

*Earned $833,000 this season

*Defeated Proud Spell in Mother Goose

* Third in Ladies Classic

It's easy to see that both had outstanding seasons. You can certainly make a case for either filly. But in my opinion, Proud Spell has the edge. Why?

First of all, Proud Spell had a tougher year. Even though Music Note has the extra grade I victory, Proud Spell tested graded stakes company all eight starts and never finished off the board. She had a more physically demanding campaign that began in February and lasted until September. That's eight grades stakes races in eight months. Pretty impressive. Music Note didn't even make her first graded stakes appearance until after Proud Spell won the Kentucky Oaks.

Proud Spell also knocked off Indian Blessing, who was undefeated at the time. That Fair Grounds Oaks victory is not to be taken lightly. Indian Blessing is probably the toughest horse that either Proud Spell or Music Note defeated all year. It was a very significant win, despite only being a grade II.

Although I'm not a believer that earnings should determine a champion, Proud Spell nearly doubled Music Note's earnings. In and of itself it's not a deciding factor, but just another way to make a case for Proud Spell.

Finally, Proud Spell won the Kentucky Oaks - the biggest race of the year for 3-year-old fillies. Just like the winner of the Derby has the edge in the boys' division, the Oaks is the tiebreaker for females.

Had Music Note won the Ladies Classic I don't think there's any doubt she would have been the champion. Had she finished second to Zenyatta, I would have has to think even harder about this vote. Fact is, she finished third and that is not good enough to jump ahead of Proud Spell.

In my opinion, when Proud Spell defeated Music Note by a head in the Alabama, she clinched her championship. What do you think?

Q&A With Zenyatta Trainer John Shirreffs

jshandler — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:16:00 GMT

Now that the dust has settled on Zenyatta's marvelous Breeders' Cup win, I thought it would be a good time to catch up with her trainer, John Shirreffs, who is one of the nicer guys in racing. Admittedly, my motives were a bit self-serving, as I wanted to inquire about two of the hot-button topics surrounding Zenyatta: Her future and of course, the Horse of the Year debate.

If nothing else, at least we found out there is reason to hope Zenyatta will race as a 5-year-old.

JShan: It's been a little more than week since Zenyatta won the Ladies Classic, which also gave you your first Breeders' Cup victory. Has it all sunk in yet?

JShirr: It's been such a thrilling season with her and there was so much riding on the Breeders' Cup, not only for me but all the connections. There was an Eclipse Award hanging in the balance and just so much at stake on one race. When she finally won it was just one of those magical moments I will never forget. It was really such a thrill. You only have so many opportunities with horses like this. She has done so much for all of us.

JShan: Like you said, the Eclipse Award was hanging in the balance. Now that you locked up at least one of them, how does that feel?

JShirr: It's going to be so much fun getting that award. To be able to see her name on the Distaff Eclipse Award is going to be such a tremendous honor. It's going to be something I'll always treasure.

JShan: The debate has already begun as far as Horse of the Year honors. It seems it may come down to a two-horse race between Zenyatta and Curlin. Make your case for Zenyatta.

JShirr: Well, I think when you look at the quality of fillies she ran against and beat, she has to be considered. She had to step up every race, and she did. Running against who she did, she had to improve on a monthly basis to keep winning, and she did.

JShan: What do you say to people who think a filly should have to beat the boys to earn Horse of the Year?

JShirr: It's already been proven that you don't have to; look at Azeri. (Zenyatta) went undefeated against a very tough group of fillies this year and had to overcome a lot of adversity. Now, of course, she didn't have run against any Wanderin Boy's...

JShan: Also playing devil's advocate, what about the people who say she only raced outside of California once?

JShirr: The race she won at Oaklawn was a stellar field. I think every horse that came out of that race either won or placed in a stakes. Also, she shouldn't be penalized for racing in California. Remember, she was racing on surfaces she didn't even really like. She preferred dirt. But the Breeders' Cup was in California this year, so there was no reason to ship her anywhere else.

I think it's great to have a Horse of the Year debate. However it comes out, I'll be OK. We're going to be thrilled just getting the Distaff award.

JShan: The other thing people want to know is what the future holds for Zenyatta. Has anything been decided yet?

JShirr: We're going to take our time and do a lot of diagnostic work on her, head-to-toe. We'll give her a little break and then map out a plan.

JShand: Is there any chance she races again this year?

JShirr: No chance.

JShan: Even though you and the Mosses have not made a decision on her future yet, I get the feeling from the things I've been reading and hearing there is a better than 50-50 chance she will race as a 5-year-old?

JShirr: If we're leaning one way, I'd say it's towards running her. We'll announce that a little later.

JShan: Nobody could have predicted how great Zenyatta has been, but looking back to the beginning, how early did you know she had the potential to be something special?

JShirr: Very early on. When she was being broken in Ocala there were a lot of 2-year-olds there. They always told us she was the best one at the place.

JShan: And yet she only fetched $60,000 as a yearling?

JShirr: It was just perfect timing. Balance (her multiple graded stakes winning half-sister) hadn't appeared yet and there were no grade I winners. And it was Street Cry's first yearlings. We were very fortunate.

JShan: What was the biggest challenge in training Zenyatta?

JShirr: When you have a horse as talented as she is, it's just making sure we didn't make any mistakes. We didn't want to get in her way. We wanted to do what was best for her and take care of her the best way we knew how. Everything has been so magical.