WITH virtually every major stakes race of 2002 in the books, it’s time to look at the equine athletes who merit this year’s Eclipse Awards as North America’s thoroughbred champions.
HORSE OF THE YEAR: Azeri. Only two fillies, All Along and Lady’s Secret, have earned Horse of the Year honors in the past half-century, and both of them beat the boys. California-based Azeri didn’t even face colts in her ’02 campaign.
But by winning 8 of 9 starts, including seven straight stakes by daylight margins culminating in a front-running, five-length romp in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, the 4-year-old daughter of Jade Hunter dominated her competition all year long, something none of the other top contenders – Left Bank, War Emblem, etc. – can claim.
2-YEAR-OLD COLT: Vindication. Daniel Borislow, who owns Toccet (winner of the Champagne, Laurel Futurity and Remsen), has taken full-page ads in the Racing Form comparing his colt to all-time greats like Secretariat, Affirmed and Easy Goer, urging that Toccet be named the champ if he wins this Saturday’s Hollywood Futurity.
But Toccet, burdened by post 13, finished ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, beaten 16 lengths by Vindication, an unbeaten (4-for-4) son of Seattle Slew who took the Juvenile gate-to-wire by 23/4.
2-YEAR-FILLY: Storm Flag Flying. Like Vindication, this royally bred daughter of Storm Cat out of My Flag won all four of her starts, including three Grade 1’s: the Matron by 123/4, the Frizette by two and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies by a gutsy half-length, coming on again after she was passed in deep stretch.
3-YEAR-OLD COLT: War Emblem. Came Home – 6-for-8, including a victory over War Emblem and older horses in the Pacific Classic – will get support, but in the year’s biggest race, the Kentucky Derby, War Emblem trounced him. Throw in scores in the Preakness, Haskell and Illinois Derby, and trainer Bob Baffert’s black “stealth bomber,” who packed 100,000 into Belmont Park for his failed Triple Crown bid, gets the nod.
3-YEAR-OLD FILLY: Farda Amiga. This long-winded Broad Brush filly pretty much sewed up this award with stretch-running victories in the Kentucky Oaks and Alabama. A second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff put the icing on the cake.
OLDER MALE: Left Bank. Volponi will draw some votes for winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic by the widest margin ever, 6½ lengths (in the process exposing the “Pick 6 Fix”). Evening Attire, winner of the Jockey Club Gold Cup and four other stakes, also rates a look.
But Volponi (3-for-8) lost more races than he won, and Evening Attire, while solid, was never brilliant. Left Bank was, with his back-to-back victories last summer in the Tom Fool at Belmont, where he set the track record for seven furlongs, and the Whitney at Saratoga, tying the track mark for a mile-and-an-eighth.
OLDER FILLY OR MARE: Azeri, unanimously.
MALE GRASS HORSE: High Chaparral. This award traditionally goes to the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf; in this case, Irish invader High Chaparral, who took the Turf by 11/4 lengths in his only U.S. start over With Anticipation, America’s top grass horse.
High Chaparral, who also pulled off the rare feat of winning both the English and Irish Derbys, had only one rival for the title “best grass horse in the world,” that being his stablemate Rock of Gibraltar, barely beaten at 4-5 in the Breeders’ Cup Mile after one of the worst rides in history.
FEMALE GRASS HORSE: Golden Apples. Starine won the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, but that was her only win in four tries. Golden Apples’ three victories from seven starts included the Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon and Beverly D, and she was worse than second just once, finishing a close fourth in the Filly & Mare Turf after a nightmare trip.
SPRINTER: Orientate. Once trainer D. Wayne Lukas switched him back to pure sprinting, Orientate was unbeatable, rattling off five straight stakes. He capped that streak with a hard-fought, half-length score in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
