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Eclipse with Mr.Wildman & His Sons by George Stubbs Buy this print at Art.com |
Date: 01/21/2008
The 37th annual Eclipse Awards ceremony were held Monday night at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, honoring the champions of North American racing in 2007. This year 89% of eligible voters cast their ballots, which was an improvement over the 86% who voted last year.
Curlin was named the 2007 Horse of the Year as well as the Champion 3-Year-Old Male, capping off an outstanding season with victories in the Arkansas Derby, Preakness, Preakness, Jockey Club Gold Cup, and Breeders' Cup Classic as well as finishing second in the Belmont Stakes and third in the Kentucky Derby and Haskell Invitational. Majority owner Jess Jackson of Stonestreet Stables said, "This couldn't be better. It's a thrill of a lifetime for all of us. This is a guy who saw Seabiscuit in 1939, saw Swaps and Native Dancer all through Secretariat, and this is a dream come true. A great horse needs a great rider and a great trainer, and we were lucky enough to have them. I want to encourage everyone to work together to raise racing to a new level of marketing, of ethics, of sincerity, and to give the fans what they need. That's why we decided to race Curlin this year."
Among the multiple year winners, Frank Stronach's Adena Springs was awarded Champion Breeder for the fourth year in a row and fifth overall and trainer Todd Pletcher took home the Trainer award, also for the fourth year in a row. Stronach also picked up the Champion Older Female award for his Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Ginger Punch. Shadwell Stable took the Champion Owner award and their filly Lahudood also won Champion Turf Female.
Most of the categories had pretty clear cut winners, but it was close for Older Male between winner Lawyer Ron (147 points) and runner-up Invasor (94 points) as neither dominated for the entire year. The only other winner to come out on top by less than 100 points was Champion Female Sprinter Maryfield who beat out Dream Rush by only 94 points.
All the winners for 2007 are listed below with the actual vote totals. A link to a full profile is given for each horse and past performances for all the finalists are available here from Daily Racing Form. To see all this years finalists with profiles for each, check here. You can look up past year's winners here. You can see how the awards are decided here.
Horse of the Year and Champion Three-Year-Old Male: Curlin
HOY Vote totals: Curlin, 249; Rags to Riches, 12; Invasor (ARG) 2; Corinthian, 1; English Channel, 1; Street Sense, 1. Voter Abstentions, 1.
3-Year-Old Male Vote totals: Curlin, 262; Street Sense, 3; Hard Spun 1; Voter Abstentions, 1.
Two-Year-Old Male: War Pass
Vote totals: War Pass, 262; Court Vision, 1; Kodiak Kowboy, 1; Nownownow,1. Voter abstentions, 2.
Two-Year-Old Filly: Indian Blessing
Vote totals: Indian Blessing, 250; Country Star, 11; Pure Clan, 2; Cry and Catch Me, 1; Mushka, 1; Proud Spell, 1. Voter Abstentions, 1.
Three-Year-Old Female: Rags to Riches
Vote totals: Rags to Riches, 258; Octave, 4; Panty Raid, 2; Dream Rush, 1; Lear's Princess, 1; Voter abstentions, 1.
Older Male: Lawyer Ron
Vote totals: Lawyer Ron, 147; Invasor (ARG) 94; Corinthian, 13; Lava Man, 4; English Channel 3, Student Council, 2. Voter Abstentions, 4.
Older Female: Ginger Punch
Vote totals: Ginger Punch, 247; Nashoba's Key, 18, Take D'Tour, 1. Voter Abstentions, 1.
Female Sprinter: Maryfield
Vote totals: Maryfield, 155, Dream Rush, 61; River's Prayer, 32; Hystericalady, 12. Voter Abstentions, 7.
Male Sprinter: Midnight Lute
Vote totals: Midnight Lute, 229; Hard Spun, 18; Fabulous Strike, 9; Idiot Proof, 3; Diabolical, 2; Greg's Gold, 1; In Summation, 1; Mach Ride, 1; Smokey Stover, 1. Voter Abstentions, 2.
Male Turf Horse: English Channel
Vote totals: English Channel, 251; Kip Deville, 6; After Market, 5; Cloudy's Knight, 1; Daytona (IRE), 1; Doctor Dino (FR), 1; Shakespeare, 1. Voter abstentions, 1.
Female Turf Horse: Lahudood
Vote totals: Lahudood (GB), 188; Nashoba's Key, 43; Precious Kitten, 16; Citronnade, 7; Bit of Whimsy, 3; Panty Raid, 3; Honey Ryder, 2; Mrs. Lindsay, 1; Rutherienne, 1; Wait a While, 1. Voter Abstentions, 2.
Steeplechase: Good Night Shirt
Vote totals: Good Night Shirt, 222; McDynamo, 13; Floodlights, 1; Planets Aligned, 1. Voter Abstentions, 30.
Owner: Shadwell Stable (Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, on right in photo)
Vote totals: Shadwell Stable, 144; Stronach Stables, 59; Maggi Moss, 18; West Point Thoroughbreds, 8; James Tafel LLC, 7; Zayat Stables, LLC, 5; Stonestreet Stable, Padua, George Bolton and Midnight Cry Stables, 4; James Scatuorchio, 3; Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, 3; Jess Jackson, 2; Fares Farm Inc.1; Fox Hill Farms, Inc. 1; Louis D. O'Brien LLC, 1; Melnyk Racing Stables, Inc., 1; Voter Abstentions, 10.
Breeder: Adena Springs (Frank Stronach)
Vote totals: Adena Springs, 203; Fares Farm Inc., 13; Martin and Pam Wygod, 12; William S. Farish, 11; James Tafel, 8; Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, 2; Skara Glen Stables, 2; Farnsworth Farms, 1, Juddmonte Farms, 1; Eugene Melnyk, 1; Voter Abstentions, 13.
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Vote totals: Todd Pletcher, 139; Steve Asmussen, 65; Kiaran McLaughlin, 39; Carl Nafzger, 9; Bill Mott, 5; Scott Lake, 3; Dale Baird, 1; Larry Jones, 1; Graham Motion, 1; Voter Abstentions, 4.
Jockey: Garrett Gomez
Vote totals: Garrett Gomez, 248; Robby Albarado, 11; Russell Baze, 2; Calvin Borel, 1; Ramon Dominguez, 1. Voter Abstentions, 4.
Apprentice Jockey: Joe Talamo
Vote totals: Joe Talamo, 254; Carol Cedeno, 2; Arnaldo Bocachica, 1. Voter abstentions, 10.
How the Awards are Decided
The old three-bloc voting system was replaced in 2003 with a one vote per person system, where every voter's selection is weighted equally. Ranked their top three selections in each of the 16 voting categories and points are awarded on a 10-5-1 basis. The voting point system determines the three finalists in each category, but the winner is determined by first-place votes only. To see all the details of the new voting format from DRF, check here.
More about the Eclipse Awards:
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