Race Day Las Vegas

Eclipse Awards Vote 2009 -- A tale of two Champions

Ralph Siraco's Blog

January 2010

Procrastination is over. Time to put up or shut up. In this case, for Eclipse voters--of which I feel privileged to be one--it's time to split hairs and award a trophy to only one of two most worthy finalists. In an unprecedented year, it is as unusual as the finalists themselves that only the two got any votes at all. Thus, validating the excruciating vacillation that voters must make to land on only one winner. Certainly, at this point, it would be fruitless to account the championship performances by both Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra in assessing any parallels to separate the two, as the credits of both have been well documented and exhaustively debated, it is with expedience that I now reveal my Eclipse Award ballot, fulfilling a most exacerbating exercise. Here, then, is as the ballot appears:

Steeplechase: Mixed Up, Red Letter Day, Your Sum Man

Two-Year-Old Colt or Gelding: Lookin At Lucky, Vale of York, Noble's Promise

Two-Year-Old Filly: She Be Wild, Blind Luck, Hot Dixie Chick

Three-Year-Old Colt or Gelding: Summer Bird, Quality Road, Mine That Bird

Three-Year-Old Filly: Rachel Alexandra, Careless Jewel, Flashing

Older Male: Einstein, Macho Again, Bullsbay

Older Filly or Mare: Zenyatta, Life Is Sweet, Music Note

Male Sprinter: Fabulous Strike, Vineyard Haven, Zensational

Male Turf Horse: Conduit, Gio Ponti, Presious Passion

Female Turf Horse: Goldikova, Midday, Ventura

Female Sprinter: Informed Decision, Ventura, Music Note

Breeder: Juddmonte Farms, Inc., Adena Springs, Gainsborough Farms LLC