At Long Last - Older Dirt Awards

The die had been cast in stone. The long standing tradition of the best older dirt horse in America winning the Eclipse award, whether it was called Handicap Horse or Older Male, was no longer. For three straight years, turf horses took home the award, in addition to winning their award as Turf horses.

In Wise Dan’s case, in both 2012 and 2013, he swept the Male Turf Horse, the Older Male, and the Horse of the Year awards. Last year, it was Main Sequence winning dual awards as Male Turf Champion, and Champion Older Male. These decisions seemed at best redundant, at worst unfair to all of America’s top dirt horses who stuck around to race as older horses. Well, all that will change as of 2015. It may come too late for horses like Fort Larned, Mucho Macho Man, Game On Dude, Palace Malice, and Goldencents, but today, a wrong has been righted. The announcement just came in from the NTRA...

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, National Turf Writers and Broadcasters and Daily Racing Form today announced rules modifications and name changes in two Eclipse Awards categories. The Older Male category has been renamed Older Male Dirt and the Older Female category has been renamed Older Female Dirt, according to the NTRA press Release.

NTRA Senior Vice President and a member of the Eclipse Awards steering committee, Keith Chamblin, further explained the change in the Eclipse Awards.

“There has been a growing consensus among members of the three voting organizations to more clearly define the older horse categories in determining male and female champions on dirt and turf,” said Chamblin. “Older male and female turf horses will continue to compete for the turf championships in their gender divisions, while the older male and female dirt horses will compete strictly against horses on the dirt or main track surfaces in their respective divisions. All are eligible for the Horse of the Year category.”

Well done, I say. I had been asking for the change the past three years, and I will explain why.

American racing is dominated by dirt. While I absolutely love turf racing, the biggest races in our nation; Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont Stakes, and Breeders’ Cup Classic are all run on dirt. As are a large percentage of the most important races in the United States. Therefore, the majority of our best horses run on dirt, rather than turf. The competition is tougher, and the rewards are bigger. Because of this, turf horses, and I’m talking about the very best turf horses, like Wise Dan and Main Sequence, have an easier time dominating their divisions. Much the same way a college football team playing a Mountain West Conference schedule, has a much easier easier road to an undefeated record than a SEC team has.

Why shouldn't the deeper, stronger division have its own award just like the turf horses did? There was no good answer to that question. 

This sentiment should in no way be taken as a slight to Wise Dan, Main Sequence, or any other excellent turf horses of the past, present, and future, but they have their own award. Not only can they win a Turf Championship, but they are also in the running for Horse of the Year, as Wise Dan so successfully proved in recent years. Older dirt horses were losing their championship of late, and it was not fair. Today’s decision will not change the lack of championship opportunities for several top dirt  horses in recent years, like the ones mentioned above, but at least they finally got it right.