Eclipse Awards 2017: A few Afterthoughts
On a long day of travel, I decided only to jot down some thoughts on what went down last night at Gulfstream Park. Yes, the Eclipse Awards never fail to bring about some memorable moments, and naturally, last night was no different.
In all honesty, I cannot say that I have ever been a fan of Perry Martin. I’ve never spoken to him in person, but from my vantage point, the breeder and owner, in partnership, of the magnificent California Chrome for all these years, comes across as an equal mix of arrogant, boorish, condescending, and obnoxious. Like I said, I have never been a fan.
The reaction after his Horse of the Year speech last night was predictable. Many on the media side of racing were up in arms over his insulting rant geared primarily against ‘turf writers’. Personally, as a member of the media, I was less offended by his portrayal of those who cover the sport, many of whom voted for his horse to be the Horse of the Year twice, but rather how his speech affected what could have been a special moment, and a moment that would have been good for the sport. With the Pegasus World Cup just days away, no less. No, Martin instead turned the spotlight off the great horse, his accomplishments, and people like Art Sherman, for what I can only assume amounted to his own pleasure.
Frank Taylor’s brief words were in contrast to Martin, but the damage had already been done. Wouldn’t it have been nice to hear the humble, old school trainer, Art Sherman have that time on stage instead of the horse’s owner?
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Who cares if Highland Reel got one vote for Horse of the Year, compared to the 202 for California Chrome? Apparently, a lot of people do. The “They should have their voting privileges revoked” talk came up again this year, as it does every year. Why so harsh to a few people, or in this case, one, who have a different outlook on certain categories?
While I believe California Chrome was an extremely deserving winner, I very much believe it to be the right of voters to have an alternate opinion. We do live in America after all. Highland Reel is a fantastic horse, who ran a helluva good race at the Breeders’ Cup. He wasn’t my choice, but he was one voter’s. One out of 248. I’m fine with that.
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While I successfully picked who would win each of the Eclipse Awards for the horses, I did far less well with the human awards. They never seem to follow the same rules from one category to the next. Yearling earnings is obviously important, but it does not carry all the human awards, that is other than for jockeys. I thought this year’s honor of Best Jockey would be a fine season to diverge from the earnings rule, but where the jockeys are concerned, it seems that earnings is the only thing.
Nothing against Javier Castellano. He is an outstanding rider, quite possibly the best in the United States. I wasn’t sure that 2016 would bring him a fourth straight Eclipse Award, though. It seemed to me that both Mike Smith and Jose Ortiz were very strong candidates, as well. No rider won more big races last year than Smith, and certainly his average earnings per start bore that out.
Meanwhile, Jose Ortiz was the top jockey of arguably the biggest meets in New York last year. Meets in which Castellano rode. Ortiz may not get quite as many top horses yet as the other two, but he is hungry, busts his butt to ride everywhere, and improve as a jockey. Not surprisingly, he led the country in wins last year.
In the end, I have no issue with Castellano winning again, but I was a little disheartened to see that it was in a relative landslide. I believe there should be more to the Jockey Eclipse Award than only who won the money title.
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Speaking of humans, Andy Beyer and Steve Crist are giants in the game. We are lucky to have such intelligent and passionate advocates of racing. Someday I hope to have a fraction of the positive influence on the game that they have been for oh so many years.