Flatter: At last, Eclipse Awards decisions have been made

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of annual exercises in self-importance not only by the author but by dozens of others at websites and publications that cover horse racing. At once they provide the perception of transparency in the process to declare annual champions while also giving writers a chance to use thousands of words to fill space without having to come up with a more compelling topic during the holidays.

There will be an awards banquet in 27 days at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla. That is the resort where the Kennedys used to romp during the winter. Yes, romp. That is a polite word. Let’s leave it there.

It also is where NFL owners meet every so often to spend $3,000 a night on rooms and countless more dollars on food and drink. And to romp. In their spare time they rewrite common sense into impossibly difficult rules that are ignored by their referees the following season.

The awards fête will be a celebration of horse racing. It especially will be a celebration of Flightline, who will win a couple trophies. Other more mortal earthlings, both human and equine, will take home 15 others.

Eclipse is what the awards are called. They are named for a racehorse who died 11 days before the U.S. Constitution took effect. Eclipse was from England. He is the only horse whom some voters believe should have his name on this trophy. I might be one of them.

RELATED: Strength of schedule is key in 3-year-old debate.

Yes, I am among those from the media and racing establishment who have a ballot. Last year there were 235 of us who voted. The number will be similar this year.

These will my votes before the Tuesday afternoon deadline, complete with verbose thoughts for this Friday morning post.

Forte, 2-year-old male. He was not favored in his three victories, all Grade 1s. That will not be the case again. He was 5-1 when he upset Cave Rock in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. If the Hopeful (G1) and Breeders’ Futurity (G1) were not wake-up calls, the 100 Beyer he got from Daily Racing Form in getting the division’s biggest win better be. Cave Rock got my second-place vote, because he would be undefeated if not for his runner-up finish at Keeneland to Forte. In a tough call for third, I went with Blazing Sevens largely for his win in the slop in the Champagne (G1).

Oh, not again with the editor’s note: The second- and third-place votes are window dressing. They are used to determine finalists, but the winners are based on the first-place votes. It is mathematically possible for a non-finalist to finish in the top three, because, say it with me, it is horse racing.

Wonder Wheel, 2-year-old filly. If not for a second-place finish in the Spinaway (G1), she would have gone 5-for-5 this year. She found room along the rail to pass 10 horses and win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Hoosier Philly went 3-for-3 and got my second-place vote by passing the eye test in the Golden Rod (G2), her biggest win. Leave No Trace finished second in the Breeders’ Cup after winning the Spinaway, so she got my third-place vote and the hope that her rivalry with Wonder Wheel has only just begun.

Here I am again. The 3-year-old male category is the big finish. Readers may wade through these hundreds of words first. Or simply test the scroll-down function.

Nest, 3-year-old filly. Here is the first slam dunk. The most eye-catching things about Nest were her runaway wins in Grade 1s early this year at Keeneland and during the summer at Saratoga. The most impressive thing, though, was her second-place finish to her Todd Pletcher stablemate Mo Donegal in the Belmont Stakes. Her only losses in her division came against hot paces in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. At Keeneland she still was the top-finishing 3-year-old against the older fillies and mares. Moira, who ran away with the Woodbine Oaks-Queen’s Plate double in Canada, got my second-place vote. Echo Zulu, who ran into undefeated Goodnight Olive when she was runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, was third on my ballot over Secret Oath, who did not come close to winning in five starts after her Kentucky Oaks score.

Flightline, older dirt male. This was easy. So was making Life Is Good second after he won his first four U.S. races this year before being stretched in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and finishing fifth. That, by the way, was sporting of owners CHC and WinStar to try and provide that race some drama. It also was a better gamble than going in the Dirt Mile. Why take a single shot at finishing first for $520,000 in one race when there were three places in the bigger race that could have yielded more than that? It did not work out, but that still was a bet worth taking. For me Olympiad was third in this category on the basis of an underrated, five-race winning streak to start the year and for finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. I had feel-good Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile victor Cody’s Wish there, but a second look at Olympiad convinced me to make the switch.

Malathaat, older dirt female. She was a nose better in what might have been the race of the year, the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Her showdowns with Clairière, against whom she split four meetings, were racing at its pure best. Finishing the year with three Grade 1 victories, including two against her archrival, were like a team getting hot come playoff time. The dilemma was who to vote second, and I finally landed on Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint winner Goodnight Olive, because she went 4-for-4. Clairière lost that photo on my ballot, where I made her third.

Jackie’s Warrior, male sprint. This was the category in which I voted for Flightline last year. I did not regret that, even though Jackie’s Warrior was a deserving champion. He certainly looked the part when he came back from a knee chip to win his first four races this year. Losses to Cody’s Wish in the Forego (G1) and Elite Power in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint made this tough, but sometimes a champion has to be knocked out to be dethroned. I do not believe that happened here. Elite Power did not test Grade 1 waters until this fall at Keeneland, so that kept me from voting him No. 1. Behind him at No. 2, I went with Jack Christopher, who went 3-for-3 at one turn. Oh, what might have been had he been available more than just four times this year.

Goodnight Olive, female sprint. She got started late, but she made a big impression in her four starts. She won them all either on the front end, as in her season opener in June, or coming from off the pace, as she did in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. Upon further and further review I finally settled on 42-1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Caravel second, partly because she kept showing up this year, winning five stakes. I went with Kimari third thanks to two Grade 2 wins in New York that I felt put her ahead of Echo Zulu, who started only two sprints all year.

Modern Games, male turf. Even if his gaudy record in Europe were set aside, he went 6-0 against Grade 1 winners in his two North American wins, including the victory against older horses in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. I still cannot get over the fact that he went 14-1 this year against older grade and group winners, and the “1” was Baaeed. Yes, that Baaeed. I settled on Keeneland Turf Mile (G1) winner Annapolis at No. 2 and two-time New York Grade 1 victor Casa Creed at No. 3. Count Again missed, because he was done after Memorial Day, and I was not convinced Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Rebel's Romance was in against top-flight company in his Group 1 wins in Germany.

War Like Goddess, female turf. What impressed me most about her was not her victory in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1) but her defeat the following month. She defined bold move with what she did to pass eight horses and finish third in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. And yes, those last two races were against the boys. She missed by just a neck going 4-for-4 as a post-time favorite in 2022. Difficult as it was to separate the next three, Regal Glory got my No. 2 vote on the strength of her three Grade 1 scores, In Italian was No. 3 after she barely missed a three-race winning streak when she was second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, and Spendarella was a near miss despite her best performance being a runner-up finish in the Coronation (G1) at Royal Ascot.

Todd Pletcher, trainer. Humans ride the coattails, or just the tails, of their horses. Nest, Malathaat and Forte are the three reasons I put Pletcher at the top. Chad Brown led all trainers in some big categories, but I did not think his best horses were as good as Pletcher’s. Charlie Appleby went 8-for-17 on this side of the Atlantic. A 47 percent strike rate showed me he knew how to pick his spots, so he got my third-place vote. That was a tough call to make over John Sadler, whose work with Flightline alone made him worthy of consideration.

Irad Ortiz Jr., jockey. He led in every major category this year, and it was not really close. Is he too aggressive sometimes? Yes. Should he have been suspended more? Maybe. Is he the best rider on the continent? Unquestionably, for the fourth time in five years. Big numbers and Flightline helped get Flavien Prat my No. 2 spot. Tyler Gaffalione earned my third-place vote largely because of his work with Wonder Wheel, Caravel, Spendarella and even White Abarrio.

Steeplechase and apprentice jockey. I do not closely follow these categories. I am not paid to closely follow these categories. I do not vote in these categories. And I am not alone.

Editor’s note: About these abstentions. On second thought, never mind. Shrapnel still is lying around from a Twitter battle over this a couple years ago.

Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, Summer Wind Equine and West Point Thoroughbreds, owner. Call it a reward for the racehorse who set generational standards. Flightline was that important this year. Godolphin could have gotten the top spot on sheer volume, but even with the wonderful story of Cody’s Wish, it did not have that generational horse in the U.S. End Zone Athletics has had 1,216 starters this year. At a time when field sizes are in peril, that alone was worthy of a third-place vote.

Summer Wind Equine, breeder. See above with Flightline. Ditto with Godolphin at No. 2. Ashview Farm and Colts Neck Stables earned third-place consideration, because they had only 19 starters this year, but two of them were Nest and Mo Donegal.

Flightline, horse of the year. Well, duh. There will be the critics of a champion having but three starts, but come on. He delivered Beyers of 112, 126 and 121, and his Pacific Classic (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Classic victories left indelible impressions. I voted Nest second and Life Is Good third.

OK, what is going to change between now and the 3 p.m. EST deadline Tuesday? In the 3-year-old male division, nothing. Here goes.

Epicenter, 3-year-old male. In the end, it is a North American award. His records of 15-2 against Grade 1 winners and 28-3 against all graded-stakes winners in races he finished were remarkable. If only he had more than just the one Grade 1 victory, but his second-place finishes in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness defined quality losses. I put Modern Games at No. 2, what with his two Grade 1 victories over here and one Group 1 over there. Jingoistic as it admittedly sounds, the difference for me finally was this award being for North America. I made Cyberknife my No. 3 for the quality of his two Grade 1 victories being better than the three for Taiba.

Now we hurry up and wait for the winners to be revealed at that tony resort in South Florida. The show itself inspires enough snark to fill the old “Mystery Science Theater 3000” and the annual Eurovision song contest 100 times over.

I will be there Jan. 26, wherever they decide to herd the media. Can’t wait.

Editor’s note: Mr. Flatter may forgo the media pen that night. If so, he should be found in the HMF bar. His wife will not let him romp.