The Eclipse Award voters got it right in every category, except for possibly one, but the balloting again lost some of its luster when a few lunkheads opted to turn in entries that were a joke, to say the least. Putting a checkmark next to a horse who has absolutely no right to be included in the conversation should be a violation of a media or organizational-type person's responsibility as a voting member.

    The person who voted for Catch a Glimpse as best 2-year-old filly while Songbird grabbed the other 260 was a farce. A unanimous pick is an honor and if any horse ever deserved that honor, Songbird was it. Four victories in four starts, three Gr. I's including the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, all by daylight, and one jerk thought that wasn't enough to win the award? Too often, voters throw a bone to one of their friends when there's no chance of the horse winning. Why? What purpose does it serve?

    Same holds true for the three dodos who voted for Mohaymen and the three who decided to abstain instead of tabbing Nyquist as best 2-year-old colt. The guy was sensational, and with one more victory than Songbird. 

    As for Big Blue Kitten winning male turf horse with 134 votes, and Golden Horn finishing second with 63, that's another joke. Golden Horn raced once in the U. S., was second behind the 3-year-old Irish filly Found in the Breeders' Cup Turf, and that's all that anybody needed to know. That Golden Horn won the Arc is of no relevance. These are not the European Eclipse Awards! 

    Runhappy won as best sprinter with 255 votes, while Private Zone picked up two and Mongolian Saturday and Secret Circle one each. How do you justify picking Private Zone when he got dusted in the Breeders' Cup Sprint by Runhappy, who only won five straight all by himself, including the one on the sport's biggest day?

    And don't get me started on Stopcharging Maria, with four votes, and Sheer Drama, with one, preventing Beholder from becoming a unanimous winner. How do you beat 5-for-5, all stakes, including three Gr. I's, by a combined total of 24 1/4 lengths? Did they punish her for being scratched from the Classic? Why?

    Last, but not least, older dirt male. Honor Code (126) over Liam's Map (95). Honor Code won 3-of-6, the Gr. II Gulfstream Park Handicap, and Gr. I Metropolitan Mile and Whitney. None of them still command the prestige they once had. Liam's Map lost the Whitney by a neck, won the Gr. I Woodward by nearly five, and was untouchable in the Breeders' Cup Mile, on a day when Honor Code finished a well-beaten third in the Classic. This one should have gone the other way. In my opinion.

    And it's time to boot out the voters who who didn't take it all seriously. 

    WHAT HAPPENED? - The Tampa Bay Times, which used to cover racing with a flair, must be falling on hard times. The current coverage is disgraceful.

    Racing writer Don Jensen's Saturday column is almost always an essay on what's going on at Derby Lane dog track, usually about 15 or 16 paragraphs. That's followed by one paragraph mentioning that Tampa Bay Downs is open today and post time is 12:25. There are many great stories emanating from Oldsmar, such as the current one that Antonio Gallardo has won at least one race every day for the last 15 days. And that he has won 54 races in 27 days, a tremendous feat.  Gallardo was the second-leading rider in the country last year with 317 victories, second only to Eclipse Award-winning Javier Castellano's 339. 

    Instead, we get a dissertation on a dog that's going for two in a row. And it's not that Tampa Bay Downs doesn't advertise in the Times, their one-third pagers must cost a fortune. 

     

     

 

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