In 1970, J B Faulconer, PR Director at Keeneland, recommended a single set of championship awards for Thoroughbred racing’s annual divisional leaders to replace the separate titles bestowed by Daily Racing Form, the Thoroughbred Racing Association and the National Turf Writers Association.
The Eclipse Awards have flourished ever since, and to celebrate their 50th anniversary this year, the NTRA (National Thoroughbred Racing Association) assembled a group of 43 media representatives and racing industry participants to each select ten horses, one trainer and one jockey for each decade since 1971 to be the top Eclipse champions of the half-century.
I was fortunate to be selected as one of the participants to make selections in each category.
It was a tremendous adventure to walk down memory lane and dig into the individual records of each of the horses while comparing their performances with their contemporaries. Here I have chosen a horse or two or three from each decade and spend a few words on what motivated my choices. I decided that selection of one trainer and one jockey each decade would involve all Hall of Famers, whose records speak for themselves. Here are the trainer and jockey selections that were made by the group for each decade.
Eclipse Award-winning 50 horses by the decades
For 1971-1979, I was at a slight disadvantage as I did not attend my first Thoroughbred horserace until the 75th anniversary of Belmont Park on June 1, 1980. I applied the usual first-timer handicapping principles: Gray horses, jockey names, the most colorful jockey silks etc. While it was not a successful day at the windows, I spent the entire ride on the train back to Manhattan reading a newspaper called the Daily Racing Form, and I was enchanted.
From June 1, 1980, to June 1, 1981, I attended 67 days at a racetrack. Fortunately, the Meadowlands was running a 100-day fall Thoroughbred meet from Labor Day to New Year’s Day, so I could keep my day job.
1971-1979
The top ten horses
Ack Ack
Affirmed
Forego
Riva Ridge
Ruffian
Seattle Slew
Secretariat
Shuvee
Spectacular Bid
Susan’s Girl
While I never saw Secretariat race in person, his record speaks for itself and I have seen most of his impressive performances on tape. He was bred and owned by Meadow Stud (the Chenery family) trained by Lucien Laurin and ridden in most of his races by Ron Turcotte.
Secretariat’s most impressive performances were winning the Triple Crown in 1973, highlighted by his Belmont Stakes victory, winning by 31 lengths in the fastest 1½-mile time on dirt in history at 2:24 flat.
In his 21-race career, he was only off the board one time - in his very first race, where he was soundly bumped at the start. In his 2-year-old season, he won seven of his nine starts and, as a 3-year-old, he won nine of 12. His final two races were Grade 1 wins on turf in the Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont and the Canadian International at Woodbine.
There were many other fantastic horses who ran in this decade, including Triple Crown winners Seattle Slew and Affirmed, as well as the brilliant filly Ruffian and the mare Susan’s Girl. However, my second choice from this decade was Spectacular Bid.
He was owned by Hawksworth Farm, trained by Bud Delp and ridden by Ron Franklin, although after his loss in the Belmont Stakes in 1979 he was subsequently ridden by Bill Shoemaker.
The Bid won 26 of his 30 starts and, leading up to his run in the Belmont, he had won ten straight races. He took the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, but unfortunately the Triple Crown was not meant to be as, on Belmont day, it was discovered that he had stepped on a safety pin, which became embedded in his hoof. He was examined and was judged not to be lame. He ran, and finished third to Coastal.
Spectacular Bid took two months off after the Belmont and returned to win an allowance race with Shoemaker up. He returned to race in his 4-year-old season and I did see Spectacular Bid win the Monmouth Handicap at Monmouth Park on August 16, 1980, when he beat Glorious Song, who went on to be the 1980 Canadian Horse of the Year. Bid’s final race in the Woodward at Belmont Park concluded with a walkover in a time of 2:02.40, exactly the same time he ran when he won the Kentucky Derby in 1979. I believe there hasn’t been another walkover in a Graded stake since that day.
1980-1989
The top ten horses
All Along
Alysheba
Easy Goer
Ferdinand
Genuine Risk
John Henry
Lady’s Secret
Personal Ensign
Spectacular Bid
Sunday Silence
One of the greatest rivalries of recent times involved the New York-based Easy Goer and California-based Sunday Silence.
Easy Goer was bred and owned by Ogden Phipps, trained by Shug McGaughey and ridden by Pat Day. Sunday Silence was bred by Oak Cliff Thoroughbreds, owned by H-G-W Partners, trained by Charlie Whittingham and ridden by Pat Valenzuela.
Easy Goer made 20 starts, won 14 and never finished off the board, with $4,873,770 in earnings. Sunday Silence started 14 times, won nine and placed in the other five, winning $4,968,554.
Sunday Silence got the jump on Easy Goer in winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, but Easy Goer spoiled his Triple Crown bid by beating him in the Belmont. Easy Goer went on a run of winning four G1s before losing to Sunday Silence in the Breeders’ Cup at Gulfstream Park in near darkness. While Easy Goer was the champion 2-year-old in 1988, Sunday Silence claimed the 1989 3-year-old horse title as well as being named Horse of the Year.
The classiest horse of the 1980s was Personal Ensign, bred and owned by Ogden Phipps, trained by Shug McGaughey and ridden by Randy Romero. She won all 15 her starts despite breaking her pastern bone on her right hind leg. She had five screws in her bone and did not race for more than ten months.
Without question, Personal Ensign’s most impressive race was her final lifetime race over a very sloppy track in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Front-running Kentucky Derby-winner Winning Colors appeared to be loose on a big lead and it took a brilliant turn of foot to close and catch her on the wire.
However, my selection for the most impressive horse of the 1980s was the old hard-knocking John Henry.
He was sold as a yearling at Keeneland January Mixed sale for $1,100 and won three of his first 15 starts, all in claiming or low-level allowance races, all sprinting on the dirt. He was bred by Golden Chance Farm and was claimed by Sam Rubin and wife Dorothy, racing under the name Dotsam Stable, for $25,00.
In 1979, John Henry was moved to a new trainer, Lefty Nickerson. After the grass season was over in New York, Rubin moved him to Ron McAnally in California. John Henry was laid off due to injury from October 1978 to March 1980 and then his form really improved. From November 1980 to October 1984, he won 14 straight races, 13 of which were G1s.
During that period, he won the Arlington Million twice, the Hollywood Invitational Turf race twice and the Oak Tree Invitational three times. He also took the Santa Anita Handicap on dirt.
John Henry was the U.S. Champion Older Male Horse in 1981, U.S. Champion Turf Horse in 1980, 1981, 1983 and 1984, and U.S. Horse of the Year in 1981 and 1984. In total, John Henry made 83 starts, won 39 times and collected purses totaling $6,591,860.
1990-1999
The top ten horses
A.P. Indy
Cigar
Holy Bull
Inside Information
Paseana
Serena’s Song
Silverbulletday
Silver Charm
Skip Away
Unbridled
One horse stood out above the rest during the 1990s. Cigar.
Bred and owned by Allen and Madeline A Paulson and trained first by Alex Hassinger Jr and subsequently by William Mott and then ridden by Jerry Bailey, Cigar made his first two starts sprinting on the dirt and won the second one. Hassinger moved Cigar to the turf, where he made eight consecutive starts with no wins. In October 1994, he was moved back to the dirt and won over a mile. He ran back a month later in the G1 NYRA mile, winning by over eight lengths at 8.9/1.
Over the next two years, Cigar would go on to win two G1 Donn Handicaps, the G1 Gulfstream Handicap, the G1 Oaklawn Handicap, and many other G1s, including the Hollywood Gold Cup, the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the Breeders’ Cup Classic and the Dubai World Cup.
Cigar had a 16-race winning streak going into the August 10, 1996, Pacific Classic, in which he ran second to Dare And Go. He would finish his career in October, 1998, with 33 starts and 19 wins with purses totalling $9,999,815 according to Equibase. If you remove his early eight turf races, where he had no wins, it is clear that Cigar was indeed a special horse on dirt.
2000-2009
The top ten horses
Azeri
Curlin
Ghostzapper
Goldikova
Ouija Board
Point Given
Rachel Alexandra
Smarty Jones
Tiznow
Zenyatta
I believe Curlin is the best male horse in this decade.
There clearly were complications with some of the partnership members, which may have accounted for him not starting his racing career until February of his 3-year-old year.
Curlin was originally trained by Helen Pitts but was taken over by Steve Asmussen when Stonestreet Stables and Midnight Cry Stables purchased the partnership.
Curlin did win the Preakness of that year, but he was beaten in the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont Stakes and the Haskell. However, he then went on an impressive run, winning the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the Dubai World Cup and the Stephen Foster.
Curlin did not look like a turf horse in the G1 Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont, which might help explain his fourth place in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on the Pro-Ride synthetic surface at Santa Anita, which was subsequently changed back to dirt.
There were two very impressive fillies running in 2008-2010: Zenyatta, bred by Maverick Productions, owned by Ann and Jerry Moss, trained by John Shirreffs and ridden by Mike Smith, and Rachel Alexandra, bred by Dolphus Morrison and L and M Partners, owned by Stonestreet Stables, trained by Steve Asmussen and ridden by Mike Smith.
Zenyatta had a brilliant record, winning 19 of 20 races, the only loss - a narrow one - coming against boys in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs. She traveled out of California just twice previously, to run in the G1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas, which she won both times. She also ran in three successive runnings of the G1 Clement L Hirsch at Santa Anita and the G1 Vanity at Hollywood Park and won all six.
Rachel Alexandra was campaigned regularly in New York, Kentucky, New Orleans and at Oaklawn. She also campaigned against the boys and won the Preakness, the Haskell and the Woodward against older boys. High quality, successful racehorses.
My candidate for the best runner of the decade, though, is the mare Goldikova, who was a mile specialist and competed strictly in G1 races against the best milers in the world.
Goldikova was bred and owned by Wertheimer et Frere, trained by Freddy Head in France and ridden by Olivier Peslier. She came to the U.S. in October 2008 to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile. And she won the same race in 2009 and 2010, which made her the only horse ever to win three runnings of a Breeders’ Cup race.
Goldikova returned in 2011 to run in the BC Mile at Churchill Downs, where she had won it in 2009. She finished a disappointing third and was retired after the race.
Goldikova ran in 27 races, winning 17 and finishing 1st, 2nd or 3rd in all but one race. Her lifetime earnings are converted by Equibase to $7,176,551.
2010-2019
The top ten horses
American Pharoah
Beholder
California Chrome
Goldikova
Gun Runner
Justify
Royal Delta
Songbird
Wise Dan
Zenyatta
In the most recent decade, we have had two Triple Crown winners after not having had one since Affirmed in 1978: Justify, bred by John Gunther, owned by Winstar Farm, China Horse Club, Head of Plains Partners and Starlight Racing, trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Mike Smith, and American Pharoah, owned and bred by Zayat Stables, trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Victor Espinoza.
Regarding Justify, I have two concerns:
- Here is a column I wrote after he won the 2018 Belmont Stakes. I voiced a serious question about the conduct of the race, which I blame squarely on the NYRA stewards for their complete lack of transparency.
- Justify ran his first race, a maiden, on February 18, 2018, and his last - the Belmont - on June 9 that year. His entire race career consisted of 111 days, which is a truly bad precedent for the sport and the business. It was openly disclosed that there were partners in Justify whose only financial interest was a share of the breeding rights. If the future of the sport is going to rely on horse ownership to be a speculative commodity play, then we will not have a credible sport/business.
American Pharoah went into training with Bob Baffert in the spring of 2014. The trainer was quoted as saying ahead of his first race at Del Mar on August 9 that year, “I’ve never had a horse that moves or travels over the ground like he does” - quite a statement given the quality of horses Baffert has trained over the years. American Pharoah was bet down to 7/5 for his debut in a 9-horse field, but he never made the lead and finished a well-beaten fifth.
This was the only time American Pharoah would finish off the board. The horse ran twice more as a juvenile, winning the G1 Del Mar Futurity and then the G1 Front Runner at Santa Anita. These impressive efforts were enough to earn American Pharoah the Eclipse Award as U.S. champion 2-year-old male.
Over five months later, on March 14, 2015, the colt returned to the racetrack. He won the G2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park and a month later the G1 Arkansas Derby at the same track. Three races later American Pharoah had become the first horse to win the Triple Crown for 37 years.
He followed up by winning the Haskell at Monmouth, defeating Keen Ice. But American Pharoah had made three round trips over the summer between New York and California, which may have dulled his form heading back east for the Travers on August 29, and he ran second to Keen Ice. That horse would run 14 more times and win only once.
American Pharoah ran once more - in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland on October 31, 2015, which he won with Keen Ice well back in fourth.
It was later disclosed in the Paulick Report that, in an MGG Investment Group lawsuit, it was alleged that owner Zayat Stables had sold 100 percent of American Pharoah’s stallion shares on January 26, 2015, which could explain why the colt was retired at the end of 2015.
Yet, whatever the legal or financial issues, American Pharoah had a brilliant career. Eleven starts, nine wins, eight of which were in G1s, and $8,650,300 in earnings. He won three Eclipse Awards - for champion 2-year-old male in 2014, 3-year-old male in 2015, and U.S. Horse of the Year in 2015.
The NTRA is sponsoring an Eclipse 50 contest asking fans to select the top Eclipse Awards champions of the half-century. Click here for details.