My debut as an Eclipse Award Voter

There is no wrong answer to the 2014 Horse of the Year question. Bayern, California Chrome, Main Sequence and Shared Belief (listed alphabetically) all bring solid credentials to a murky debate lacking a standout.

I revealed my Horse of the Year selection, Shared Belief, last week in a TwinSpires.com blog post and tweet that accompanied it, but I’ll acknowledge the gelding’s shortcomings – the main contenders were all flawed.

Their accomplishments have been well-covered, but drawbacks included:

Shared Belief finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and never raced outside of California, narrowly defeating dubious rivals in the Awesome Again and Malibu.

Bayern veered in at the start of the Classic, altering the dynamic of the race, and finished up the track in the Preakness and Travers.

Main Sequence raced only four times, barely winning thrice against mostly non-descript competition on turf.

California Chrome lost his last three dirt starts, including two of three versus Bayern, and his best performance of the year came in defeat (career-best 110 BRIS Speed rating when third in Classic).

In the end, Shared Belief rated as the best horse of 2014 in my estimation. He won five of six starts, including three Grade 1s, and deserves a mulligan for the Classic setback given the interference at the start.

In other categories:

Texas Red rated the edge for champion two-year-old based upon his smashing 6 ½-length victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Palace Malice and Close Hatches received my vote for champion older male and champion older female, respectively. These categories needs to be reclassified for the main track because Eclipse voters remain oblivious to the fact that turf horses have their own awards, continuing to recognize horses like Main Sequence despite turf-only resumes.

Work All Week deserves champion sprinter honors. Based in Illinois with Roger Brueggemann, the City Zip gelding has captured his last eight dirt starts, including five stakes, and his lone 2014 defeat was a runner-up on Polytrack. He sealed the deal with a 19-1 upset in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

Chad Brown won three Breeders’ Cup races last fall, improving his overall record to 5-4-3 from 34 starts in Thoroughbred racing’s championship event, and received the nod for champion trainer. He’s capable on any surface, winning the Suburban H. and finishing second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup with the New York-bred Zivo, but turf is presently his forte -- the 36-year-old conditioner won at a 25.6% percent clip on turf in 2014, earning more than $10.6 million.

Photo by Benoit