Year End Award Suggestions?

Dateline: 11/14/99

While we are all interested in expressing our opinions about the Eclipse awards, I thought it might be interesting to make our own award categories and vote on them. I have come up with a few thoughts but I would like to get your opinions on this so we can have a nice set of categories and nominees.

Please send me any suggestions you have for additional topics or items for any of the topics listed below. I will take suggestions until next Sunday night and then will pick several to put up for us to vote on. I have been getting some great suggestions which I am incorporating into the list below but do I need more choices for the various categories. Thanks for your help!

So far here is what I have come up with:

• Best Race of the Year
  1. Kentucky Derby
  2. Belmont Stakes
  3. Breeders' Cup Turf
  4. Pacific Classic
  5. Whitney Handicap
  6. Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf
  7. Travers
  8. Real Quiet and Free House in the Pimlico Special
  9. ?

• Most Impressive Performance
  1. Daylami in the Breeders' Cup Turf
  2. Anees in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile
  3. Charismatic in the Preakness
  4. Artax in the Breeders' Cup Sprint
  5. Victory Gallop in the Stephen Foster
  6. Greenwood Lake in the Champagne Stakes
  7. ?

• Most Shocking Win
  1. Anees in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile
  2. Cash Run in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies
  3. Cat Thief in the Breeders' Cup Classic
  4. Thornfield in the Canadian International
  5. Charismatic in the Kentucky Derby
  6. Lemon Drop Kid in the Belmont
  7. Val's Prince in the Sword Dancer
  8. Almutawakel in the Dubai World Cup
  9. Valhol in the Arkansas Derby
  10. ?

• Most Embarassing Moment
  1. NTRA in general
  2. Fan running on the track Preakness Day
  3. Pat Day/Hawksley Hill DQ in the Atto Mile
  4. Pat Day's BC Juvenile Fillies ride
  5. The state of California racing
  6. Silver Charm in the Dubai World Cup
  7. Florida horses testing positive for cocaine
  8. Frankie Dettori's comments in the post race interviews for the Breeders' Cup Turf
  9. Baffert entering Silverbulletday in the Belmont
  10. Valhol, Billy Patin, and a buzzer in the Arkansas Derby
  11. NYRA suing vet Galvin and then settling out of court
  12. ?

• Best Human Interest Story
  1. Chris Antley/Charismatic in the Triple Crown
  2. Soaring Softly's success after her trainer losing so much in a barn fire at Belmont
  3. Laffit Pincay closing in on Shoemaker's win record
  4. Owner of River Keen
  5. ?

• Biggest Jump in Class
  1. Charismatic
  2. River Keen
  3. Budroyale
  4. Testafly
  5. ?

• Most Important Story
  1. Frank Stronach track acquisitions
  2. Churchill Downs track acquisitions
  3. Dubai World Cup purse increase and the Emirates Racing Series
  4. Sales prices hitting new highs
  5. Reopening of Arlington International in Chicago
  6. Increased tolerance of drugs
  7. Gambling crackdowns by Congress
  9. ?
• Most Over-rated Trainer
  1. D. Wayne Lukas
  2. Bob Baffert
  3. Nick Zito
  4. Patrick Byrne
  5. ?

• Most Under-rated Trainer
  1. Michael Dickinson
  2. Christophe Clement
  3. Thomas Amoss
  4. Janine Sahadi
  5. D. Wayne Lukas
  6. H. James Bond
  7. Bobbie Frankel
  8. Julio Canani
  9. James Toner
  10. ?

• Most Over-rated Jockey
  1. Pat Day
  2. Jerry Bailey
  3. Mike Smith
  4. Corey Nakatani
  5. Frankie Dettori
  6. Gary Stevens (in England)
  7. ?

• Most Under-rated Jockey
  1. Edgar Prado
  2. Gary Stevens
  3. Russell Baze
  4. Jorge Chavez
  5. David Flores
  6. Laffit Pincay
  7. Jose Santos
  8. David Gall
  9. Eddie Delahoussaye
  10. Garrett Gomez
  11. ?

• Most Over-rated Horse
  1. Behrens
  2. Yagli
  3. Stephen Got Even
  4. Vicar
  5. Banshee Breeze
  6. Old Trieste
  7. Manistique
  8. Yes It's True
  9. Prime Timber
  10. Borgia
  11. General Challenge
  12. More Than Ready
  13. ?

• Most Under-rated Horse
  1. Artax
  2. Charismatic
  3. Beautiful Pleasure
  4. Cash Run
  5. River Keen
  6. Cat Thief
  7. Furlough
  8. Lemon Drop Kid
  9. Budroyale
  10. ?

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