The 41st annual Eclipse Awards were held Monday night at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Califorina, honoring the champions of North American racing in 2011. This year, 248 of the eligible voters (92.88%) cast ballots, and voting was audited by the Louisville accounting firm Strothman & Company. There was a re-vote taken in the Apprentice Jockey category due to an error in the statistical information initially provided to voters.
As expected, Havre de Grace was named the 2011 Horse of the Year as well as the Champion Older Female, is the third consecutive female Horse of the Year following Rachel Alexandra in 2009 and Zenyatta in 2010. She started the year at Oaklawn Park winning the Azeri (G3) and Apple Blossom (G1), but the race which put her in contention for the golden trophy was her victory against older males in the Woodward (G1) at Saratoga, a race that Rachel Alexandra also used in her championship campaign, and then trounced Royal Delta in the Beldame (G1) at Belmont Park. The Larry Jones trained daughter of Saint Liam was 5 for 7 and earned $1.623 million for the year, and collected 166 of the 244 first place cotes for Horse of the Year.
Winning owner Rick Porter said, “It's some kind of thrill to win this award that I only dreamed of maybe 10, 15 years ago. As many of you know, I've seen the lowest of lows in horse racing and I've seen a lot of highs. But nothing rivals Havre de Grace, she's the most deserving horse. she has the most memorable campaign and accounted for the most excitement at the top level of the sport throughout the entire year. She did it her way. She won the big races when it counted. She is the perfect racehorse.”
Trainer Larry Jones, who briefly retired from the game but returned, said, "I already had called it a career but whenever you're dangled a horse like Havre de Grace to entice you to come back, everybody can see why I came back. My wife kept the stable together while I took some time off. She and my team kept it together to allow me to come back."
All the winners are listed below with the actual Totals. A link to a full profile is given for each horse and person. Daily Racing Form past performances for all the horses and profiles for the people can be viewed here. You can see all this years finalists here and look up past year's winners here. There are photos of all the winners except Steeplechaser and Apprentice Jockey here
Horse of the Year and Champion Older Female: Havre de Grace
HOY Vote totals: Havre de Grace, 166 ; Acclamation, 26; Game On Dude, 10; Cape Blanco, 9;.
Vote totals for Older Female: Havre de Grace, 245; Blind Luck, 2; Awesome Feather, 1.
Two-Year-Old Male: Hansen
Vote totals: Hansen, 194; Union Rags. 52; Secret Circle, 1; Overdriven, 1.
Two-Year-Old Filly: My Miss Aurelia
Vote totals: My Miss Aurelia, 247; Stephanie's Kitten, 1.
Champion Three-Year-Old Male: Animal Kingdom
Vote totals: Animal Kingdom, 114; Caleb’s Posse, 111; Shackleford, 12; Ruler On Ice, 5; Stay Thirsty, 4; Uncle Mo, 1.
Champion Three-Year-Old Filly: Royal Delta
Vote totals: Royal Delta, 243; Awesome Feather, 2; Plum Pretty. 2; Zazu, 1.
Older Male: Acclaimation
Vote totals: Acclamation, 95; Game On Dude, 70; Tizway, 52; Drosselmeyer, 21; Flat Out, 4; Cape Blanco, 3; Wise Dan, 1; abstained, 1.
Male Sprinter: Amazombie
Vote totals: Amazombie, 201; Caleb's Posse, 42; Regally Ready, 2; The Factor, 2; Jackson Bend, 1.
Female Sprinter: Musical Romance
Vote totals: Musical Romance, 131; Hilda's Passion, 53; Sassy Image, 46; Turbulent Descent, 13; Switch, 2.
Male Turf Horse: Cape Blanco
Vote totals: Cape Blanco, 172; Acclamation, 55 votes; St Nicholas Abbey, 16; Court Vision, 2; Turallure, 2; Drosselmeyer, 1.
Female Turf Horse: Stacelita
Vote totals: Stacelita, 158; Perfect Shirl, 28; Never Retreat, 25; Dubawi Heights, 17; Summer Soiree, 4; Aruna 3; Winter Memories, 3; Goldikova, 2; Cambina, 1; Cozi Rosie, 1; Sarah Lynx, 1; Star Billing, 1; Together, 1; abstained, 3.
Steeplechase: Black Jack Blues
Vote totals: Blackjack Blues, 137; Tax Ruling, 80; Decoy Daddy, 1; Divine Fortune, 1; Lake Placid, 1; Sermon of Love, 1; abstained, 37.
Owner: Ken and Sarah Ramsey
Vote totals: Ken and Sarah Ramsey, 66; Midwest Thoroughbreds, 60; Team Valor, 25.
Breeder: Adena Springs (Frank Stronach)
Vote totals: Adena Springs, 151; Ken and Sarah Ramsey, 62; Brereton C. Jones, 2.
Trainer: Bill Mott
Vote totals: Bill Mott, 83; Bob Baffert, 60; Todd Pletcher, 57; Graham Motion, 23; Steve Asmussen 15.
Jockey: Ramon Dominguez
Vote totals: Ramon Dominguez, 197; John Velazquez, 30; Javier Castellano, 14; abstained, 3.
Apprentice Jockey: Kyle Frey
Vote totals: Kyle Frey, 77; Ryan Curatolo, 57; Rosario Montanez, 19; abstained 7.
