Eclipse Voters: Accelerate deserves Horse of the Year
This past Saturday, Accelerate, the best older horse in the country, won the Breeders’ Cup Classic from the number fourteen post and capped off a year in which he won five Grade one races, including four at the mile and a quarter distance. Accelerate’s victory was one of the finest performances of his career. The victory also gave trainer John Sadler his long awaited first Breeders’ Cup victory. Normally, a campaign and a year that Accelerate had would propel him to the Horse of the Year Title in a heartbeat, but this, however, is no ordinary year.
Earlier this year, three year old Justify became the 13th triple crown winner when he won the Belmont Stakes in early June. At that time, Justify made history by becoming the first horse since Apollo in 1882 to win the Kentucky Derby without running as a two year old. Justify began his racing career in February, winning a maiden special weight by seven lengths. He followed it up with an allowance race win by open lengths. Justify made his stakes debut in the Grade one Santa Anita Derby, facing multiple Grade one winner Bolt D’Oro. Justify went to the lead and never looked back, winning with ease. Justify took to the slop and won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness stakes two weeks later.
In his sixth career start, Justify went to the lead and never looked back, winning the Belmont Stakes and becoming the second undefeated horse to win the triple crown, only accomplished by the great Seattle Slew in 1977. Many racing fans celebrated after Justify made history. Many racing fans wondered what would be next for him. Could it be the Haskell? Travers? The answer? None of the above. Instead of continuing to race through the end of 2018, Justify was retired from racing and sent to stud. So after his Belmont Stakes victory, he was never seen again.
Normally, a horse who wins the Triple Crown coasts his way to Horse of the Year. The last time a horse who won the Triple Crown and didn’t win Horse of the year was Omaha in 1935, losing the award to champion Discovery. This time, in the year 2018, Eclipse voters should make Justify the second horse to win the Triple Crown and not Horse of the Year. This is why I am endorsing Accelerate for the title of Horse of the Year.
Let’s take a look at the resume’s for Accelerate in 2018. Accelerate ran his first race in February and continue to race until November. During that time frame, he won six out of seven starts, including five Grade one races. Four of those races came at a mile and a quarter. Accelerate’s win in the Pacific Classic was the largest margin of victory in the races history. He defeated multiple grade one winners from the beginning of the year to year’s end. Accelerate’s only loss of 2018 came to the horse who won the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in City of Light. Accelerate never ducked a challenge, he danced every dance in 2018, and came out on top almost every time. He got stronger with every race, and got better as the year went on.
Accelerate, in any other year, would almost be a unanimous winner for Horse of the Year. With Justify winning the triple crown, however, it makes things all more complicated. Last time I check, to win Horse of the Year, you have to race the whole year, not four months and call it a career. Accelerate defeated older males and the finest three year olds in the country. Justify never ran once against older males and retired before the real running began.
My message to Eclipse Award voters is simple, please do the right things, give the right and truly deserving horse the title. Justify will go down as one of the greatest stories in racing history with everything he’s gone through, however, it should not be enough for Horse of the Year. I may not be a voter, but I would cast my ballot for Accelerate in a heartbeat. I hope Eclipse voters do the same for Accelerate.