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Making Claims: Nevills Defends His Eclipse Awards Ballot

In “Making Claims,” Paulick Report bloodstock editor Joe Nevills shares his opinions on the Thoroughbred industry from the breeding and sales arenas to the racing world and beyond.

It's early January, and you know what that means: Eclipse Award voters have begun sharing their ballots on social media, and no matter who they picked, outrage ensues from the folks who disagree.

I've got an Eclipse vote, and it's made public as a member of the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters bloc of voters, so in the interest of transparency, I'll share here how I filled out my ballot, along with my reasoning for each category.

If you think I'm off-base with any of my votes, just remember these two things: First, the voting is closed, so nothing I say here can swing any undecided voters. Second, back in 2011, one intrepid voter chose Drosselmeyer as champion turf male in a campaign where his lone start on grass was a seventh-place effort. No matter how much we might disagree on who should be placed where, please understand that someone out there will go further off the deep end than any of us could imagine and cancel me out. Eclipse Award voters are an eclectic bunch.

With that out of the way, let's get down to business.

2-Year-Old Male
1. Essential Quality
2. Jackie's Warrior
3. Fire At Will

While I certainly can't fault anyone for giving Jackie's Warrior a mulligan for his fourth-place effort in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and instead focusing on his brilliant campaign up to that point, two things swung it toward Essential Quality for me.

First, when they faced off head-to-head on the biggest stage of their lives in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Essential Quality got there first. The juvenile dirt races hold a lot of weight for me, especially in a deep field like we had this year. Second, Essential Quality had a bit more depth to his game. Where Jackie's Warrior got to the front early to do his damage, Essential Quality showed he could be a Grade 1 horse battling for the lead or coming from behind, and he did it twice beyond a mile. That professionalism gave him the edge.

2-Year-Old Female
1. Vequist
2. Dayoutoftheoffice
3. Aunt Pearl

Vequist was the only horse in the division with two Grade 1 wins, and if she was going to split the series with Dayoutoftheoffice, I'd rather have the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in my win column than the Frizette. All due respect to Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Aunt Pearl, but the lack of depth in North America's juvenile turf platoon and its schedule compared to their dirt contemporaries makes it hard to put a turf horse on top on either of the baby divisions.

3-Year-Old Male
1. Authentic
2. Tiz the Law
3. Happy Saver

The first two were slam dunks. Authentic won the Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic, both over Tiz the Law, who would have gotten the nod if he'd have won either one of those races. There is such a wide gap to the third spot that it allowed for some creativity. Happy Saver got the call by virtue of beating older competition in the G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

For the record, I need you all to appreciate the level of restraint it took for me to keep my real champion 3-year-old of 2020 off the ticket: a gelding named Underscore who ran fourth in his only career start back in March, who is now working toward his second career when he's not busy receiving hugs and mints.

3-Year-Old Female
1. Swiss Skydiver
2. Shedaresthedevil
3. Harvey's Lil Goil

Pretty simple here. If a filly wins a Triple Crown race, it's going to take a mountain of evidence against her to knock her off the perch. Fortunately, Swiss Skydiver had a deep resume to justify the spot beyond her centerpiece victory, with four other graded stakes triumphs, including the G1 Alabama Stakes. Shedaresthedevil, who bested Swiss Skydiver in the Kentucky Oaks and never ran a bad one in 2020, was a clear second, completing an outstanding exacta for new Lane's End resident Daredevil.

Older Dirt Male
1. Improbable
2. Vekoma
3. Global Campaign

I'll be the first to admit that after watching Improbable lose as the favorite again and again as a 3-year-old, I never thought he'd get it together enough to become more than the occasional fluke Grade 1 winner. A year later, here I am eating my words after he became one of the few consistent pillars of an older male division that saw a lot of its potential stars struggle with injury and consistency. Improbable crisscrossed the map and beat everyone else in the division he needed to beat.

I could have shaken the bottle, pulled out a lot of other names to fill out the bottom of the ticket and felt the same about it, but consistent, strong efforts at the highest levels got Vekoma and Global Campaign there for me. In a year where practically every serious contender either got hurt or got exposed when the chips were really down, showing up to work with your lunchpail was enough.

Older Dirt Female
1. Monomoy Girl
2. Serengeti Empress
3. Valiance

In terms of margin of victory, Monomoy Girl might be the biggest runaway winner of this year's divisions. She went unbeaten in four starts this year, including her pièce de résistance in the Breeders' Cup Distaff.

Serengeti Empress was probably the best horse with the worst luck this year, just missing a couple of graded stakes wins after running with a ton of heart. Even with the near-misses, she was incredibly versatile, winning graded stakes at both the sprint and route distances. Valiance got good at the right time, and proved she belonged with a win in the G1 Spinster Stakes and a second to Monomoy Girl in the Distaff.

I struggled with what to do with Midnight Bisou. She ran huge in the Saudi Cup (and she might end up being named the winner someday if the right people decide there's enough evidence to take Maximum Security down), she looked like the Midnight Bisou we all know and love in her G2 Fleur de Lis romp, and she was unlucky to get nipped in the G1 Personal Ensign. What kept her off the ticket for me was the incomplete feeling I had when I looked at her record. She only raced three times – twice on U.S. soil – she only won once (as of the time this was published), and she didn't win a North American Grade 1. When I crossed out her name from the running lines and separated the campaign from the brand recognition behind the horse that ran it, the bid lost a lot of its luster.

Male Sprinter
1. Whitmore
2. Vekoma
3. Volatile

Not a great year for this division in terms of true standouts. Like the Older Dirt Male division, there were a lot of struggles here with form and health that made this division tough to sort out. When that happens, the Breeders' Cup gains a lot more weight, almost by default. Whitmore ran the race of his life to win the Breeders' Cup Sprint, and while his campaign had its fair share of misfires, he did enough with his supporting efforts to put him on top.

Vekoma and Volatile were both lightly raced in 2020, and I don't love that, but they both went undefeated and won their Grade 1 races with gusto. No one else, save for maybe C Z Rocket, had a case that could stack up to that.

Female Sprinter
1. Serengeti Empress
2. Bell's the One
3. Glass Slippers

First, let's address the elephant in the room: Where's Gamine?

My policy for Eclipse voting is if the glacially-paced gears of horse racing's justice system are fast enough to pop a horse for a positive drug test and disqualify them from a race, they're off my ticket regardless of what they do for the rest of their campaign. When Gamine was taken down from her Oaklawn Park optional claimer earlier this year due to a lidocaine positive, she ceased being eligible for year-end honors in my eyes.

I didn't vote for La Verdad in 2015 when she was a contender in this division after she got taken down from the G2 Honorable Miss Stakes for a clenbuterol positive. She ended up winning the Eclipse anyway by eight votes over Wavell Avenue. If I were to venture a guess, Gamine will take this trophy home by a much wider margin, regardless of what I think, but I won't be part of it.

So, that leaves us with a closely matched race between Serengeti Empress and Bell's the One. Bell's the One bested Serengeti Empress by a nose in the G1 Derby City Distaff, while Serengeti Empress nosed out her foe for second in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. If we're pretending Gamine doesn't exist, that's a draw in my eyes. Serengeti Empress had an additional Grade 1 sprint win in the Ballerina, while Bell's the One only had a Grade 3 win to counter, putting the decision to rest.

Male Turf Horse
1. Channel Maker
2. Zulu Alpha
3. Instilled Regard

Filling out the award winners in this division is often a bleak affair, given how much time North America's turf males spend beating each other up, then losing to fillies and Europeans when the lights are the brightest, but this might be the least convincing group of contenders I've seen in any division since I've had a vote.

Let's get this over with. I don't tend to put European-based horses on top unless their case is so convincing that I have no other choice, and that didn't happen this year. Channel Maker was the only horse in the division with two Grade 1 wins, Zulu Alpha won a good Grade 1 in the Pegasus World Cup Turf and never threw a clunker, and Instilled Regard's spot could have gone to a lot of different horses, but I liked his big wins more than the other contenders. Next.

Female Turf Horse
1. Rushing Fall
2. Tarnawa
3. Starship Jubilee

I've seen a lot of votes go for Tarnawa, and I wouldn't be mad if she won it, given the strength of her globetrotting campaign and her impressive win against males in the Breeders' Cup Turf. However, as I laid out, I prefer to give it to a domestic horse if at all possible, and Rushing Fall came a hard-trying neck in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf away from a perfect campaign. The only thing missing from Rushing Fall's resume is an Eclipse Award, and I think she gets it here.

Steeplechase Horse
1. Abstain
2. Abstain
3. Abstain

I've had people say I should have my Eclipse vote taken away for abstaining from the steeplechase category every year. They don't seem to realize I abstain out of respect. Nothing in my job requires me to take even a passive interest in the steeplechase races. I know none of the players, the races are often held at venues I'm not familiar with in terms of geography or esteem, and I'm not aware of the unwritten class system that can separate one Grade 1 race from another (like how winning the Kentucky Derby means more than winning the Malibu Stakes). It's an entirely different culture.

If a group of basketball writers were brought in to decide the Eclipse Awards, people would erupt, and rightfully so. It would be disrespectful to the hard work done by an entire industry to have someone outside the circle decide who among them was the best. That's why I leave the steeplechase division to the people who know what they're doing, and don't let my uninformed vote interfere with that. Someone will get a trophy whether I vote or not.

Owner
1. Godolphin
2. Klaravich Stables
3. Gary Barber

Unless a partnership is practically synonymous with each other (like Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence were for a long time), I tend to see this award as one for individuals over groups. Barring outstanding circumstances like a Triple Crown winner, I look for solid high-level success in an Outstanding Owner candidate, with enough depth to fill out the ranks. Godolphin got its Grade 1 bona fides with probable champion Essential Quality and Fair Maiden, while finishing among the nation's leaders by wins, graded wins, and earnings. I could have put Klaravich Stables or Gary Barber in the top spot and slept just as well at night, but the blue team just stood out a little more for me this year.

Breeder
1. WinStar Farm
2. Godolphin
3. Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds

My criteria is a little more fluid in this category than others. I like to reward a small breeder if they can pull multiple major stars out of a small broodmare band, but short of that, I've got to lean on the numbers and the big wins. WinStar Farm was responsible for the top two in my champion 3-year-old female voting – Swiss Skydiver and Shedaresthedevil – who accounted for the Preakness Stakes and Kentucky Oaks respectively. None of the other major players could match that duo, and that's before we add Grade 1 winners Global Campaign and Paris Lights to the fold.

Jockey
1. Irad Ortiz Jr.
2. Joel Rosario
3. John Velazquez

Irad Ortiz hit the big double of winning some of the sport's biggest races in 2020 while also showing up to work every day to compile impressive numbers. He netted two Breeders' Cup races and the Pegasus World Cup, while also comfortably leading the nation by both wins and earnings while racing on North America's top circuits. This decision was tougher than it sounds, but if the object of the game is to win races and make money, Irad did it the best.

Apprentice Jockey
1. Alexander Crispin
2. Yarmarie Correa
3. Santos Rivera

It was a tight race between the top two. Crispin finished second in the jockey standings at the long Delaware Park meet, and third during one of Laurel Park's meets, while also picking up a win in the First State Dash Stakes at Delaware Park. Correa won the riding title at Thistledown's long meet and is currently holding strong in the standings at Mahoning Valley Race Course. As much as I love the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic circuit is deeper water, and the stakes win helped put Crispin on top.

Unrelated, since it was in an Arabian race and doesn't count in the Eclipse voting, but Crispin was also responsible for one of the best rides I've seen all year, both in the skill of the thing and the caliber of the horses he beat to do it. Remember what I said about different cultures in horse racing? Trust me when I tell you how big of an effort this was in the scope of Arabian racing.

Trainer
1. Brad Cox
2. Chad Brown
3. Steve Asmussen

Brad Cox won four Breeders' Cup races, including two of the biggest prizes: the Distaff and the Juvenile. He also took home the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, La Troienne, and Breeders' Futurity, and he was near the top of the list in just about any meaningful category out there. Chad Brown had a ton of Grade 1 success, but a general lack of variety beyond turf races in those wins and a quiet Breeders' Cup put him in the place position. Steve Asmussen's giant barn put up its usual bulk numbers, and he had several Grade 1 trophies to fill it out at the top.

Horse of the Year
1. Authentic
2. Improbable
3. Monomoy Girl

If Authentic won the Breeders' Cup Classic, he was going to be Horse of the Year. If Improbable had won the Classic instead of running second to Authentic, he would have been Horse of the Year. If they both flopped and an upset winner took it, it would be hard to put a horse with just four starts on top, but Monomoy Girl would have certainly been a big one in that discussion.

As it stands, Authentic got hot at the right time when the Kentucky Derby was still going to be in May, he stayed hot over the summer when the Derby moved to September, and he blossomed into a star when it mattered most late in his campaign. Looking at the whole of the season for anyone with a serious bid at the title, nobody else made sense in the top spot.

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Better the Devil We Know Now

He who dares, wins. For commercial breeders, however, that famous military maxim is becoming ever less practicable. Rather than hold their nerve, they rush nervously from one new stallion to the next, few daring to stick around long enough to take a yearling to market once a first crop has actually been exposed to the racetrack.

These cycles often become self-fulfilling, in that few stallions can seize so limited an opportunity in time to maintain adequate momentum. But every now and then, one comes along that, no sooner than he is discarded, promptly rebukes the entire industry for its fickleness. Few have done this quite as dramatically as Daredevil.

In his first three years at stud, the son of More Than Ready covered a total of 376 mares. As his first juveniles approached the track, however, his book plummeted from 140 in 2018 to just 21 last year–a staggering renunciation, even by the flighty standards of today’s marketplace. WinStar could hardly be blamed, then, for accepting an offer from the Jockey Club of Turkey last November.

There were, after all, limited signs of precocity in his first 2-year-olds. Of 41 starters, 13 had managed to win. Only one had done so at black-type level, and only Shedaresthedevil had made a graded stakes impact, when third of six behind a runaway winner in the GII Sorrento S.

The rest is history. This year Shedaresthedevil won the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks, with another of the exile’s daughters, Swiss Skydiver, a clear second. Found for just $35,000 by Kenny McPeek as Hip 2997 at Keeneland September, Swiss Skydiver had already won four graded stakes by that stage, including the GI Alabama S. When she proceeded to beat none other than Authentic (Into Mischief) in the GI Preakness S., it was barely two weeks before Lane’s End announced a deal to repatriate Daredevil to the Bluegrass.

To be fair, the way he turned things round with his first sophomores illustrates one of the defining functionalities of all markets. For every loser on a deal, there is a winner. The WinStar team may not have gained full reward for their faith in the huge promise Daredevil had shown in the first two of what proved to be only five career starts, highlighted by a blistering success in the GI Champagne S. In turn, however, Daredevil has given corresponding vindication to the talent scouts of the Turkish Jockey Club.

Because while his sojourn besides the Sea of Marmara proved to be a brief one, Daredevil has returned under an arrangement whereby he remains in Turkish ownership, while managed by his host farm. Bill Farish of Lane’s End is not aware of any other Kentucky stud that has worked out a similar deal with foreign interests.

“This is a very unique situation,” Farish explained. “We were all trying to figure out what it was that they wanted from a farm, to be able to bring him over here: whether it was a horse in exchange, or just dollars. It turns out that their preference was to keep the horse and stand him in North America. They were contacted by a lot of farms, and people with different ideas about how to do this, and there was a lot of back and forth before they decided this was the format they wanted. It is very unique, and pretty smart of them in my opinion. Their plan is to have the horse where he is the most commercially viable. What he can make here probably exceeds what he can make there.”

That’s not to say that Lane’s End will merely be boarding the stallion.

“We will take care of him, obviously, and we will manage him in every way,” Farish said. “We will be the ones booking him to mares and we are already getting a tremendous number of calls from breeders to breed to him. We will manage the whole process on their behalf.”

An important role in Daredevil’s story has been played by Murat Sancal, who represents the Jockey Club of Turkey in Kentucky. He helped bring the horse to Turkey in the first place, and was also central to negotiations for his prompt return.

“I personally liked Daredevil a lot as a racehorse,” Sancal said. “Unfortunately he got hurt and his racing career finished too early. But as soon as he was retired to stud, I supported him with some of our mares and also encouraged clients to buy mares in foal to Daredevil. And when I saw his first crop of foals at the sales, I was really happy with their look and temperament. They were all really athletic individuals.”

Daredevil covered over 100 mares in Turkey, according to Sancal achieving a fertility rate of 97% and great esteem among local breeders.

“But when his daughters finished first and second in the Kentucky Oaks, beating that unbelievable filly Gamine (Into Mischief), many American farms started to call us,” he explained. “At first the Jockey Club was thinking in terms of selling him back to the U.S. But after Swiss Skydiver won the Preakness, the plan changed and our interest turned to sending Daredevil back to stand on behalf of the Jockey Club. About 11 farms approached us, and I want to thank every one of them for their interest.”

The two most impressive pitches came from Lane’s End and a rival only recently back in the stallion business. In the end, the more established operation just won the tender. Sancal salutes the “huge efforts” made by Lane’s End owner William S. Farish and his team.

The sales department will not run out of conversation once having reminded everyone about Daredevil’s two millionaire fillies. For this is a half-brother to another Grade I winner, Albertus Maximus (Albert The Great), the pair being out of a Forty Niner half-sister to two very fast horses in Europe: G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest winner King Charlemagne (Nureyev) and his full brother Meshaheer, who was Group 1-placed as a juvenile; as well as to the dam of GI Forego S. winner Here Comes Ben (Street Cry {Ire}). Moreover the family has benefited from a fresh upgrade, Here Comes Ben being a half-brother to the dam of none other than Dayoutoftheoffice (Into Mischief), who saw off all bar Vequist (Nyquist) in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies after beating the same filly in the GI Frizette S. the previous month.

And Daredevil’s second dam adds further laurels to the page, as GI Santa Maria H. winner Race The Wild Wind. As a daughter of Sunny’s Halo, she also brings his sire Halo into play top and bottom: More Than Ready, of course, being by his son Southern Halo. In counterpoint we find the omnipresent Mr. Prospector with a reciprocal 4×3 footprint in Daredevil. One son, Woodman, is More Than Ready’s damsire; and we’ve already noted that another, Forty Niner, serves the same role for Daredevil himself.

That’s a pedigree of real depth and balance. It features plenty of speed, as we should expect behind a horse fleet enough to clock the fastest juvenile Beyer over a mile in over 20 years. But the way Daredevil’s sophomores thrived also comes as no surprise in a sibling to Albertus Maximus, who registered his Grade I wins at ages four and five. Here perhaps we find a footprint for the hardiness we often associate with South American blood, Daredevil’s third dam being by an uncommon influence in Indian Chief (Arg), a son of the important Argentinian stallion Pronto (Arg). Another son of Pronto, incidentally, sired the third dam of Candy Ride (Arg)–a nice little echo, for those hoping that Daredevil can consolidate on his fairly freakish achievements this year.

Rounding the home turn he lies behind only American Pharoah and Constitution in the second-crop prize money table, the work of only 75 starters (compared with 163 and 129 respectively for his rivals). Unsurprisingly, Daredevil is the only sire to produce individual winners of both the Oaks and Preakness at the first attempt. All this, remember, with a crop bred at an opening fee of $12,500, which had dropped to $7,500 by the time of his export. Moreover his second crop has already produced Esplanade, winner of her first three starts (including two stakes) before chasing home Vequist in the GI Spinaway S.

Lane’s End is launching Daredevil back into the American market at $25,000.

“The start to his career has been pretty phenomenal and I don’t think we were alone in our desire to bring him back,” Farish said. “A lot of farms were trying to get him, and we were fortunate enough to be selected by the Turkish Jockey Club to bring him back. The number of breeders requesting to breed to him is very high. It’s great to see but not unexpected because I think the stud fee is very fair. His start has been so amazing, especially when you consider how limited his book was compared to other top stallions in his crop.”

Sancal is delighted by the way things have played out. “We are so happy that he is back,” he said with enthusiasm. “Daredevil has done a tremendous job with a limited number of foals, and American breeders are already showing huge interest with his book filling up quickly. I really liked when Spendthrift Farm president Mr. Eric Gustavson said in the winner’s circle after Authentic won at the Breeders’ Cup: ‘If you want to be champion, you must beat the best.’ And that’s exactly what Daredevil’s progeny has done: Swiss Skydiver beat the [GI] Kentucky Derby and [GI] Breeders’ Cup Classic winner; and both she and Shedaresthedevil beat Gamine. Who does that leave, that his progeny didn’t beat? He’s coming back, and he’s simply the best!”

The long-term aspiration remains for Turkey’s imports to keep upgrading the local breed, and that work will be continued by Super Saver (Maria’s Mon) and Bodemeister (Empire Maker), also recruited from WinStar; along with the likes of Trappe Shot (Tapit) from Claiborne; Air Vice Marshal (War Front) and Bluegrass Cat (Storm Cat) from California; and Authorized (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) and Myboycharlie (Ire) (Danetime {Ire}) from France–all acquired in a very business-like recruitment drive by Turkish interests in 2019.

“The Turkish Jockey Club President, Mr. Serdal Adali, and his team do a great job in finding such nice prospects,” Sancal said. “They study their breeding stock very carefully, and then find stallions of this quality to support them. Because of Covid-19, racing and breeding industries all around the world have had to cut purses. Turkey is only country in Europe where, instead of cutting purses, Mr. Adali was able to increase all race purses by 25% until January, with an additional estimated 33% increase for 2021. We are still working to add new sires and mares to our breeding stock, and to keep improving.”

In these unusual circumstances, however, his owners acknowledge that Daredevil can maximize his potential back in his homeland. As such, all parties share the view that the horse is very much here to stay. It is not as though American breeders will let him fall out of favor with the same glibness as they did in 2019. But while second chances are not unknown–WinStar themselves exercised an option to retrieve Take Charge Indy from Korea, for instance–they are rare enough. Daredevil has pulled off something extremely unusual. The bigger picture remains unchanged: if a stallion is abandoned before he has really started, then very often he will have no way back.

“When you are looking at a breeding season and the horse is struggling to get 20, 30 mares, and there is some type of offer to relocate, a lot of times people are going to go ahead and sell,” Farish remarked. “If you do have a very small book to a stallion it devalues them by a great deal.

“Giving up on a horse before he has 4-year-olds make the track is dangerous because you can get it wrong. We’ve had plenty of stallions whose first 2-year-olds didn’t exactly light it up and they came on and became champion sires. Our business has become just that, a business. People are trying to get out before the asset is valueless and that is what really drives it.”

Sancal took a sympathetic view. “The American racing industry is really tough for young sires like Daredevil,” he said. “There are so many great stallion prospects retiring from the track every year and breeders have so many options. I believe sale results affect this as well, but this is how business works here in the U.S.A. and you can’t blame anyone for that. Daredevil is not the first stallion to face this-and he won’t be the last, either!”

With additional reporting by Bill FInley

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Vox Populi Award Voting Underway

Voting for this year’s Secretariat ‘Vox Populi’ Horse of 2020 Award is now underway online at Secretariat.com or AmericasBestRacing.net. Created by Secretariat’s late owner Penny Chenery, the Vox Populi, or “Voice of the People,” award recognizes the racehorse whose popularity and racing excellence best resounded with the public and gained recognition for the sport during the past year.

Fans can vote on one of five nominees selected by the award’s committee, or choose a write-in option, through Nov. 30. The nominees are: GI Kentucky Derby and GI Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Authentic (Into Mischief); GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Monomoy Girl (Tapizar); GI Preakness S. winner Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil); GI Belmont S. and GI Travers S. winner Tiz the Law (Constitution); and 7-year-old GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect).

“In a peculiar year that upended both the horse racing calendar and its traditions, we still have equine athletes who have persevered and admirably performed, oblivious to human concerns,” said Kate Chenery Tweedy, family historian and daughter of Penny Chenery. “Each of our Vox Populi nominees has captured the hearts of horse racing fans at a time when we are all are in need of inspiration.”

The recipient of the Secretariat Vox Populi Horse of 2020, along with the winners of the other Fan Choice Awards categories, will be announced Dec. 3. A trophy presentation for the 2020 Vox Populi winner is planned for January.

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Monomoy Girl, Whitmore Among Nominees For 2020 Secretariat Vox Populi Award

Online voting is now open for the 11th annual winner of the Secretariat Vox Populi Horse of 2020. Created by Secretariat's late owner Penny Chenery, the Vox Populi, or “Voice of the People,” award recognizes the racehorse whose popularity and racing excellence best resounded with the public and gained recognition for the sport during the past year.

The Secretariat Vox Populi Horse of 2020 tops the ticket for the America's Best Racing (ABR) Fan Choice Awards in a partnership that allows fans to vote in the online poll at Secretariat.com as well as AmericasBestRacing.net for one of five nominees selected by the Vox Populi Committee. Voters also have the option to write in a racehorse of their choice at Secretariat.com. Voting will be open on both sites through Nov. 30.

The recipient of the Secretariat Vox Populi Horse of 2020, along with the winners of the other Fan Choice Awards categories, will be announced Thursday, Dec. 3. A trophy presentation for the 2020 Vox Populi winner is planned for January.

This year's nominees are: Authentic, the speedy 3-year-old colt who led wire-to-wire in both the 2020 Kentucky Derby and the Breeders' Cup Classic; Monomoy Girl, the classy 5-year-old mare and 2018 Vox Populi nominee who was undefeated during her 2020 comeback campaign that culminated with a win in the Breeders' Cup Distaff; Swiss Skydiver, the electrifying and well-traveled 3-year-old filly whose multiple stakes wins included beating the boys in the second fastest Preakness Stakes; Tiz the Law, the impressive 3-year-old colt whose four wins in six starts included the Belmont Stakes, the Travers and Florida Derby; and Whitmore, the veteran 7-year-old gelding whose first-place finishes included the Breeders' Cup Sprint and his third career win in the Count Fleet Spring Handicap.

The list of previous Vox Populi winners reads as a who's who among the sport's contemporary superstars and beloved equine heroes: Bricks and Mortar (2019), Winx (2018), Ben's Cat (2017), California Chrome (2016 and 2014), American Pharoah (2015), Mucho Macho Man (2013), Paynter (2012), Rapid Redux (2011), and 2010 inaugural winner Zenyatta.

The nominating committee for the Secretariat Vox Populi Horse of 2020 is comprised of several distinguished personalities from within and outside the racing industry who all share a keen interest and affection for the sport. For more information about the award, visit Secretariat.com, the official website for the legendary Thoroughbred champion. Celebrating racing's past to enrich its future, Secretariat.com is a comprehensive online source for historical information, photography, merchandise, and memorabilia chronicling the enduring legacy of the 1973 Triple Crown winner. Secretariat.com can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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