The voting for champions of 2001 will be dominated by the results of Breeders' Cup day

Besides a lot of holiday greetings, year-end mail brings Eclipse Award ballots. At least to some people, anyway.

To belabor a point we made earlier, voting should be conducted immediately after the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships and the awards announced in early December. But that is not the system employed at present, so we will take what we can get.

What we got was a ballot to vote for the outstanding horses and people of 2001, and we'll use it. In the present system, voters from the three polling groups (National Turf Writers Association, Daily Racing Form, and racing secretaries from member tracks of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association) send in their ballots by the January 4 deadline, with the winners to be announced on February 18 at the Eclipse Awards dinner.

Voting for the year's divisional winners is a job about as tough as any in recent memory, with few divisions having a standout, no-doubt-about-it champion.

When all the votes are tallied, we think this will help the Breeders' Cup live up to its name as racing's championship day by influencing the outcome of voting in a majority of divisions. By our way of thinking, the 2001 event will yield a co-record six race winners as Eclipse Award winners.

In the first 17 years of the Breeders' Cup, an average of 4.5 Breeders' Cup race winners carried away Eclipse Awards at year-end. Ten times, five Breeders' Cup race winners were named champion in a single year; four times (1990, '92, '93, and '96), four race winners were named champions; and twice ('94 and '95), three were named champions. In 2000, a record six race winners (Macho Uno, Caressing, Kona Gold, Perfect Sting, Kalanisi [Ire], and Tiznow) were voted champions.

The Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1), first run in 1999, added an important race in deciding a championship and further strengthened the meaning of the day. For 2001, the Filly and Mare Turf and two other Breeders' Cup races may yield champions who started only one time each in the United States.

With a view that the Breeders' Cup is the most important day of racing for the sport, here is how we cast our ballot:

Two-year-old male: Johannesburg. Since Officer went missing in action, Johannesburg earns the title by virtue of his lone start in the U.S., a convincing triumph in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1).

Two-year-old filly: Tempera. She was the best filly in the country until her unexpected loss in the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1). She confirmed her class with a triumph in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).

Three-year-old male: Point Given, the only horse all year who really dominated his division.

Three-year-old filly: Xtra Heat. The division had rotating leadership throughout the year, and the feats of Xtra Heat-whose nine wins include four in graded stakes-make her a worthy champion who was also the fastest filly in her division.

Older male: Tiznow. The rule is that you are champion until someone takes the title away from you, and no one was able to do so. Tiznow proved his class in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).

Older female: Tranquility Lake. In yet another division without a dominant horse, Tranquility Lake won graded stakes on both dirt and turf.

Sprinter: Squirtle Squirt. In taking the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), he won the race in which every top sprinter showed up to prove who was the fastest horse.

Male turf: Fantastic Light. His lone start in the U.S., in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1), is enough to convince us he is the best.

Female turf: Banks Hill (GB). She was the most impressive winner on Breeders' Cup day when winning the Filly and Mare Turf in her only U.S. start.

Horse of the Year: Point Given. No, he did not compete on Breeders' Cup day, but the year belonged to him from the time he made his first start in March through his last start in August. His body of work, including four wins in million-dollar Grade 1 races, was marred only by his loss in the Kentucky Derby (G1). No other horse captured the respect of fans and the imagination of the general public like Point Given did in 2001.