Eclipse Awards dinner in early December would provide more suspense and timely closure to season

ECLIPSE AWARD is a special night. This year more so than ever, thanks. That is because my wife, Mary, accepted an Eclipse Award for outstanding feature writing for her series in Thoroughbred Times, "Racing Through the Century."

This year's awards ceremony, held on January 30 at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans, was a once-in-a-lifetime event.

That said, the evening could be a better, more meaningful event for the entire industry if it were held earlier.

As we have suggested before, the Eclipse Awards should be held as close to the end of the racing season as possible. For all practical purposes, the season ends with the Breeders' Cup. Immediately after the Breeders' Cup, there is suspense on how the voting will go, debate on who was the best horse in his or her division, and the season is fresh in everyone's mind. The Eclipse Awards dinner should be held the first week of December, in the lull between the Breeders' Cup and the holidays. It is the appropriate time to bring closure to the year. Holding the Eclipse Awards dinner three months after the season ends is anticlimactic.

While some will argue that the month of December is important to voters and all the races must be conducted before the votes are cast, since the inception of the Breeders' Cup there have been relatively few times a horse needed to win a race in December to earn a title.

Some of those occasions involved the female turf division, when the Yellow Ribbon Stakes (G1) or the Matriarch Stakes (G1) late in the year would help decide that division's leader. But since the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) was inaugurated in 1999, the championship of that division will now be decided on Breeders' Cup day in most years.

For those who suggest you have to wait for the Hollywood Futurity (G1) and Hollywood Starlet (G1) to be run in December before voting, the question is: why? In 17 years, the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner has been voted champion male at year's end 13 times. The Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner has been voted champion 14 times.

An example of the importance of the Breeders' Cup is that every Eclipse Award winner of 2000 (on the flat) raced on Breeders' Cup day at Churchill Downs on November 4.

The only good horses still racing after the Breeders' Cup are some two-year-olds that were not overraced early in the season and are trying to pick up some rich pots while the cream of the crop is being rested in preparation for their three-year-old campaign.

By the time the Eclipse Awards for 2000 were announced, Tiznow had already started as a four-year-old. And the three-year-olds also have been out in force, with the Hutcheson (G2), Holy Bull (G3), and Santa Catalina (G3) Stakes all having been contested.

So, let's hold the event in early December to bring closure to the season at the appropriate time.

Some other thoughts on this year's dinner:

Most refreshing acceptance speech was given by Tyler Baze, who was overcome with emotion when told he won the Eclipse for outstanding apprentice jockey. Choking up, he said, at least three times, "I don't know what to say."

Best line of the night came as Baze left the stage. Master of Ceremonies Kenny Mayne said, "They're so cute at that age."

A no-show was trainer Jay Robbins, who came up with an excuse to not be there. (Tiznow has a patch on his foot, so he could not leave the horse, he said.) That is typical of Robbins, a shy, self-effacing man who dislikes the limelight and avoids it. If he were a better self-promoter-or a self-promoter at all-he would have a barn full of horses, instead of a dozen. He is an outstanding trainer who deserves a lot more recognition. We suspect he will get it, like it or not, with Tiznow.

It is unfortunate the National Thoroughbred Racing Association told some people to attend (hint, hint, you won), while refusing to tell others who asked in advance about whether they should travel to New Orleans. The NTRA should not tell anyone. It is unfair to those who come in good faith, thinking that the others in their category don't know who won, either.