Star turf horse named HOY at Eclipse Awards

Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard Bricks and Mortar celebrates after winning the Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita Park on Nov. 2, 2019, in Arcadia, Calif. - Photo by Mark J. Terrill of The Associated Press
Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard Bricks and Mortar celebrates after winning the Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita Park on Nov. 2, 2019, in Arcadia, Calif. - Photo by Mark J. Terrill of The Associated Press

Donald Trump or whichever Democrat nominated can only hope for the same love from voters at election time in November that a horse trainer received at the Eclipse Awards ceremony Thursday.

The Chad Brown plank carried off top honors at horse racing's version of the Oscars, held in Hallandale Beach, Fla., in advance of today's rich Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park. Brown repeated as champion trainer, and stable star Bricks and Mortar, the Breeders' Cup Turf winner, was named Horse of the Year. In addition, the Brown trainee Uni was selected champion female turf horse.

Bricks and Mortar outpolled two other champions, 3-year-old colt Maximum Security and 4-year-old colt Mitole, as Horse of the Year. The 5-year-old son of Giant's Causeway went 6-of-6 with five Grade 1 victories, capping his career in the Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita Park before retiring to stud in Japan. Bricks and Mortar proved an obvious selection as champion male turfer and his connections, Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence, were Eclipse winners as outstanding owner.

Two Oaklawn Park runners, Mitole and Midnight Bisou, were crowned champions as were two fillies trained by Oaklawn regular Brad Cox, though neither 3-year-old Covfefe nor 2-year-old British Idiom raced locally. Covfefe, named for a Twitter slip-up by President Trump, was named top 3-year-old filly and 3-year-old female turf sprinter in a stellar campaign that she won two Grade 1 stakes.

Maximum Security had repeated perils but finished in fine fettle. His late-season Grade 1 victory (third of the year) in the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct Race Course helped distance the memory of his disqualification for interference in the Kentucky Derby. Winning the Florida Derby in spring, the Haskell Invitational in summer and the Cigar Mile in late fall established the New Year's Day colt as a horse for all seasons.

A six-time winner, failing to cross the wire first one time, Maximum Security survived a bout of colic and earned $1,801,900 for owners Gary and Mary West. Jason Servis, brother of Kentucky Derby-winning trainer John Servis (Smarty Jones), trained the colt.

Mitole won four Grade 1 races, and on some of the sport's biggest stages. "He won on (Kentucky) Derby Day, he won on Belmont Stakes Day and he won on Breeders' Cup Day," said co-owner Bill Heligibrodt, "all those races on different tracks." His other Grade 1 victory came at Saratoga in the Forego Stakes.

Mitole became a superstar after leaving Oaklawn, where his first graded victory came against previously unbeaten local sprinter and two-time defending race winner Whitmore in the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap. The son of Eskendereya stretched out to seven furlongs in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes, then beat an outstanding field going a mile in Belmont Park's historic Metropolitan Handicap.

Second to repeat winner Imperial Hint in Saratoga's Grade 1 Vanderbilt Handicap, Mitole came back to win the Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga. Known for the company he kept, Mitole beat Grade 1 winners McKenzie in the Met Mile and Whitmore again in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. With Ricardo Santana Jr. aboard, Mitole edged razor-sharp, stakes-winning 3-year-old Shancelot by 1 1/4 lengths in the Breeders' Cup with Whitmore third.

Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen trained Mitole for longtime clients Heiligbrodt and wife Corinne, a Houston couple that met while attending the University of Texas. "Bill and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes when we saw him for the first time" at a sale in Florida, said Mrs. Heiligbrodt. "I named him Mighty Mitole (Mi-toe-lee) because I knew he would be mighty."

Before Mitole reached a championship level, Bill Heiligbrodt said at Oaklawn last year, "He may not be the best horse we've owned, but he might be the fastest."

Interviewed by Caton Bredar before the ceremony Thursday night, Heiligbrodt said, "It's been a long, long journey but he never, never disappointed us at any point in his career. Then when he retired, he was probably in better shape than when he started. He was just an amazing horse."

A second Asmussen trainee received an Eclipse for a 4-year-old campaign. Midnight Bisou, tough as they come in the stretch, launched a championship season in January and won April's Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn. Ridden confidently by Hall of Famer Mike Smith, Midnight Bisou sewed up the championship before her only defeat of the year in the Breeders' Cup Distaff.

In a cheering piece of news for the sport, Midnight Bisou is returning for a 5-year-old campaign. "In the end," said co-owner Jeff Bloom, "we decided we simply wanted to race her another year."

Cox won the second and third Eclipse Awards of his career after breaking through last year with 3-year-old filly Monomoy Girl. Covfefe outraced Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Express in the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga and Santa Anita star Bellafina in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. British Idiom, a debut winner at Saratoga, won two Grade 1 races in the fall, the Alcibiades at Keeneland and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Storm the Court, upset winner of the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile after placing in the Grade 1 American Pharoah at Santa Anita, was named champion 2-year-old male. West Coast-based Peter Eurton trains the son of Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Court Vision, who got a break in the Breeders' Cup when favored Dennis' Moment stumbled. Other nominees in the division were Grade 1 winners Maxfield (Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland) and Structor, the latter after taking the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf for trainer Brown.

A romping (4 1/4 lengths) Breeders' Cup Classic win elevated Vino Rosso to the Eclipse Award as champion older dirt male. The 4-year-old Todd Pletcher trainee won an earlier Grade 1 race at Santa Anita in May. BC Classic runner-up McKinzie and Mitole were the other division finalists.

In other categories, Irad Ortiz Jr. outpolled brother Jose Ortiz and Hall of Famer Javier Castellano as champion jockey, and George Strawbridge Jr. won the breeders' award. Kazuhshi Kimura was named top apprentice jockey.

Of 254 eligible voters, 241 submitted ballots for the Eclipse Awards assembled by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters. Finalists were determined in each category by voters' top three selections, using a 10-5-1 point basis. Eclipse Award winners were determined solely by first-place votes.

Sports on 01/25/2020

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