Every year, around January, a group of sim players are given a role. Their job is to be part of the Eclipse Award committee. These brave players sacrifice hours upon hours of their real lives to look through countless numbers of sim horses. Their goal is to find horses who deserve to be Eclipse Award champions in each of the 11 categories. I do not know the exact process; I believe each committee member submits their top 5 list for each category, and then the 5 with the most selections from the committee are put on the ballot. What I do know is that it is a tough, thankless job. There have been occasions where omissions from the final ballot have been vocalized. While voting for the Eclipse Awards, no one really thinks about how those horses were placed there to begin with. Luckily, in case you disagree with the final selection, there is always that Write-In place. A few write-in campaigns have been run in the sim, although they are usually frivolous attempts. So the committee presses on, continuing to search for the best horses in the sim, so that everyone else can have the luxury of determining who the best horse is.
The committee results are never revealed – that is to say that the horse who the majority of the committee thinks should win is not known to the general sim public. That decision is left up to the people. And like the committee, each person votes with a different style. Some spend hours upon hours looking through the horses, painstakingly comparing head-to-head performances with grade 1 wins with races in the year. Some take a quick look at each horse and pick the one with the most wins. Others don’t even look; they just vote for the names that sound familiar to them, or sound like good names. A lot don’t even vote (as voting is only really done through the active sim community – there are many players, most who will never read this, who play the game and have their fun while never once visiting the message boards or BTB). Some people agonize over which of two horses they want to choose – others easily make their selection. Some people use other factors to determine who to vote for. But after all is said and done, the best horse usually wins.
Well…a good, qualified horse usually wins. The “best” horse lies within the eye of the beholder. And there has been no division so clear-cut and yet so wide open as the Turf Horse division.
I want to start off by saying I mean no disrespect to the winners of the Eclipse Awards. They are great horses, deserving horses, and I may have voted for most, if not all of them. But this article wouldn’t be as good if I was just singing praises of horses who have already won awards for their achievements. If you would like to read that (and I would suggest it if you haven’t done so already, as they are great reads), go back to the Eclipse Award archive and take a look at some of the Turf Horse articles.
The sim was swept up by a craze in 2003. We were just coming off of Storm Dog’s Horse of the Year season, and got I Seek U’s Triple Crown to boot. It was at that time when a horse named Allied Assault, owned by masterab, swept through the sim. He was the turf version of I Seek U, except he didn’t lose. He was hailed as a monster – the next Storm Dog (although Storm Dog was still running). The biggest battle that year was for 3yo of the year, as no one knew whether the award would go to the Triple Crown winner or the turf star. As it turns out, I Seek U took home that award, as well as Horse of the Year. But Allied Assault got his in the Turf Horse category. It was during that year when he became affectionately known as AA.
In 2004, it looked like the passing of the torch. AA was still performing well, although not as well as his 3yo season. Meanwhile, a 3yo colt by the name of Sunnybank Memorial, Memo for short and owned by sunnybank, took over as the “new Allied Assault”. He set a sim record with 7 graded stakes wins in a row, leading to a win in the 3yo, Turf Horse, and Horse of the Year categories. He beat out AA in the Turf Horse category, which was a big topic at the time.
It happened again in 2005. This time, the horse was Horseshoe Bay, or Bay Bay (or Bay), owned by texasace. He broke Memo’s 5 straight G1 record with 6 straight G1 wins in the middle of the year, en route to awards in the same categories as Memo the previous year. This time, Bay beat out both AA and Memo for Turf Horse, big news in the sim world.
What people don’t realize is that in 2004 and 2005, there were other contenders. In fact, in each year, there may have been one who was equally deserving of the turf horse award. On top of it all, you may have never heard of either of these horses until today.
Bristol Rovers, owned by swampy, was not a newcomer to the scene. I may not have known about him until beginning this study, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t good. A scratch breeding of Rahy x Danzig x Roberto, he debuted in 2002. He finally hit the map big in 2003, when he won 5 of 7 stakes races, including 2 Grade 1’s. The last race of the year for him, the G1 Japan Classic, put him on the map, as he won the race in 2:28-3/5, setting the stakes record (and earning a modern-day 114.6677 SP). So when he opened 2004 with an ungraded stakes win, and followed it up with a stakes-record 2:30-1/5 in the G2 Pan Americana Handicap, no one should have been surprised. His next race saw him take on Allied Assault and company in the G1 Sand Castle Golden Turf Classic. In an incredibly dominant performance, he opened up the 12f race a mere 1/4 behind the pace-setter Russ, way closer to the pace than his usually closing running style. He quickly took the lead at the 4f mark and continued to put space between himself and everyone else. By the time they hit the top of the stretch, he had a 7 length lead. Allied Assault tried to put a run together, but there was no catching Bristol. He stormed off to a 4-1/2 length win. It was the race that put him on everyone’s map. On top of it all, it made Bristol 2 for 2 against AA.
He flew back to the states for his next race, in the G3 Slow Tree Special. This time he returned to his true self, dropping 7-1/2 back at the halfway point. He started his move around the far turn, however, and there was no use in anyone trying to stop him. He roared past Pyromaniacal(GB) to win by 4-1/2 as the even money favorite. Something was amiss in his next race, however. The G1 Louisiana Turf Classic brought a similar pace-setter in Pyromaniacal(GB), but this time Bristol stumbled out of the gate. He quickly fell 7 back, and kept losing ground. He was 12 back; then 15. Soon he was 20 behind and saw Allied Assault pass him. He couldn’t gain any ground. Allied Assault made his move and won, finally beating Bristol, who finished 39-1/2 lengths behind in 4th.
He came out of the race ok, and swampy sent him back to the track 4 weeks later in the G2 Longstickgoboom Stakes. Falling 8 lengths back at the halfway point, he came back to form here and unleashed a furious move on the outside to show that his previous race was an off-day. He went on to win by 6. He took to the off-track (good turf) 4 weeks later in the G2 Dawn To Dusk Cap. Again dropping 8 back halfway through the race, his move this time was even more monstrous. He made a slight move around the far turn, pulling to about 3 lengths back at the top of the stretch. Then jockey B Wu took out the whip and the rockets turned on. Bristol blew away the field and won by 7. He went off as the 3/1 favorite for GSR in the Equinics 4 weeks later, running in the 13f turf race, named The Cortina d’Ampezzo Run in 2004. True to form again, he dropped 7 back before making his run. No whip was needed this time, as he pulled neck-and-neck with the leader Exotic Slew at the top of the stretch before going on to win by 4-3/4. Owner swampy then put him back on a plane from Athens and headed to NY, just in time for the summer turf season.
Bristol was entered in the G1 Man Of War Stakes at New York, only to find out that Allied Assault was again running against him. That did not scare him or his owner off, however. When the gates opened, it was Ebro(GB) who went out for the lead. Bristol did his normal thing, quickly dropping 2 back, and then slowly saving ground while Ebro(GB) extended his lead. AA, meanwhile, did his normal thing as well, staying in the gate when the doors swung open. He was 12-1/2 back at the first call, and 17-1/2 back at the second. Bristol fell to 8 back at the second call. Then, they both started to move. They went the same speed at first. Jockey B Child, aboard Bristol, knew that AA would be coming. So rather than risk it, he made sure that it would be a match race. Bristol quickly disposed of Ebro(GB) in the far turn, and took the lead by two coming out of the far turn. He was pulling away from everyone, but Child knew that Allied Assault was back there somewhere. So he pulled out the whip and Bristol took off. He kicked it into another gear, digging down even though no one was around him. But out of the corner of his eye, Child saw something. Bristol was running as fast as he could, and yet someone was gaining on him. Child went back to the whip, coaxing Bristol to run as fast as he could. Yet AA kept coming. He was 3 lengths back…2 lengths….1 length…wire. Who was it? Yes. Bristol Rovers maintained a ½ length lead at the wire, earning the win. The race also caused another stakes record to fall, as Bristol ran the 11f race in 2:13-3/5, good enough for a modern-day 119.646 speed figure.
After that race, it was good that swampy kept Bristol in NY. At this point, Bristol was good enough to scare some horses away. And that he did, as only 7 entered the Grade 1 Classic Turf Stakes. Bristol was the 3/5 favorite for the race, and he ran like it. He stayed a little closer this time, falling only 6 back at his farthest point. He made his move early, assuming a lead near the end of the backstretch, and pulling out to a 4 length lead in the far turn. Jockey N Lawton decided to turn it down a notch, and Bristol walked home to win by 1-1/2. Still, the race was fast enough to set another stakes record, this time running the 12f in 2:29-3/5. From there he traveled to Texas for the Breeders Bowl Turf.
The Breeders Bowl did not go well for Bristol or swampy. Installed as the 3.30/1 second choice (behind 2.10/1 Allied Assault, although Bristol was 3 for 4 against him this year), he fell once the gates opened. He went down to his front knees, and although he righted himself, something was wrong. He had no kick, and couldn’t come back from as far back as he was. He was clearly injured, and jockey R Harzheim pulled him up. The race was won by Sunnybank Memorial, likely sealing his Eclipse Award win. However, should it have? Bristol Rovers set 3 stakes records – Memo set 2. Bristol went 11:9-0-0 (and one loss was due to injury), whereas Memo went 14:10-1-2. Memo’s 3 races against older horses, however, ended with a total of 3:1-1-1. Not quite the 11:9-0-0 that Bristol had. Memo’s 7 G1 wins had Bristol’s 4 beat, but they each had 8 Graded stakes wins. Was Memo deserving? Absolutely. Was Bristol deserving? Absolutely. Unfortunately, while Memo has become one of the most popular sim runners of the last few years, Bristol Rovers (who doesn’t have a catchy nickname) has gotten very little press. Hopefully that has now changed.
Bristol Rovers is currently 42:25-4-4, and is 4:1-1-0 for the year. His best days are clearly behind him, but he is still capable of performing well (his win in the Equinics race this year proves that). He has earned over $6.8 million in his career, and may very well be headed to the Sim Hall Of Fame.
Rain God may have been born younger, but he debuted as a 3yo on March 13, 2004. He, too, was a scratch breeding, with Rainbow Quest x Dynaformer x Nijinsky II lines. Sent out by kevoman3 as a turf router, he ran in an 8f MSW. He lost, but won his next, an Alw NW1y, at 8.5f. He has never tried sprinting. In his 4th race, he finally tried stakes company and won. He won his next stakes as well, before finishing second to Sunnybank Memorial in the G1 Derby de English. He ended up being nominated for 3yo of the year and turf horse of the year, as he finished with 3 G1 wins, including 2 against older horses. He also set a stakes record of 2:00-4/5, a modern-day 111.0941 SP, in the G3 Saint Ledge Stakes, for 3yos. However, when compared to Memo’s 3yo campaign, it was clear that Memo was the better choice for the year. Rain God did not stand much of a chance. So his owner prepared him for another run at it the following season.
2005 opened up a little shaky for Rain God. He started in the G2 Ferdichenko Cup against several good horses, including Bristol Rovers. He started with his usual stalking style, hanging in about 2 behind Dancin In Seattle. However, he didn’t move up. Instead, he ran out of gas and faded away, finishing 10 lengths back, in 4th. Having that race to shake off the rust, he went to Upper New York a month later to run in The Half Century Stakes, a NEXIS Trainer Stats-bought race, but a Grade 1 nonetheless. Instead of stalking, jockey Z Ayya sent Rain to the front, and he took the lead immediately. A little unusual, fans chalked it up to a slow pace. He had a 2 length lead at the halfway point, and a 3 length lead going into the stretch. He was never challenged and kept enough in the tank, and he pulled away for a 4-1/2 length win. The win behind him, he was sent out to Dubai to try his luck at the G1 Sand Castle Golden Turf Classic. It would be his second chance at his nemesis (due to age), Sunnybank Memorial, who was the 3/1 favorite. The race opened with Seat Back Forward taking the lead, while Rain sat 1/4 length behind. Memo quickly dropped 12 lengths back, as he liked to do. Rain God sat patiently and let Seat Back Forward falter. He assumed the lead at that point, and turned it on a little. Much like the Allied Assault-Bristol Rovers battle, jockey H Harzheim, aboard Rain God, knew that Sunnybank Memorial was somewhere behind him. Therefore, he went for the whip, and Rain God responded. He drew off to a big lead, separating himself from the rest of the pack. Sunnybank Memorial did manage to close a lot of ground, but he couldn’t quite make it all the way from 11 back. Rain God drew off to win by 5 over Memo.
His campaign sent him to Australia next, where Rain God ran in the G2 CEO Classic. Again getting out to his stalker position, he was 2-1/4 back at the second call, behind Stormy Normy. At the 8f mark, he was roused from his leisurely race by jockey D Evans and assumed the lead vacated by the pace-setter. He had the lead by 1 at the top of the the stretch, and a tap of the whip at that point got him to widen his lead, and turn it into a 3-3/4 length win. The win took very little out of him, and he stayed in Australia (although switched tracks) to compete in the G1 Doomben Cup. The distance was shorter than he was used to, at a mere 10 furlongs, but he decided to try it anyway. Unfortunately, he came up against Bristol Rovers, who showed signs of life again. Rain ran his normal stalking race, sitting 1-1/2 behind the leader Ebro(GB), and assumed the lead by 2-1/2 in the far turn. Unfortunately, the shrinking in distance caused jockey C Wyatt to move too soon, and Rain ran out of gas. Bristol Rovers came flying by and passed Rain God, who fell to 3rd, 3-1/2 behind Bristol Rovers. Hoping that going back to 12 furlongs would help, kevoman3 shipped Rain off to Ireland to prepare for his next race.
That race came 4 weeks later, in the form of the G1 Lots Of Luck, the 3rd leg of Ireland’s Triple Crown. Rain God was installed as the 3/1 second choice, behind 2.20/1 Sunnybank Memorial, their 3rd race facing each other. Memo was not going to get as far behind this time, meaning Rain God would have to work harder. As the gates opened, Casey’s Quest took the lead, getting ¼ length in front of Rain. Memo dropped 5 back, and settled in at his own pace. Jockey A Reed, aboard Rain God, knew that Memo would try to come from a little closer this time, after not being able to make up the ground in their previous attempt. Therefore he sent Rain out to the lead sooner, and he assumed the lead in the backstretch. Reed sent Rain God, anticipating a run from Memo, and Rain responded. Memo began his move as well, passing many horses. But Rain opened up a huge 7-1/2 length lead in the far turn, as every other horse dropped back. It was once again down to a match race, but Memo had a 7-1/2 length handicap. His jockey, Z Kentucky, went to the whip and sent Memo towards Rain. A Reed expected it, and also went to the whip aboard Rain God. It seemed odd that Reed would go to the whip that clear, and although Rain did respond, he did not kick into an extra gear that he might if he were targeting horses. Sure enough though, Reed’s whip was enough, and Rain God was able to stave off Memo’s late rally, winning by 2-3/4. He also managed to set the stakes record at 2:29-2/5.
Rain God shipped to Ascot for his next race, the Grade 1 Royally Modest Cup. He started out with his normal stalking run, and had gotten into the habit of taking over the lead in the backstretch. He did that again here, and barely managed to hold off a late run by At The Chateau(GB). Rain then shipped out to Japan to run in the Grade 2 Shimko Classic. Going off as the even money favorite, jockey K Ledwith managed to hold him back from taking the lead in the backstretch. Instead, he stayed a head behind Captain Kangaroo, giving him that extra target. It propelled him to a 5 length victory, and a 2:23-1/5 stakes record for the 11.5 furlong race. Owner kevoman3 decided to give Rain God one more prep into the Breeders Bowl, and chose an ungraded stakes for the job. He easily won, walking home to win by 2-1/2 after taking the lead by 4 in the far turn. He then flew into NY to prepare for the Breeders Bowl Turf.
The race opened very well for Rain God. Military got out to the lead, but Rain God settled in 1 length behind. The race continued like this until the backstretch. It was at that time that jockey H Harzheim, aboard Rain God, made a fatal mistake. Rather than hold Rain God back to give him a target, he let Rain do what he wanted. He was now in the habit of taking the lead and accelerating at that part of the race. He made his move and overtook Military. He then widened the lead, and kept going. In the far turn, he got out to a 4 length lead. Cruising comfortably, Harzheim listened to the advice to go to the whip anyway; he did. However, the response was fairly small, as Rain God believed he had a big lead. But a 3yo that he had never seen before, Horseshoe Bay, had other ideas. Bay came from 10 lengths back in the far turn to blow past Rain God. He never had a chance to try and match Bay head-to-head. Bay pulled away to win by 3, leaving Rain God in the dust – or grass.
Unlike Bristol Rover’s 2004 campaign, however, Rain God was not done. He entered the G1 Japan Classic against several horses, including Sunnybank Memorial and Allied Assault. Things looked bad for him when he fell to 4 lengths back at the halfway point. He was in 4th place, as jockey B Parker misunderstood the instructions, and gave him too many horses to try and target. Rather than leaving one horse slightly in front, he fell too far back. Rain God made an attempt and pulled to within 2 of the leaders, but in the end, a surprising Jupiter’s Moons(IRE) came flying and pulled away to win by 2-3/4. Rain God did manage to beat his rival Memo again, as well as defeating AA for the 2nd time. But kevoman3 didn’t want to go out on a loss, so he entered Rain God in the G1 Penn Marathon, part of DelPenn Champions Day. Rain’s faults came back to haunt him. Going off as the slight favorite, he sat just 2 behind pace-setter Careless in 2nd place. His fatal flaw came in on the backstretch. Jockey J Piotrowski couldn’t reign him in, and he took off past Careless. He opened a 5-1/2 length lead in the far turn, but once again, the whip did not resonate with him. He had too large of a lead. Fans were hoping that he had a large enough lead, but fate had other ideas. It was only fitting for the horse that started the craze, Allied Assault, to retire as a winner. So off he went, storming by Rain God in the stretch after coming from 8-1/2 back. He passed Rain God and once again, Rain God didn’t have enough time to respond. It was too late. Allied Assault would win by 2-1/2 over Rain God. As a consolation prize, Rain God defeated Sunnybank Memorial for the 5th time.
So let’s compare the two candidates for turf horse of the year for 2005; Horseshoe Bay and Rain God. Rain God set two stakes records; so did Horseshoe Bay. Rain went 12:7-3-1, as compared to Bay Bay’s 13:9-2-0. However, Bay Bay’s 3 races against elders went 3:1-0-0, with the only win coming in the Breeders Bowl. They ran head-to-head twice, with Bay Bay taking the Breeders Bowl and Rain God taking the Japan Classic (Bay Bay finished 8th, 14-1/2 behind Jupiter’s Moons(IRE)). Bay Bay set a record with 6 straight Grade 1 wins (all against only 3yos), and had 7 total. Rain God had 4 Grade 1 wins, spread out, and 6 graded wins total. So, were they both deserving? Definitely. The voters decided that Horseshoe Bay was more deserving, and it’s hard to argue with it. But Rain God certainly put up a fight, and deserves to be remembered for it.
Rain God is currently 34:18-8-4, including a win in week 2930’s G1 Royally Modest Cup, making him a repeat winner. For the year, he has had some tough luck, and is 8:2-2-3. He has earned over $7.4 million in his career, and hasn’t really slowed down yet. He is currently the #4 ranked Long distance turf horse. He, too, appears to be a potential Sim Hall of Fame inductee.
Whether or not you knew of them before is irrelevant. The fact is that you know them now. Bristol Rovers and Rain God truly are two of the all-time sim Turf greats, and they may also be two of the most underrated sim horses of all time. They were rarely favorites in the big races, and yet they ran like they should have been. Very few horses have winning records against Allied Assault in a year. Yet both of these pulled it off. Rain God also managed to pull off a 5-0 record against Sunnybank Memorial in 2005, the year after he won the Eclipse Award. So these horses may not have catchy nicknames like “AA”, “Memo”, or “Bay Bay”, but that’s not their fault. They have done everything on the track to warrant one. So I have given them a combined nickname. When you’re looking for a race for your promising turf horse, think about staying away from “Rain Rovers”.
Bryan (shagfarms) can be reached at TripleCrown@suscom.net. He can also be reached through the BTB Message Board, the Main Message Board, the Chat Room, or by Private Message.