Two Year Old Glory
Two Year Old Glory
2005 Eclipse Award Winners
With the Breeders Bowl just around the corner and lots of owners and trainers nervously watching the rankings, I thought we would take a look back at End of the Year Eclipse winners in the two year old division and see what these owners have to look forward to in the future.
According to Yoss, there are over 22,700 two year olds bred this year. The owners of these youngsters are obviously hoping for long careers with many wins and much excitement ahead. It just seems logical that if you have a successful two year old, your chances are even better long term for the success of your horse. We are going to look at the most successful of the two year old crop for the past five years. These horses are the Eclipse Award winners, given to the best of the best, the division champions for the year in the two year old category.
This article looks at the winners from last year, 2005.
| DIVISION | NAME | 2 YR Old | 2 Yr $$$ | 3 Yr Old | LIFETIME | EARNINGS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dirt Filly | NO APAGUES LA LUZ | 7 / 5-2-0 | $932,100 | 10 / 1-3-0 | 17 / 6-5-0 | $1,188,525 |
| Dirt Colt | HALF A WORLD AWAY | 8 / 5-2-0 | $1,041,580 | 11 / 2-1-1 | 19 / 7-3-1 | $1,575,580 |
| Turf Filly | SUPER GOLD | 7 / 6-0-0 | $962,100 | 10 / 2-2-1 | 17 / 8-2-1 | $1,129,350 |
| Turf Colt | PUB CRAWL | 7 / 6-0-1 | $787,320 | 9 / 0-2-1 | 16 / 6-2-2 | $829,396 |
Of the five groups that we will be looking at, the 2005 crop has the worst three year old stats of any. There may still be a win or two left in the year for these great horses but take a look…they have a grand total of five wins between them as three year olds. Not much of a carryover from their tremendous previous season in which the lowest win total was five for any one of the four. Add to that the fact that they have all run more races this year than they did as precocious juveniles and it makes that stat worse.
Granted, these horses are running in tougher competition at this point, there are eleven Grade I races between them for the year. But these are supposed to be the very best of the best. The number one horse of the year in each division.
(If you click on the name of the horses below it will take you to their write up for their Sim Eclipse award in the year that they won)
NO APAGUES LA LUZ won her first race of the year in a regular stakes then finished second in a GI. After that she only had two top three finishes and one of those was in an allowance race. Last time out, she switched to the grass for her first try on turf in an allowance and finished fourth.
HALF A WORLD AWAY won two graded races during the year and had a couple of triple digit speed figures. He ran strictly on the Graded circuit and was pretty competitive all year except for one turn on the grass and one try on an off track that he pretty much turned his nose up at. With a half a million in earnings as a three year old, he would have the most successful second year in this group.
One of my favorite fillies from last year, SUPER GOLD has run a fairly uninspired circuit this year. She won two regular Stakes races with SPFs in the 80s and a couple of top three finishes in the Graded races. She actually ran her best race last time out, just fading to second in the SCARY MOVIE Grade II with a personal best 101 SPF. Perhaps she is rounding back into shape.
The most promising colt of all last year, PUB CRAWL had won five of his six races as a two year old. He is probably the most disappointing of the group without a win in his entire three year old season. He had two seconds in regular Stakes races and stumbled badly in the Graded races, never finishing better than sixth and usually in the last two in the field.
So now we have to wonder…are all of the Eclipse winners like this? Are they a shooting star that mostly burns out in its trek across the two year old season? I think that you will find some of the results in future articles rather interesting, especially when they are compared to this group. Stay tuned!
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