Eclipse Awards Diaries: A Night to Remember

The Eclipse Awards are horse’s racing’s version of the Oscars, so it was no surprise that the sport’s brightest stars congregated at Gulfstream Park on Saturday evening to celebrate the outstanding performances of 2015. Below are just a small sample of some of the people who came out to fete the top Thoroughbreds in the nation last night:

La Verdad’s trainer Linda Rice (left) and owner Sheila Rosenblum (center)

Acacia Courtney and Ramiro Restrepo

Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey

American Pharoah’s racing manager Justin Zayat getting into the spirit of the evening!

Rick and Betsy Porter, owners of Champion Two-Year-Old Filly Songbird

Jill, Bode and Bob Baffert (who trained American Pharoah) greet Runhappy’s groom Cordell Anderson

American Pharoah’s owner Ahmed Zayat chats with Bob Baffert before the ceremony

Dan Tordjman and Roberto Rodriguez

The father-son team of Ahmed and Justin Zayat

Trainer Chad Brown (left) and family

Ramsey Farm’s Ken Ramsey with the Blood-Horse’s Claire Novak
After the cocktail hour, it was time for the Eclipse Awards to kick off. If you want a list of the full results, you can check them out here; in this blog, I’m going to tell you about some of my favorite moments of the evening.
Larry Collmus, who’s the race caller for the Triple Crown and the Breeders’ Cup, acted as the “Voice of God” at the Eclipse Awards.

That means it was his job to keep the event running smoothly and efficiently, and Larry did so with humor and grace, echoing his performances at some of horse racing’s biggest events last year.
I also absolutely adored Jeannine Edwards as the emcee of the evening; she’s so great as the host, and her love and knowledge of horse racing shone through throughout the Eclipse Awards.

I was thrilled when Runhappy won the award for Champion Male Sprinter – he richly deserved it – but my favorite of that victory came minutes after the Eclipse statuette was handed out, when his groom Cordell Anderson left the ceremony to check on Runhappy. He has an app on his phone that shows a livestream of the colt in his stall back in Texas, and Cordell let me watch as Runhappy slept soundly halfway across the continent.

That’s a man who loves his horse!
Sheila Rosenblum, owner of Champion Female Sprinter La Verdad, had an amazing acceptance speech. She’s so invested in bringing more women into the sport of horse racing, and spoke passionately about her love of Thoroughbreds and her respect for La Verdad’s trainer Linda Rice.

Jennie Rees, who collected her fifth Eclipse Award for Feature/Commentary writing last night, is an inspiration for aspiring turf writers everywhere. She retired from Louisville Ky.’s Courier-Journal at the end of 2015 to spend more time with horses and horsemen, but her passion for journalism has earned her the respect of everyone in the game.

When Javier Castellano was named as the Outstanding Jockey of 2015, he was visibly moved by the honor. When he got to the podium, Javier received a warm embrace from Hall of Fame rider Chris McCarron, then gave an outstanding speech which included a message, delivered in Spanish, for his mother. It was a lovely moment from an incredibly talented rider.

Big Blue Kitten won the Eclipse Award for Champion Male Turf Horse, and his former owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey accepted the statue. They have such a wonderful relationship, and their devotion to each other is the only thing stronger than their commitment to the sport of horse racing. The way they look at each other makes me melt every time.

One of the most interesting moments of the evening came after NBC Sports collected its well-deserved award for their coverage of the Belmont Stakes. After Rob Hyland accepted his statue, a video played showing action in the NBC production truck as the crew controlled all of the camera angles and coverage while silently celebrating. It was a combination of ecstatic joy and fierce concentration, and it was mesmerizing to watch.

Another outstanding moment in the evening came when Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey and Randy Moss presented the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer. It turns out that Jerry is a Green Bay Packers fan, so naturally he was watching the game on his phone and wore a cheesehead hat.

Amazing.
The shenanigans continued when American Pharoah’s trainer Bob Baffert won; when he got to the podium, Bob fumbled the Eclipse Award, prompting a lot of laughs. (Don’t worry – the statue was fine!) 

After that, Baffert handed the statuette to his son Bode for safekeeping, who looked thrilled to take care of the award for his dad. (Jill Baffert supervised to make sure that the award didn’t go through any more unscheduled air travel on stage!) 

This was one of the many awards that Team American Pharoah received over the course of the evening, and I’m so glad that’s the case. That horse gave racing fans, both new and long-established, memories that will last a lifetime, and the Eclipse Awards reflected his tremendous accomplishments. Throughout the night, the Zayat family, who owns American Pharoah, garnered trophies for Outstanding Owner and Breeder; and they received a standing ovation from the crowd at Gulfstream Park for their accomplishments.

And American Pharoah himself found two more victories on Saturday night: that in the categories of Three-Year-Old Male and Horse of the Year.  So much has been said about American Pharoah and his tremendous accomplishments in 2015. I know I’ll cherish every memory I have of watching him run; and I know I’m not alone. American Pharoah touched so many people through not only his valor on the track, but though his kind demeanor out of competition. This is a horse who loved to run, and was loved by all who knew him. From trainer Bob Baffert and his team of Jimmy and Dana Barnes, Georgie Alvarez, and Eduardo “Lalo” Luna; to the Zayat family who were so welcoming to fans; to Victor Espinoza, who piloted the horse and shared his experiences along the way: Team American Pharoah deserved each and every award given to them on Saturday.
Alex Waldrop, the President and CEO of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, put it perfectly as he presented the champion colt with his Horse of the Year award: American Pharoah is indeed a horse for the ages. 

#AmericanPharoah accepts his #EclipseAwards trophy for #Horseoftheyear! pic.twitter.com/xx6DuiocZM
— NTRA (@NTRA) January 17, 2016