SOME years, this has been a singular award. Other years, this has been shared. Some years, it’s debatable. Other years, it’s definitive. This year, well, it’s definitive and debatable. There were two stars in 2018.

Justify and Accelerate.

Justify flashed onto the American racing scene in February, winning his debut with ease.

Three weeks later, he won again. By April, he had won the Santa Anita Derby and the writing, which had been on the wall, for a while, was chiseled into the wall.

No horse who didn’t race at two has won the Kentucky Derby since Apollo…it can’t be done. Oh, it was done.

Justify decimated a full field in the Derby, scampered through the slop to win the Preakness and put a final knife into the Apollo curse, dominating the Belmont Stakes. And, then, like a lightning bolt through a picnic basket, he was gone, that good, that fast.

Accelerate, on other hand, returned for his third season of racing in 2018. In his first season, he lost his first three starts, then won three, including the Los Alamitos Derby before finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

Funny, where greatness lingers.

In his second season, he lost his four starts, picked up a win in the San Diego Handicap, then lost another three in a row, including a drubbing in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Greatness was barely breathing.

And then it was 2018, the son of Lookin At Lucky won the San Pasqual Stakes and the Santa Anita Handicap, just missed in the Oaklawn Handicap and then ran the table, sweeping the Gold Cup at Santa Anita, the Pacific Classic, the Awesome Again and the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Now, that’s a championship season.

Or is it?

No debate they were the two stars. Debate when it comes to who was best.

The Eclipse Award ballot will be in the mail soon. Who wins?

Who knows?

Bob Baffert

Of course, this is no surprise. The Hall of Fame trainer has produced American Pharoah and Justify to win the Triple Crown and, crazily, he seems to have bigger and better bullets this year. The California-based trainer readies Game Winner Improbable, Mucho Gusto and Coliseum for the Derby Trail and Qahira and Chasing Yesterday for the Oaks Trail. To name just a few.

Manny Franco

The New York-based jockey has plied his trade, two notches behind the established greats, John Velazquez, Javier Castellano, Joel Rosario and one notch behind the Brother Ortiz, Irad and Jose.

Franco lurks on the cusp of eliminating those notches and joining those greats. In six seasons, Franco has elevated his game, winning 130 races and $4.2 million in 2013 to 233 races and $16.2 in 2018. He’s young and driven, the sky’s the limit.

SHUG MCGAUGHEY

Granted, we’re suckers for long-striding, late-developing two-year-olds from the likes of Shug McGaughey, Bill Mott and Jimmy Jerkens but Code Of Honor wowed us with his two performances in 2018.

The son of Noble Mission won his debut at Saratoga with aplomb and came back to finish second in the Champagne while learning the game midrace.

A few minor hiccups derailed starts in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Remsen. We’re not worried. Two other juveniles from our old school still have us thinking, Mucho for Bill Mott and Lion Dance for Jerkens. Consider yourself warned.

Jason and John Servis

The brothers have always won races from their respective mid-Atlantic bases but this year, they hit new marks. Jason has won 134 races, many on the tough New York circuit and has attracted heavy-spending owners.

John, of Smarty Jones fame, has won 112 races, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies with Jaywalk, from his Pennsylvania base and has also attracted high-profile owners. They’re in the top 25 on the earnings list and could climb higher next year.