With the Eclipse Award ballots in the mail - we present our own version honouring the year’s best, worst and everything between

Dramatic Moment of the Year

Kentucky Derby. The disqualification of Maximum Security proved to be the biggest lightning rod for American fans and gamblers throughout the ye ar. Pick a side. The then unbeaten son of New Year’s Day deserved to have his number stay up, giving the Wests, trainer Jason Servis and jockey Luis Saez their first Derby win as the unquestioned best in the race, or deserved to come down for nearly causing a pileup that started when he impeded War Of Will.

Bill Mott, trainer of the adjudged winner Country House, took in the inquiry at the end of the horse path leading to the sloppy dirt track at Churchill and summed it up best. “Makes for an interesting day,” Mott deadpanned.

Runner-up: Vino Rosso disqualified from victory in Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, giving Code Of Honor the win.

Performance of the Year (Male)

The Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup deservedly generate the most attention but it’s hard to deny Mitole’s victory in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap.

Stretched to a mile for the first time in his career, the sprint specialist toppled multiple Grade 1 winner McKinzie, two-time Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow and a field that also included Godolphin Mile winner Coal Front, Promises Fulfilled, Pavel and Firenze Fire.

Runner-up: Imperial Hint smashed Saratoga track record for six furlongs winning the Grade 1 Vanderbilt in 1m 07.92secs.

Mitole and jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr. after winning the Metropolitan (Grade I) at Belmont Park \Jessie Holmes/Equispot

Performance of the Year (Female)

Midnight Bisou edges Elate for the crown just like she did winning Saratoga’s Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes by a nose. Midnight Bisou improved to six-for-six with the win and made her unbeaten in three starts against Elate on the season, by a combined three and three quarter lengths.

Runner-up (tie): Covfefe and Serengeti Empress throw it down in the seven-furlong Test Stakes and Guarana runs down gritty Serengeti Empress in mile Acorn Stakes.

Name of the Year

Covfefe. Given the dominating theme of the news cycle here in the States, need we say more?

Best Director

Richard Mandella. The Hall of Fame conditioner could not hide his disappointment meeting the press a few hours after he scratched Omaha Beach from the Kentucky Derby with a throat issue. He nursed the colt back to health, overcoming a few setbacks along the way and showed why his Hall of Fame plaque hangs on a wall here in Saratoga when Omaha Beach outran Shancelot in the stretch to win the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship.

The son of War Front hadn’t raced in nearly six months when he beat the 12-and-a-quarter-length winner of the Grade 2 Amsterdam at his best distance. Omaha Beach followed that up with a gritty second on a speed-favouring Santa Anita in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

Runner-up: Shug McGaughey. Tabbed by my colleague Sean Clancy as one of the “Five to follow for 2019,” McGaughey guided Code Of Honor through a campaign of four graded stakes wins and a placing in the Kentucky Derby running from January 5th to November 2nd.

Comeback of the Year

Colonial Downs. Left for dead – literally there were weeds everywhere at this time last year – the New Kent, Virginia, racetrack came back with authority with a summer meeting in 2019 that featured big fields, competitive racing and not a single breakdown in the morning or afternoon.

Comedy of the Year

We could pick many of the one-liners, quips and wisecracks heard from the frontsides to the stable areas this year, but we’ll go with a race that turned into a serious laugher. Snap Decision went off 7/5 for his $65,000 steeplechase allowance at Saratoga on August 14th and quickly made that look like a value when he romped home by 38 and a half lengths. He won two more races in 2019 for Jack Fisher, who once again topped all steeplechase trainers by earnings and wins.

Sportsman of the Year

Mikey Mitchell. The British-born jump jockey bypassed the final meeting of the season – and a few live mounts – after Irishman Jack Doyle suffered a broken jaw in a spill at the penultimate meeting. The two riders finished 2019 tied for the National Steeplechase Association title with 20 wins apiece. Mitchell topped the earnings table, despite not riding any of the season’s Grade 1 winners: Brain Power, Scorpiancer, Surprising Soul or Winston C.

Winner of the Year

General sentiment favours Bricks And Mortar here but what about Heavens Whisper, Anna’s Bandit or Phoneymyposseagain? That trio each own nine wins and the tally could still rise. Heavens Whisper won at Fair Grounds, Oaklawn, Prairie Meadows and Remington Park in 2019. Anna’s Bandit won her ninth two weekends ago in a small stakes at Laurel Park, while Phoneymyposseagain improved to nine-for-12 on the season after a win in Charles Town.

Moment of the Year

We go north of the border for this one. How about Eurico Rosa Da Silva, who announced his retirement from the saddle at the end of the season, winning the $1 million Woodbine Mile at 44/1?

Runner-up: Trainer Ignacio Correas IV wins the Breeders’ Cup Distaff with Blue Prize in her final start. before selling at Fasig-Tipton for $5 million.