Elite 8 Horses on the Racetrack in 2012

All of the major races of 2012 are now in the books, and there were many outstanding performances, leading to a wide-open race for Horse of the Year honors.

The 42nd annual Eclipse Awards ceremony will be held Jan. 19, 2013 at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

It is such a wide-open race that the Horse of the Year may not even win his division.

Wise Dan has perhaps the best body of work, having wins on turf and synthetic surfaces and a runner-up finish on conventional dirt. He could lose the Older Male division to Fort Larned and top Turf Male to Little Mike and still walk away with the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year.

Here are the eight elite racehorses of 2012.

8. Game On Dude

A winner of four of his first six starts this year including a pair of Grade One victories, the five-year-old gelding was sent off as the 7-5 betting favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, with year-end honors his for the taking.

The gelding got off to a rough start, brushing with a rival and then having to steady off heels of a foe going into the backstretch. He had no punch left in the stretch, fading to finish a disappointing seventh.

He did bounce back by winning the Native Diver Stakes on Dec. 1 at Hollywood Park for his fifth graded stakes win of the year, but Game On Dude's loss in the Classic did him in.

7. My Miss Aurelia

The Steve Asmussen trainee went into the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic undefeated, winning four races as a two-year-old including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She reeled off three wins this year including a game head win in the Cotillion at Parx Racing.

The filly took on older horses for the first time in the Ladies’ Classic and made a good account of herself, running a game second behind Royal Delta at 6-1, coming up one-and-a-half length short in her first loss of her career.

The speed-favoring racing strip at Santa Anita that day did not do her any favors.

6. I’ll Have Another

The Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner headed to New York with the Triple Crown in the balance, but the colt was scratched on the eve of the Belmont Stakes due to tendonitis and has since been retired.

Undefeated in four starts in 2012, the Doug O’Neill trainee earned $2.6 million and won three Grade One races, adding the Santa Anita Derby to his two classic wins on the Triple Crown trail.

Meanwhile, the drought continues. We have not seen a Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

5. Groupie Doll

The speed-favoring racing strip at Santa Anita did not slow this gal down, as she won the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint coming with a wide rally as the heavy favorite.

She won three Grade One races and a couple of Grade Two races this year, but perhaps her best effort came in a loss on Nov. 24 at Aqueduct.

She took on the boys in the Cigar Mile and just missed to the game Stay Thirsty, beaten by a nose.  That nostril probably will cost her a few Horse of the Year votes.

4. Little Mike

The Dale Romans trainee was not supposed to be able to handle one-and-a-half miles, but he proved everyone wrong by winning the Breeders’ Cup Turf at betting odds of 17-1.

It was his third Grade One win of the year as the colt took the Turf Classic at Churchill Downs in May and the Arlington Million at Arlington Park in August.

He seems to be the front-runner for outstanding Turf Male of 2012 and will garner some votes for Horse of the Year based on his three Grade One victories.

3. Fort Larned

The four-year-old colt capped off an outstanding 2012 campaign by winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic at odds of 9-1, his fifth win in nine starts and earning $3.5 million.

Trained by Ian R. Wilkes, the colt also won the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga in August. His two Grade One wins on the year and the fact he took full advantage of a speed-favoring racing strip at Santa Anita in his Classic win add up to him likely coming up short in the Horse of the Year voting.

2. Royal Delta

The four-year-old filly trained by Bill Mott defended her title in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic by beating a stellar field that included the undefeated duo of My Miss Aurelia and Awesome Feather.

She won four of seven starts on the year. Her only blemish after returning from Dubai where she was ninth in the Dubai World Cup against males was her runner-up finish in the Personal Ensign Handicap.

1. Wise Dan

Trained masterfully by Charles Lopresti, the five-year-old gelding won five of six races this year, with the lone loss coming when he came up a head short in the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs in June, beaten by Ron the Greek.  

He capped off the year winning three consecutive Grade One races highlighted by his score in the Breeders’ Cup Mile over 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom. The gelding is a true freak, a graded stakes winner on turf, dirt and synthetic surfaces in his career and deserving of Horse of the Year honors.

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