JUSTIFY STEALS THE SHOW A confused Wolf said, "No." Edwards then explained that 6:52 was the time when Justify by Bob Ehalt crossed the finish line in the Belmont, eliciting a laugh from Hallandale Beach, Fla. B Once again, to little surprise, it was Wolf, whose nickname may now be Jack "6:52" Wolf. the year's Triple Crown champion who proved to be There were several light-hearted moments, highlighted by the Thoroughbred racing's brightest star. speech of longtime Del Mar Thoroughbred Club head Joe Harper At Thursday's 48th annual Eclipse Awards, the retired Justify in receiving the Eclipse Award of Merit. (Scat Daddy) added Horse of the Year and Champion 3-Year-Old Harper started by thanking his parents for imparting some Male laurels to a sterling resume that will be forever topped by "wisdom" on him. his stature as the sport's 13th Triple Crown champion. "After flunking out of college for the third time, I was WinStar Farm owner Kenny Troutt, in accepting the Horse of concerned about what to tell my parents, so I tried the truth. I the Year trophy for Justify on behalf of his partners China Horse said to my dad, >Sorry, Dad, Club, Head of Plains Partners and flunked out again, I think I'm just Starlight Racing, expressed thanks not that smart,' and he said, >Your to everyone involved in the mother and I figured that out a undefeated 3-year-old and was long time ago, but you were thankful for the joy the sport has smart enough to figure that out brought to his family. so here's some advice for you, "Horse racing and this farm has always try to surround yourself been a blessing and has brought with people smarter than you.' my family together," Troutt said That turned out to be fairly easy during a rather brief acceptance at first but when I got to Del Mar speech that lasted only about a that became more difficult minute-and-a-half and closed out because I needed some really an amazingly quick program. "My Team Justify | Horsephotos smart people. I can't tell you how wife and our three kids just love much this award means to Del horse racing. It's been a blessing." Mar." Surprisingly, Justify did not have the coattails of past Triple In thanking the many people who worked for him at Del Mar, Crown/Horse of the Year recipients as the only other members Harper also managed to work in a little dig at another California of Team Justify to be honored at the black-tie Gulfstream Park track. affair were breeder John D. Gunther and Justify's win in the GI "It just came to me, half of those people were fired at Santa Belmont S., which was voted the National Thoroughbred Racing Anita. All you racetrack managers out there, if you need some Association's Moment of the Year. good and talented people, just go down to the Arcadia In accepting his Eclipse Award as the Outstanding Breeder, unemployment office. They're all there. Racing secretaries, race Gunther voiced sincere thanks to his daughter, Tanya. callers." "It is such an honor to achieve this award and if not for my While some Eclipse Awards ceremonies have dragged on daughter, I would not be standing here," Gunther said. longer than Justify's career, the 48th edition was streamlined Fittingly, the NTRA Moment of the Year produced one of the and completed in about 1:39. Some speeches were limited to a more humorous moments of the night when Master of minute, making the night's busiest people the band members Ceremonies Jeannine Edwards presented the award to Jack who began playing when some recipients exceeded their time. Wolf, managing partner and CEO of Starlight Racing. In handing The champion in that division was Sol Kumin of Monomoy the trophy to Wolf, she asked him if he knew about the Stable, who owns Champion 3-Year-Old Filly Monomoy Girl significance of 6:52 on the trophy. (Tapizar). ECLIPSE AWARDS • PAGE 2 OF 24 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • JAN. 25, 2019 As for the thank-yous that could not be heard, Kumin said, "I was going for Florent when I stopped. I wanted to thank Paul Sharp for breaking the filly. Her groom Darwin Agular and exercise rider Mario Garcia, too, and I was going to thank my dad, Steve Kumin. He got cut off. He showed up from Boston. We've always had a tight relationship and the last few years we've traveled around the world together for races." The music started playing for Chad Brown while he was in the midst of his speech after winning a third straight Eclipse Award as the leading trainer, but he tugged at the heartstrings for a few extra moments. "You're not going to cut me off while I'm thanking my kids, are you?" Brown said. Harper had the best way of stopping the clock on his speech. "I paid off the band," he said. "Three minutes, okay." Sol Kumin & Monomoy Girl=s connections | Horsephotos In starting his speech, Kumin warned, "There's no shot at doing this in a minute. Not with this group." True to his word, Kumin was able to thank trainer Brad Cox for giving the filly "unbelievable care" and Liz Crow of BSW Bloodstock for signing the $100,000 sale slip for Monomoy Girl at the 2016 Keeneland September sale before the music started. The music grew louder as Kumin tried to add praise for jockey Florent Geroux and then as he tried to squeeze in kudos for few other folks, the nominations for the Champion 3-Year-Old Male started rolling and he waived the white flag. "I understand the process of trying to shorten the speeches, but it seemed a little bit short to me. You have all these people who have spent a lot of money and time trying to find a great Chad Brown | Horsephotos The quick hook brought back memories for Jonathan Green, who owns 2-Year-Old Champion Filly Jaywalk (Cross Traffic) with his father, Leonard, and his mother, Lois, and Cash is King LLC. "A long time ago, my mother was the leading owner at Keystone Park and she talked for 15 minutes," he said. "She won the award the next year and they mailed it to her." Perhaps the most priceless moment came when the award for the Outstanding Jockey went to Irad Ortiz, Jr., the brother of 2017's Eclipse Award-winning jockey, Jose Ortiz. Irad walked on stage with his young daughter Sarai who waved and posed for the crowd as her father talked from the heart. "I want to thank my family for their support and I want to dedicate this trophy to a very special person, my brother (Jose) who dedicated his (Eclipse Award) to me a year ago," Irad said. WinStar=s Kenny Troutt | Horsephotos "This is for him. Love you, bro. And I know the happiest person horse and finally get a chance to be in the spotlight and a minute in the room right now is my dad. Thank you, Dad." is a little aggressive. I hope they expand that a little bit to say two minutes." ECLIPSE AWARDS • PAGE 3 OF 24 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • JAN. 25, 2019 HORSE OF THE YEAR CHAMPION 3-YEAR-OLD MALE JUSTIFY (c, 3, Scat Daddy--Stage Magic, by Ghostzapper) $500,000 yrl >15 KEESEP O-China Horse Club, WinStar Farm, Head of Plains Partners & Starlight Racing; B-John D. Gunther (KY); T-Bob Baffert 2018 Record: 6-6-0-0, $3,798,000 Major 2018 Races GI Santa Anita Derby ! GI Kentucky Derby ! GI Preakness S. ! GI Belmont S. TJCIS PPs ! Equineline catalog-style pedigree Justify | Sarah Andrew Justify was the definition of perfection during his brief, but brilliant career. There was no question he would win the Eclipse for top sophomore male and, while there was some debate in the Horse of the Year category with GI Breeders= Cup Classic winner Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky), the mighty Justify won out there too after a history-making campaign. He is the 15th 3-year-old to be named Horse of the Year and the first since 2015 Triple Crown hero American Pharoah. The prestigious list of past sophomore Horses of the Year includes Triple Crown winners Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed, as well as more recent runners, such as Curlin, Rachel Alexandra and California Chrome. Much-hyped leading up to his career bow at Santa Anita Feb. 18, the hulking chestnut lived up to the buzz with an ultra- impressive 9 1/2-length graduation. Equally dominant when clearing his first-level allowance condition by 6 1/2 lengths going a mile at Santa Anita Mar. 11, he stamped his ticket to Churchill Downs with a decisive defeat of Bolt d=Oro (Medaglia d=Oro) in the GI Santa Anita Derby Apr. 7. ECLIPSE AWARDS • PAGE 4 OF 24 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • JAN. 25, 2019 Justify sauntered home a never-in-doubt winner over juvenile champion Good Magic (Curlin) in the GI Kentucky Derby May 5-- breaking the longstanding Apollo=s curse--and emerged from the fog a half-length clear of the hard-knocking Bravazo (Awesome Again) in a nail-biting renewal of the GI Preakness S. May 19. The >TDN Rising Star= cemented his place in the history books June 9 on Long Island when wiring the GI Belmont S. to become the 13th Triple Crown winner.