The results of the first straw poll are in and from the looks of it, there just might be a third-straight Horse of the Year award for a male turfer.
Only it won't be Wise Dan.
Flaxman Holdings' Main Sequence, propelled by a dramatic victory over Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe runner-up Flintshire edged out controversial Breeders' Cup Classic winner Bayern to grab the No. 1 spot in the final National Thoroughbred Racing Association Top 10 poll of 2014.
The poll consisted of 48 media members, not all of whom have Eclipse Award votes, which will ultimately settle Horse of the Year and divisional championships.
Main Sequence jumped up from the No. 5 spot in the previous poll, advancing with 20 first-place votes and 418 points. The Kaleem Shah-owned, Bob Baffert-trained Bayern, sixth previously, was second with 13 first-place votes and 385 points.
All of the top six finishers received at least one first-place nod, showing the division among voters.
Kentucky Derby/Preakness winner California Chrome was third (five first-place votes, 331 points), followed in the top five by Kentucky Oaks/Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Untapable (4, 327), the impending 3-year-old filly champ, and previous Poll No. 1 Shared Belief (1, 295), who was fourth as the beaten favorite in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
The top 10 was rounded out by, in order, defending two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan (5, 283), who missed the Breeders' Cup due to injury, Goldencents (172), Tonalist (103), Palace Malice (59) and Work All Week (39).
Main Sequence, trained by Graham Motion, stands a perfect 4-for-4 this year, all in Grade 1 stakes. The talent level of competition he faced in winning the United Nations, Sword Dancer, and Joe Hirsch Turf Classic was not overwhelming. Yet any doubts about his quality and desire were erased when he surged past Flintshire in the final yards to take the $3-million Breeders' Cup Turf by a half-length.
The 5-year-old gelded son of Aldebaran who started his career in England and debuted in the United States this year, definitely has a flair for the dramatic as he registered a combined margin of victory of a length and a quarter in his nail-biting wins.
Bayern won by a nose over Toast of New York in the $5-million BC Classic showdown that figured to crown Horse of the Year, defeating in the process Top 10 rivals California Chrome, Shared Belief and Tonalist, who were third through fifth, respectively. The outcome, though, was soaked in dispute when Bayern veered in at the start of the race, impeding Shared Belief and others. The stewards at Santa Anita, though, let the result stand in a decision that was roundly criticized in many quarters.
Whether there was a trickle-down effect from the non-disqualification, or voters found flaw in a record of six wins in 10 starts with two Grade 1 (Haskell and BC Classic) and two Grade 2 (Pennsylvania Derby, Woody Stephens) wins is a subjective question that promises to fuel as much debate as the BC Classic inquiry itself.
Newcomers to the final Top 10 were Goldencents, who prevailed in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, and Breeders' Cup Sprint champ Work All Week.
Work All Week should be a natural choice for champion sprinter with a record of five wins in six starts, none beyond six furlongs. Goldencents ran five times this year, three times at less than a mile. In sprints, he won the Grade 2 Pat O'Brien and was second in a pair of Grade 1's, the Santa Anita Sprint Championship and the Bing Crosby, but his higher ranking in the poll raises the notion that some voters hold him in more esteem than Work All Week, whose only other graded stakes win was in the Grade 3 Phoenix at Keeneland, and might cast some Eclipse votes for him.
Among those who dropped out of the Top 10 were the 4-year-old filly Close Hatches, who plummeted from seventh to 15th (26 points) after finishing last of 11 in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. Yet with Grade 1 wins in the Personal Ensign, Ogden Phipps and Apple Blossom and a Grade 2 score in the Azeri, that should be enough to earn her an Eclipse Award as the best older filly. Three older fillies, however, did receive slightly more points than her in the poll: Dayatthespa (33), Judy the Beauty (31) and two-time Eclipse Award winner Beholder (29).
Among 2-year-olds, BC Juvenile winner Texas Red had 18 points to nine for dual Grade 1 winner American Pharoah, who missed the race due to injury, and Lady Eli (11 points), the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf winner, was the only filly to receive points.
Horse of the Year for 2014 and divisional champions will be announced Jan. 17, 2014 during the 44th annual Eclipse Award dinner at Gulfstream Park.
