Eclipsing the competition

By and large, the racing press seems determined to hand the Eclipse Award for Older Male to Lawyer Ron. Not so fast.

Lawyer Ron had a good year, winning four of eight starts. His stakes wins were in the Woodward and Whitney at Saratoga as well as the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap. He finished the year with two losses as he was run down by Curlin late in the stretch of the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and then was nowhere to be found in the Breeders Cup Classic.

Corinthian also had a good year. He won four of seven starts, with his stakes wins coming in the Breeders Cup Dirt Mile, the Met Mile, and the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap. He split decisions with Lawyer Ron , beating Lawyer Ron by about a length in the Met Mile, but he later ran about ten lengths behind Lawyer Ron in the Woodward.

Their records are very similar. But there is one big difference between the two. Corinthian won a Breeders Cup race, albeit a race with 20% of the purse of the Classic in which Lawyer Ron flopped. Nevertheless, it was a Breeders Cup race, and if the Breeders Cup is to serve as some sort of proving ground for champions, the win in Breeders Cup Mile along with the Met Mile victory should carry greater weight than the wins in the Woodward and Whitney.

The argument could be settled in either the Cigar Mile or the Clark Handicap. Invasor may also claim the title based upon his early season wins in the Donn Handicap and Dubai World Cup. But if the decisions comes down to between Corinthian and Lawyer Ron and neither races again this year, then I think the nod should go to Corinthian.