Trio Is Up for Two Eclipse Awards Each

Three horses -- Ghostzapper, Kitten’s Joy and Ouija Board -- are finalists for two Eclipse Awards apiece, sponsors of thoroughbred racing’s top honors announced Wednesday.

Three finalists were announced for each division. Ghostzapper, widely considered to be the favorite for horse-of-the-year honors, is a finalist for best older horse on dirt and best sprinter. Kitten’s Joy is a finalist for 3-year-old male and male on grass, and the English-based Ouija Board is a finalist for 3-year-old filly and female on turf.

No finalists were announced for horse of the year. Most of those votes are expected to go to Ghostzapper, who won the Breeders’ Cup Classic to cap an undefeated four-race campaign, and Smarty Jones, the Kentucky Derby winner whose only loss in seven starts came in the Belmont Stakes. Smarty Jones was retired in August and never raced against Ghostzapper.

There are 329 Eclipse voters -- turf writers, Daily Racing Form staff, track racing secretaries and Equibase employees. All of the winners will be announced Jan. 24 at a dinner in the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Ghostzapper would appear to be a cinch in the older-male division, but in the sprint category he probably will be outvoted by Pico Central and Speightstown, in what could be the closest vote of the year. Speightstown won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, in which Pico Central didn’t run, and earlier in the year Pico Central beat Speightstown, in the only time they met. Ghostzapper’s first start of the year was a sharp effort in the seven-furlong Tom Fool Handicap, but that was the only time he ran at a sprint distance.

Kitten’s Joy, whose eight starts were all on grass, has a better chance to win the male-turf title, although Better Talk Now beat him in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. It’s unusual for a grass specialist to be a factor in a 3-year-old division, usually considered the preserve of dirt horses. But after Smarty Jones, who will win in a landslide, and Birdstone, who beat Smarty Jones in the Belmont and also won the Travers, there was no depth among the 3-year-olds. Lion Heart might have been a finalist, but he won only two races and was soundly beaten in the Derby, Preakness and Travers. Kitten’s Joy, running against a completely different group of horses, had six wins and two seconds in eight tries.

There are some Eclipse voters who oppose supporting European horses who run overseas all year and then blow in during the fall to shine in the Breeders’ Cup. This thinking didn’t get in Ouija Board’s way; the British-bred filly won the English Oaks and Irish Oaks, finished third against males in France’s Arc de Triomphe and then won the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Lone Star Park.

Ouija Board crashed the 3-year-old filly ranks partly because it was a division weak on numbers. Ashado won Breeders’ Cup Distaff, for her third Grade I win, but after her came a bunch of horses who had trouble winning in major company. Stellar Jayne, the other finalist, won only three of 13 starts.

LIST OF FINALISTS ... D2