Acclamation

Was robbed last night.

Congratulations to Acclamation, the Older Male Champion for 2011.

Congrats on award!

P.S.: I had no idea I would come out so strongly for Acclamation for Older Male, but the more I looked at the statistics on this horse, and the lack of any real depth to any of the divisions, and exceptions are being made all over the place for ALL the categories, then it just seemed astonishing that no one was really on this guy's bandwagon! If you match him up against any of the others, you just have to notice, he stands out where there are really not too many standouts!

The Case for Acclamation for Older Male: There are always exceptions to nearly every rule...has to race on dirt, synthetic doesn't count, there's already a turf category, etc. If a case can be made for HdG for HOY, then nearly the same case can be made for Acclamation as Older Male, using similar “exceptions”. A Horse of the Year in the past has not always had to have raced outside its division in order to get the honor (Azeri, 2002). Also, Rachel proved you don't have to go the Classic distance, as even in her races against the males, she did not even challenge at the 1 1/4 mile distance. So, what do we have left. I certainly concur that Havre de Grace is a good horse to break precedent with for some of the traditional qualifications for HOY, as she has never won at the Classic distance either, though she has certainly proved she can go the distance, and her performance against the males deserves extra points there, as she won decisively, making it look more like a workout than a big time race. As to what to do about Acclamation, he -- at the very least -- deserves some major award, I don't care if it's Turf champ or Older Male, but he certainly MUST get an award. He shouldn't have to step outside his division either (although I would argue that he accomplished a lot in the PC) to legitimately deserve the Older Male award. It doesn’t say Older “Turf” Male, just Older Male. He certainly dominated in every way any horse needs to to deserve an Eclipse award! Some feel Cape Blanco's performance makes him the Turf champ, so that leaves Older Male for Acclamation. If a horse that has won 5 GRADED STAKES and 3 GRADE 1s doesn't get a major award, then shame on the voters! I don't care what he ran on, where, or how far (he did go the Classic distance in the Pacific Classic), so what is the big deal about it being on synthetic or the turf. Give this horse a championship. He deserves it. HdG has 5 graded stakes wins and 3 G1s, and she has never won at the Classic distance, and her showing in the BCC left a lot to be desired. So, if you can make an exception for HdG for the HOY, and if you want to make Cape Blanco the turf champ, then, hands down, Older Male belongs to Acclamation. Oh, and by the way, he HAS won at the Classic distance, in addition to his other accomplishments. Also, by the way, HdG and Acclamation are the ONLY horses in ANY DIVISION WITH A 5 GRADED STAKES AND 3 GRADE 1s RECORD!