Eclipse Awards Make It Nearly Unanimous : Five of the Seven Breeders’ Cup Winners Are Voted Best in Their Class

It pays to run in the Breeders’ Cup, even if you don’t win.

Winners of the Eclipse Awards--racing’s Oscars for 1987--were announced Tuesday, and eight of the nine champions were Breeders’ Cup participants, including five winners of the seven races.

The only non-Breeders’ Cup horse who won an Eclipse was Forty Niner, who was voted the best 2-year-old colt in the country. Success Express won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, but then finished sixth in the Hollywood Futurity a month later.

Wayne Lukas, who trains Success Express, missed that award, but still dominated the voting of 149 turf writers, track racing secretaries and Daily Racing Form representatives.

Lukas, who had already trained five Eclipse Award winners, added two more in 1987 when Sacahuista won the title for 3-year-old fillies and North Sider the championship for older fillies and mares.

In addition, Lukas--with a record 92 stakes wins and $17.5 million in purses--won the trainer award for the third straight year.

Lukas’ principal clients, Gene and Joyce Klein, were voted top owners for the third straight year. The Kleins’ horses didn’t win any Eclipse Awards, but their runners won eight major races and finished with a record $5.7 million in purses.

The winners of the 1987 awards:

Two-year-old colt--Forty Niner. 2. Tejano. 3. Success Express.

Two-year-old filly--Epitome. 2. Goodbye Halo. 3. Over All.

Three-year-old colt--Alysheba. 2. Java Gold. 3. Bet Twice.

Three-year-old filly--Sacahuista. 2. Personal Ensign. 3. Very Subtle. 4. Miesque.

Older male--Ferdinand. 2. Broad Brush. 3. Creme Fraiche.

Older filly or mare--North Sider. 2. Coup de Fusil. 3. Infinidad. 4. Family Style.

Male turf--Theatrical. 2. Manila. 3. Le Glorieux. 4. Trempolino.

Female Turf--Miesque. 2. Anka Germania. 3. Carotene.

Sprinter--Groovy. 2. Very Subtle. 3. Pine Tree Lane.

Steeplechaser--Inlander. 2. Chief of the Clan. 3. Flatterer. 4. Gacko. 5. (tie) Chammsky, Polar Parallel, Steve Canyon.

Trainer--Wayne Lukas.

Jockey--Pat Day.

Apprentice jockey--Kent Desormeaux.

Owner--Mr. and Mrs. Gene Klein.

Epitome, Sacahuista, Ferdinand, Theatrical and Miesque all won Breeders’ Cup races. Alysheba and Groovy finished second on Breeders’ Cup day. North Sider ran last in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, more than 35 lengths behind Sacahuista, but the 5-year-old mare won three major races earlier in the year and benefited from being in a division that had no standouts.

The 1987 horse of the year, who will be either Ferdinand or Theatrical, will be announced Jan. 27.

If there was an inequity in the voting, it was that Very Subtle, the speedy 3-year-old filly, didn’t win an award.

Very Subtle won 6 of 12 starts, beat Groovy by four lengths in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and twice beat Sacahuista.

But the voters gave the sprint title to Groovy, who had been undefeated in 1987 before the Breeders’ Cup, and in the 3-year-old filly division they favored Sacahuista, who didn’t win a race until she registered victories in her last two starts after losing two earlier starts because of fouls.

“The horse hasn’t been completely sound, and I’m just grateful that he was able to finish the year,” said Jose Martin, who trained Groovy. “We went to the Breeders’ Cup at Hollywood Park and got beat, but I’m glad the voters didn’t hold that against us. We could have stayed in New York without running in California and still won the title.”

The champions had to gain the support of at least two of the three voting groups in order to win. The only choices who didn’t carry all three groups were North Sider and Epitome. Coup de Fusil led the voting by the turf writers for older filly or mare and Goodbye Halo was first among the racing secretaries in the 2-year-old filly category.