THOROUGHBRED RACING : And Horse-of-Year Winner Is . . .

The last horse to win the horse-of-the-year title without winning a Breeders’ Cup race was Spend A Buck in 1985. Based on that, Criminal Type would be virtually eliminated from championship consideration for 1990.

Since the Eclipse Awards started in 1971, only one horse, Ferdinand in 1987, has been voted horse of the year after finishing the season with more losses than victories. That would seem to prevent Unbridled from becoming horse of the year for 1990.

A filly is seldom horse of the year, and a 3-year-old filly hasn’t received the honor since Busher in 1945. That would make Go For Wand an unlikely candidate this time.

But some horse has to get the award, and when the result of the Eclipse voting is announced here Saturday, the winner will be (a) Criminal Type, last year’s best handicap horse; (b) Unbridled, the 3-year-old champion, or (c) Go For Wand, who was the best 2-year-old filly in 1989 and the champion 3-year-old filly last year but a luckless runner who broke down and was destroyed after battling Bayakoa for the lead in the closing 100 yards of last October’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Belmont Park.

While the outcome of the vote is in an envelope prepared by the Eclipse Awards accountants, it has been said two groups that determine the winner favored one horse, and the third voting bloc favored another horse. This means that one of the three contenders was a runner-up all the way around.

More than 250 votes from the Daily Racing Form, the National Turf Writers Assn. and racing secretaries at most North American tracks determine the winner. The total vote usually doesn’t matter. To win, a horse must gain a majority from two of the three voting groups.

In 1984, however, a total-vote tiebreaker was needed to settle the issue when the Form preferred John Henry, the eventual winner, the turf writers favored Slew o’ Gold and the racing secretaries split down the middle. The Breeders’ Cup began in ‘84, and that was also the only year in which the horse of the year didn’t win a Breeders’ Cup race or the Kentucky Derby or both.

Spend A Buck won the Derby in 1985 and didn’t run in the Breeders’ Cup; In the next three years, Lady’s Secret, Ferdinand and Alysheba all won a Breeders’ Cup race, and in 1989 Sunday Silence, like Unbridled, swept the Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

The difference, however, between the complete records of Sunday Silence and Unbridled is considerable. Sunday Silence won seven of nine starts and beat his main adversary, Easy Goer, three out of four times. Last year, Unbridled won just four of 11 starts. He was unable to defeat Summer Squall, another 3-year-old, in two of their three meetings, and twice his trainer, Carl Nafzger, got him beat by less talented stablemates, Super Abound and Home At Last.

The people behind Unbridled all have a chance to win other Eclipse Awards, however, and they and their horse could all sweep to victory. Nafzger is involved in a close Eclipse vote with Wayne Lukas for outstanding trainer; Frances Genter, who will be 93 on Feb. 17, could win the statuette that goes to the outstanding owner, and Craig Perret, who rode Unbridled to victory in the Derby, will be the best jockey if Gary Stevens isn’t.

Criminal Type won four major stakes last year, two fewer than Go For Wand, but the difference in the well-traveled 5-year-old colt’s record was that his victories were at tracks in Maryland, New York and California, and he beat the best horses--previous Eclipse Award winners Sunday Silence and Easy Goer, and Housebuster, who is likely to win an Eclipse, for sprinting, Saturday.

The feeling here is that Criminal Type will win, but only after the judges take a long look at the photo.

The other Eclipse Awards winners will also be announced Saturday. Here is a list of the finalists, with the probable winners in ITALICS:

* 2-year-old colt or gelding--Best Pal, Eastern Echo, FLY SO FREE .

* 2-year-old filly--Cuddles, MEADOW STAR , Private Treasure.

* 3-year-old colt or gelding--Housebuster, Summer Squall, UNBRIDLED .

* 3-year-old filly--Charon, GO FOR WAND , Valay Maid.

* Older male-- CRIMINAL TYPE , Dispersal, Sunday Silence.

* Older female-- BAYAKOA , Colonial Waters, Gorgeous.

* Grass male--In The Wings, Itsallgreektome, WITH APPROVAL .

* Grass female--Laugh and Be Merry, PETITE ILE , Plenty Of Grace.

* Sprinter--Dayjur, HOUSEBUSTER , Safely Kept.

* Trainer--Wayne Lukas, Ron McAnally, CARL NAFZGER .

* Jockey--Pat Day, CRAIG PERRET , Gary Stevens.

* Apprentice jockey--Vann Belvoir, MARK JOHNSTON , Paul Toscano.

* Breeder-- CALUMET FARM , John Mabee, Tartan Farm.

* Owner--John Franks, FRANCES GENTER , Kinghaven Farm.

Horse Racing Notes

Rhythm, the high weight at 121 pounds, has drawn the No. 3 post for Saturday’s $500,000 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park. Primal, who will carry 120 pounds, has the No. 8 post in a field of 12. There will be betting on the race at Santa Anita. . . . Santa Anita’s Saturday stake, the $100,000 Santa Ynez Breeders’ Cup for 3-year-old fillies, has drawn a field of five: Lite Light, Fowda, Brazen, Cuddles and Ifyoucouldseemenow. . . . Sunday, In Excess will be favored in the $500,000 Strub Stakes, and another stake on the card is the $100,000 San Vicente Breeders’ Cup for 3-year-olds.

Tony Diaz, the jockey suspended for two years when an electrical device--called a battery--was discovered in his locker at Bay Meadows, resumed riding this week at Golden Gate Fields.