HORSE RACING : ECLIPSE AWARDS : Criminal Type Edges Unbridled for Honor

Criminal Type received only 44% of the votes, but that was enough for the son of Alydar to be elected 1990’s horse of the year, giving a resurgent Calumet Farm its first national championship since Citation in 1948.

Fifteen other Eclipse Awards were presented Saturday after balloting by 249 turf writers, track racing secretaries and representatives of the Daily Racing Form.

Horse of the year was one of the closest votes, with the turf writers and Racing Form favoring Criminal Type and the racing secretaries supporting Unbridled, who won the 3-year-old colt title after winning the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Classic. A horse must gain the support of two of the three groups in order to win an Eclipse.

Criminal Type, who traveled coast to coast in putting together four Grade I victories during a three-month period last summer, totaled 110 votes, with Unbridled getting 71 and Go For Wand, the champion 3-year-old filly who was destroyed after breaking down in the stretch of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, getting 38. There were 30 votes that went to other horses.

Criminal Type had a 56-33 edge over Unbridled in the turf writers’ vote. His edge was 43-24 from the Racing Form, and the racing secretaries favored Unbridled, 14-11.

Criminal Type’s plurality was the lowest for a horse-of-the-year winner since Ferdinand won the national championship with 38% in 1987.

Criminal Type’s victory prevented a sweep by the Unbridled camp in other categories. Carl Nafzger, Unbridled’s conditioner, won the training title over Wayne Lukas, who trained Criminal Type; Craig Perret, who won the Kentucky Derby with Unbridled and finished the year with a record-tying 57 stakes victories, was elected top jockey by a wide margin over Gary Stevens, one of Criminal Type’s jockeys; and Frances Genter, Unbridled’s owner, who will turn 93 later this month, won the Eclipse for owner.

Calumet finished with three Eclipses. Criminal Type also won the older-male title and Calumet was voted top breeder.

The voters had difficulty separating the top horses because Criminal Type, a 4-year-old, never raced against Unbridled. After winning the Pimlico Special, the Metropolitan Handicap, the Hollywood Gold Cup and the Whitney Handicap, Criminal Type ran sixth in the Woodward Handicap at Belmont Park in September and was retired to stud because of a broken ankle.

Criminal Type won seven of 11 starts and earned $2.2 million, beating Sunday Silence, the 1989 horse of the year, and Eclipse winners Easy Goer and Housebuster along the way.

Many voters had difficulty voting for Unbridled, even though he won America’s most prestigious races, the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Overall, he had a losing record, winning four of 11 starts. Unbridled is in training for Nafzger at Gulfstream Park, where a minor foot injury has slowed him, but the trainer said Saturday that he hopes to have the 4-year-old colt ready for either the Oaklawn Handicap or the Pimlico Special in the spring.

Lukas, despite being denied his fourth Eclipse for best trainer, has now trained horses that have won 17 titles. Lukas’ previous horse-of-the-year winner was Lady’s Secret in 1986.

Although Lukas has maintained that Criminal Type was “the best horse to run last year,” he didn’t think his horse was going to win and planned on spending Saturday at Santa Anita, where he was going to saddle Cuddles in the Santa Ynez Breeders’ Cup Stakes.

“About 9 this morning, somebody from ABC called the barn and encouraged me to come,” Lukas said. “So we cranked up the plane and came on up. This horse is like the boxer who’s won the heavyweight title. He beat all the contenders. I think that’s the sign of a champion when he beats all the horses who are just below him.”

J.T. Lundy, president of Calumet, said that Criminal Type has already been tested as a stallion and got a mare in foal after three breedings. His sire, Alydar, died last year.

“We plan to breed Criminal Type to about 60 or 65 mares,” Lundy said. “That’s a lot of breeding, but we think he can handle it. The first three years or so are important for a stallion. After that, there’s always the chance that people will forget about him. His stud fee this year will be $50,000 and he’ll be bred to a lot of the mares that we used to breed to Alydar.”

After the ankle injury, Criminal Type was returned to Calumet last fall, where two veterinarians advised Lundy not to run him anymore.

“They said that if we went on with him, there would be the chance that he could have an injury like Go For Wand’s on the track,” Lundy said.

Lukas thanked Lundy for his support. “All year, he let me do what I wanted to do with this horse,” Lukas said. “After he won at Pimlico, I wanted to run in the Metropolitan, and J.T. didn’t like the idea of going back in distance (from 1 3/16 miles to a mile). But he let us run him in the Metropolitan anyway.”

Nafzger had no complaint about Unbridled not beating out Criminal Type. “It’s just like I said about the trainers’ vote,” he said. “I was just happy to be in the finals with Wayne and Ron McAnally, and would have been happy to just finish third. I was also pleased just to be among the top three with Criminal Type and Go For Wand.”

The track racing secretaries favored Lukas in the trainers’ vote, while the two other groups went for Nafzger. The other close vote came in the female turf division, with Petite Ile losing out to Laugh And Be Merry, who got the support of the Racing Form and racing secretaries.

Southland-based Itsallgreektome was voted top male turf horse.

The runaway winner was Meadow Star, the champion 2-year-old filly. She was listed first on all 249 ballots. Meadow Star won all seven of her races last year.

THE VOTING

This is how the horses finished in the Eclipse Award voting for 1990: * Horse of the year: Criminal Type, Unbridled, Go for Wand. * Older male: Criminal Type, Dispersal, Sunday Silence. * Older female: Bayakoa, Gorgeous, Colonial Waters. * Turf male: Itsallgreektome, With Approval, In the Wings. * Turf female: Laugh and Be Merry, Petite Ile, Plenty of Grace. * 3-year-old colt or gelding: Unbridled, Summer Squall, Housebuster. * 3-year-old filly: Go for Wand, Charon, Valay Maid. * 2-year-old colt or gelding: Fly So Free, Best Pal, Eastern Echo. * 2-year-old filly: Meadow Star, Cuddles, Private Treasure. * Sprinter: Housebuster, Safely Kept, Dayjur. * Steeplechase: Morley Street, Summer Colony, Victorian Hill. * Trainer: Carl Nafzger, Wayne Lukas, Ron McAnally. * Jockey: Craig Perret, Gary Stevens, Pat Day. * Apprentice jockey: Mark Johnston, Vann Belvoir, Paul Toscano. * Owner: Frances Genter, Kinghaven Farm, John Franks. * Breeder: Calumet Farm, Tartan Farm, John Mabee.