COMMENTARY : Lure of the Turf in Line for Prize

A race on the other side of the globe may have decided the U.S. horse-of-the-year title. The turf specialist Lure now seems assured of this country’s top thoroughbred honor.

Lure and Kotashaan had been considered the leading candidates for the Eclipse Award after scoring the most notable victories in the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita. Lure was finished for the season, but Kotashaan went on to compete in the world’s richest race, the $3.6 million Japan Cup.

He delivered a commendable performance, finishing second to a Japanese colt even though his jockey, Kent Desormeaux, misjudged the finish line. But he probably needed a victory to sway Eclipse Award voters, the majority of whom seemed to be leaning toward Lure anyway.

At first glance, Lure may seem to be an odd choice for horse of the year. He doesn’t run on dirt, where U.S. championships are traditionally decided. Nor has he won a race as long as 1 1/4 miles, the distance at which championships are usually decided. His victory in the Breeders’ Cup Mile was his only Grade I stakes triumph of the year. (Kotashaan, by contrast, won five Grade I races.)

Nevertheless, Lure is a worthy champion in what generally was a subpar year for thoroughbred competition. He’ll get my vote.

The qualifications for the horse of the year have never been spelled out, but most voters have tacitly accepted this standard: The championship should go to a horse who wins at classic distances on the dirt. But if no horse has excelled in such races, voters are free to choose another type -- a grass runner, a sprinter, even a 2 year old. The winner of the definitive 1 1/4-mile dirt race, the Breeders’ Cup Classic, has won racing’s top honor in five of the past six years.

This year, however, the 3-year-old classics produced unmemorable performances, and the only older horse who showed flashes of brilliance was Bertrando. He could have locked up the title if he had won the Classic, but when the 133-to-1 Arcangues overhauled him, he was left with a record that was just too spotty for a horse of the year: nine starts and three wins, all in races in which he wasn’t challenged for the lead.

This was a rare season in which the best American horses were grass specialists, and three of them compiled exceptional records -- not only Lure and Kotashaan, but also Star of Cozzene. Collectively, they won 17 graded stakes, earned more than $5 million and proved themselves not only the best in the United States, but the best in the world. Any of them would have been a standout turf champion in an ordinary year.

Which of them was the best horse? That question is almost unanswerable because the three have different specialties. Lure is a miler. Star of Cozzene’s optimal distance is 1 1/4 miles. Kotashaan is at his best going 1 1/2 miles, the distance of most of the big-money grass races.

Star of Cozzene flopped in his last U.S. start, costing him his chance for the honor, and then finished fifth in the Japan Cup. But when he was at the top of his game, he may have been the best. He earned the highest speed figures, and he whipped Kotashaan three straight times last winter.

Anyone who recognizes Star of Cozzene’s merits will look at Lure’s record with admiration. In eight starts this year, Lure won six times, beating Star of Cozzene twice; his only two losses were second-place finishes to Star of Cozzene.

In fact, Star of Cozzene was the only horse able to finish within two lengths of Lure during all of 1993. If this formidable rival hadn’t been in his way, Lure would have compiled a record so brilliant that he would have been hailed as an international superstar and would have eliminated the need for any debate about the horse of the year.

The blemishes on Lure’s record exist only because American racing gives so few opportunities for a horse whose specialty is running one mile on the turf. In order to find some attractive money-making opportunities, trainer Shug McGaughey had to run the 4 year old at longer distances, where he was vulnerable to Star of Cozzene.

But it’s not as if running a mile on grass is a bizarre or unimportant specialty. In Europe, great milers are exalted. A highly acclaimed contingent of English and French milers came to Gulfstream Park for the 1992 Breeders’ Cup Mile and Lure demolished them, leading all the way and covering the distance in an exceptional 1:32 3-5. Europe’s best launched another formidable challenge at Santa Anita and Lure -- despite getting parked five-wide at the first turn -- beat them effortlessly. He is a worthy champion.