Below I outline the rationale I used in approaching one of the more difficult decisions faced by Eclipse voters in 2018.
 

Since I don’t believe there is a convincing rationalization for withholding an Eclipse Award vote, as is advocated by some, I must choose the best option among a flawed group of candidates. 

With Monomoy Girl defeating her elders in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, the results of that race are difficult to utilize when evaluating candidates for this award. Therefore, we must look beyond the Breeders’ Cup to find a winner. The two fillies with the strongest credentials prior to November were Abel Tasman and Unique Bella.

While Unique Bella’s record of 3 wins and a second in 4 starts seems impressive at first glance, the level of competition that she defeated was not on par with some other candidates for this award. La Force, runner-up in both of Unique Bella’s Grade 1 victories, was exposed as merely ordinary later in the season. Unbridled Mo, who handed Unique Bella her only defeat in the Apple Blossom, was later trounced by Abel Tasman in the Ogden Phipps. 

Abel Tasman ended her campaign on a sour note, but prior to that she had achieved heights not attained by any of her rivals for this award. Her Phipps score was breathtaking and she defeated formidable rival Elate in a thrilling edition of the Personal Ensign. In my view, those were championship-level performances. In a normal year, Abel Tasman’s subsequent flops might have allowed another candidate to usurp her with wins in similarly prestigious races through the autumn, but in 2018 none stepped up. The closest any rival came to a strong fall campaign was Wow Cat, who won the Grade 1 Beldame and barely lost the Breeders’ Cup Distaff with a troubled trip. However, her Personal Ensign loss to Abel Tasman prevents me from ranking her higher than 2nd on my ballot.

My votes: 1) Abel Tasman, 2) Wow Cat, 3) Unique Bella