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

A few of the human categories at the Eclipse Awards are prone to confusing fans and even some voters. While opinions around the Jockey and Trainer awards tend to coalesce towards a consensus by the end of the season, it seems that everyone has a different set of criteria for what it means to be “Outstanding Owner” or “Outstanding Breeder” at year’s end. Therefore, I will attempt to shed some light on how I arrived at my decisions, focusing on the owner category.

I take 4 major factors into consideration when determining owner and breeder awards, and weigh them in the following order, from most important to least:

   · Earnings per start, focusing on entities with at least 40 starters
   · Number of champion horses / graded stakes winners
   · Major accomplishments (i.e. meet titles, classic victories, etc.)
   · Overall rank by earnings / wins

I care most about earnings per start because that metric weeds out connections that have achieved most of their success on lesser circuits. I believe it is appropriate to reward owners who compete at the highest level in the same way that we do for jockeys and trainers. Furthermore, while I’m not overly concerned with the size of a stable, I do want to elevate owners that have achieved their success with more than a handful of horses. Therefore, only considering owners with at least 40 starters seems fair to me.

Using the list of top 100 earners among owners, I excluded the 13 entities with fewer than 40 starters, and then ranked the remaining 87 entities by earnings per start. Peter Brant topped the list with a remarkable $63,000 in earnings per start for his 58 starters. Michael Dubb appeared twice on the list, finishing 2nd (in partnership) and 28th (solo), while Klaravich Stables also showed up twice, coming in 7th (with Lawrence) and 10th (solo). I should note that Hronis Racing also performed very well, coming in 6th on this list and I strongly considered a vote for them before ultimately favoring the aforementioned trio.

I elevated Klaravich Stables and Michael Dubb to the top two positions on my ballot due to their body of work at all levels of competition throughout the year. Michael Dubb operated a stable of horses that spanned all class levels, campaigning Grade 1 winners as well as bottom-level claimers and winning at a high rate across the spectrum. He also sent out more winners than any other owner at arguably the toughest circuit in the country (NYRA) in 2018. He would have been a worthy choice for my top vote, but I ended up giving the edge to Klaravich Stables for two reasons:

1) Klaravich Stables’ performance at the 2018 Saratoga meet was worthy of recognition. Klaravich ran away with the owner’s title, winning 21 races during the 7-week stand, more than double that of runner-up Michael Dubb. They also won the owner’s title at the Belmont fall meet, beating out Dubb once again.

2) Unlike many large partnerships and claiming outfits, Klaravich generally does not buy horses with proven form, either at the claim box or through private purchases. All of their top runners have been acquired at auction prior to the start of their careers. That is true for each of their 5 Grade 1-winning horses in 2018. It’s incredibly difficult to play the game that way and consistently achieve success, yet Klaravich has done so even while expanding its operation in 2018.

My votes: 1) Klaravich Stables, 2) Michael Dubb, 3) Peter Brant