Several obvious choices among Eclipse Award finalists

The 2008 Eclipse Award finalists were released Thursday, and while three horses or people were named in each category, most categories appear to be slam dunks.

I suspect most of my top choices will win an Eclipse, but others will be close calls. The locks to win, to me, include Stardom Bound (juvenile filly), Big Brown (3-year-old colt or gelding), Curlin (older male), Zenyatta (older distaff), Good Night Shirt (steeplechase), Steve Asmussen (trainer), Pascacio Lopez (apprentice jockey) and Garrett Gomez (jockey). And now for the tough votes.

I went for Proud Spell (3-year-old filly), though I expect her ill-fated stablemate Eight Belles will garner much support. Her second in the Kentucky Derby and subsequent breakdown are etched on many voters’ memories.

I expect Midnight Lute (sprinter) will prevail because he won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. However, it was his only win all season. I went for Benny the Bull, undefeated in four sprint stakes starts, including the Dubai Golden Shaheen.

Indian Blessing (female sprinter) probably will win her category, but I voted for Ventura because in their one head-to-head race (the Breeders’ Cup), Ventura crushed Indian Blessing.

The male and female turf horse divisions figure to be close. I voted for two imports — Conduit (male) and Goldikova (female) — because of outstanding wins in the Breeders’ Cup. The lack of U.S. standouts pushed me in that direction.

The breeder and owner categories will be wide open. I went for Stonerside Stable (breeder) and Godolphin Racing (owner), though there were many options. I was a bit surprised that IEAH Stable, owner of Big Brown, and Jess Jackson, owner of Curlin, did not make the top three.

Finally, I voted Curlin as horse of the year over Zenyatta and Big Brown. I know. I went against my own readers, who in a public poll here last month narrowly chose Zenyatta. Curlin ultimately impressed me with Grade I stakes wins in Dubai, Churchill Downs, Saratoga and Belmont.

• WAGERING DISPUTE — It was good news that the Nevada Pari-Mutuel Association and TrackNet, which represents racetracks owned by Magna and Churchill, agreed to an extension through Jan. 25. A blackout would have made both parties, and horseplayers, big losers.

Nevada race books do more to promote horse racing to newcomers than any other marketing arm in the horse industry. The relationship should be nurtured more in coming years rather than taxed out of existence.

Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com.