Invasor, Bernardini defeat Barbaro for Eclipse Awards

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) _ All the adoration for Barbaro at the Eclipse Awards couldn't prevent two of his rivals from winning thoroughbred racing's biggest honors. <br/><br/>Invasor overwhelmingly

Tuesday, January 23rd 2007, 6:39 am

By: News On 6

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) _ All the adoration for Barbaro at the Eclipse Awards couldn't prevent two of his rivals from winning thoroughbred racing's biggest honors.

Invasor overwhelmingly defeated the injured Kentucky Derby winner for Horse of the Year, and Barbaro also lost 3-year-old male honors to Bernardini in another landslide Monday night.

Breeders' Cup Classic winner Invasor received 84 percent of the 271 votes cast for Horse of the Year. Barbaro, whose career-ending leg injury in the Preakness captured America's heart, was second with 21. Preakness winner Bernardini was third with 16.

``He was obviously a great horse and it was sad what happened, but it's nice to still win,'' said Kiaran McLaughlin, who trains Invasor.

Invasor will continue racing this year, with his debut set for Feb. 3 in the Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park. He's also being pointed toward the $6 million Dubai World Cup on March 31.

Invasor, bred in Argentina, also won for older male.

``He did a lot for racing and we had a great year,'' McLaughlin said. ``It's great that Sheik Hamdan (al-Maktoum) is keeping him in training and had the nerve to go buy a horse from Uruguay.''

Bernardini got 210 first-place votes (77.5 percent) for 3-year-old male, with Barbaro earning 56 (20.7 percent).

In all, Barbaro and his human connections were nominated in six Eclipse categories, and won two. Barbaro's owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, who operate Lael Stables, tied with Sheik Mohammed's Darley farm for owner of the year.

``I'm totally out of words that could possibly express the feelings in my heart,'' Gretchen Jackson said. ``It's been such a treat to be an owner.''

Edgar Prado, whose quick thinking in the Preakness was credited with saving Barbaro's life, won jockey of the year.

Prado guided Barbaro to a 6 1/2-length victory in the Kentucky Derby. He won 248 races and more than $19 million, a career best, last year. Prado was in Peru with his family on the first anniversary of his mother's death.

The Jacksons and the University of Pennsylvania/New Bolton Center shared the Special Eclipse Award for individual achievements or contributions to thoroughbred racing.

``This award is not really for us, but it's for Barbaro,'' Roy Jackson said. ``When we look at this journey, we can't see anything really negative. It's really been very, very positive.

``I would like to thank everybody who has offered their good wishes to us and Barbaro,'' he said.

Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Street Sense won the 2-year-old male award and will be pointed toward the Kentucky Derby. Dreaming of Anna was honored as the top 2-year-old female.

Fleet Indian won older female honors.

Wait a While won for 3-year-old female; Thor's Echo was the top sprinter; Miesque's Approval was male turf horse; and Britain-bred Ouija Board won female turf horse.

Todd Pletcher and Julien Leparoux were among the human winners during the 36th annual ceremony at the Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel.

East Coast-based Pletcher won his third straight Eclipse as trainer of the year. His stable, which includes Fleet Indian and Wait a While, earned a record $27.4 million last year.

``It's great horses that make a good trainer and I've been very fortunate and blessed,'' Pletcher told the crowd.

Pletcher's 45-day suspension for using an anesthetic on one of his horses too close to a race more than two years ago ends Saturday.

``I'm anxious (to return), but it's probably the first vacation I've had in 15 years, so it's not all bad,'' he said later.

Leparoux won for apprentice jockey after leading North American riders with 403 victories last year, when the 23-year-old from France earned multiple riding titles in Kentucky.

McDynamo repeated as steeplechase horse of the year. Adena Springs, operated by Frank Stronach, won its third consecutive Eclipse as breeder of the year.

A total of 271 voters from the Daily Racing Form, the National Turf Writers Association and National Thoroughbred Racing Association/Equibase cast ballots.

In the media Eclipse Awards, Dick Jerardi of the Philadelphia Daily News won in news-commentary for a series on Barbaro; Mike Jensen of the Philadelphia Inquirer won in feature-enterprise writing for a story on Barbaro's chief surgeon, Dr. Dean Richardson; and Matt Goins of the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader won the photography category.

NBC Sports won the live racing national television category for its coverage of the Preakness Stakes; HRTV and Pony Highway Productions won for national television feature; WLKY-TV in Louisville, Ky., won for local television; and WBAL radio in Baltimore won for audio and multimedia Internet.

The Eclipse Award of Merit was given to John Nerud, a 93-year-old Hall of Fame trainer who campaigned 1967 Horse of the Year Dr. Fager.

The Eclipse Awards are named after the 18th century horse Eclipse, who was undefeated in 18 career starts and sired winners of more than 300 races, including three Epsom Derbies.