With less than a week to countdown, Eclipse Award finalists will be chosen through votes on all major horse racing websites, associations and forums. Despite the year lacking in a consistent deliverance of quality racing from every player, the awards are most certainly a tough choice to make, especially owing to the difficulty in assigning the right priority to every horse’s major accomplishments over their contender’s.

Here, we take a look at the 2 year old finalists.

As the top three choices for the award rests with Union Rags, Creative Cause and Hansen, let’s analyse every players strongest and weakest performances that may help you decide who deserved it best. With the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes under his belt, initially third, Creative Cause, who was declared to have been interfered during the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity by Majestic City, finished second by a length to Drill; he soon followed with another win by 3 ¼ lengths win against early pace setter, Ruler of Dubai at Grade 1 Norfolk Stakes. Going the second favourite to Union Rags in the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile, Creative Cause finished third, succumbing to a tiresome stalking of winner Hansen.

The Mike Harrington trained colt, with half a million earnings from his two year old campaign has finished in the money in every start. Does his third place finish in Breeder’s following his graded wins earn him an Eclipse trophy? We shall see.

Hansen, the Juvenile winner from Breeder’s too hasn’t had less of a striking performance throughout the year. With a score of 3 for 3, including his exceptional pace setting exhibit at the BlueGrass Cat Kentucky Cup Juveniles which he won with a superb lead of 13 ¼ lengths over second place finish, Fine, Hansen had set an early pace while allowing himself be stalked Union Rags the entire distance. However no other contender came close enough. Hansen won hands down on both the mile and one sixteenth distances proving his critical precision on acceleration and meticulous timing. Despite just a pair of races to showcase, his prominence is justified.

While Union Rags stalked Hansen throughout the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile race’s mile and sixteenth, he fell short of catching up. The second place finish here is remarkably preceded by his two exemplary wins at the Grade 2 Saratoga Special Stakes, and Grade 1 Champagne Stakes. One of the few, very crucial flagship races to mark the promising two year olds, the six and a half furlongs at Saratoga witnessed Union Rags’ precision to time his manoeuvre against race lead Stat, winning the race by 7 ¼ lengths. The Champagne mile was also won under tremendous pressure as Union Rags entered a not so benefitting position mid-pack stalking the two race leaders Right to Vote and Alpha. Having found the right opportunity, he overtook the duo with an incredible burst of speed, winning the trophy neat. With a score of 3 for 4, all in the money, Union Rags poses a mutually serious threat to his other two contenders.

Is the score settled? At the moment, yes! But an Eclipse Award will most definitely set an upper hand preference for the winner. With a consistent score of 3 wins by each of the three contenders, and in the money finishes in graded stakes, it’s going to be a tough pick.

For you, the hard core racing fans out there, while the clock ticks away the time to countdown, explore your winning chances at the voting. See who really deserved it when you test them on a different racing platform, the online- virtual gaming platform. Designed by Horse Racing Simulation LLC, one of the finest designers for simulated racing games, Fantasy Horse Racing, Jockey Power and many other cool online racing games help players experience the same fun they do on the grand stands at their personal gaming consoles. The 3D simulations breathe life into the games adding a touch of reality; a staggering collection of more than thousands of racing legends in the database makes it possible for players to choose any thoroughbred they like.