SAINT LIAM IS HONORED FIVE-YEAR-OLD GIVEN ECLIPSE AWARD AS TOP HORSE OF 2005.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Staff Writer

BEVERLY HILLS - After one of the least-celebrated great seasons in the recent history of thoroughbred racing, Saint Liam got his due Monday when the sport's Eclipse Award winners were announced at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Saint Liam was named Horse of the Year for 2005 in a landslide, receiving 76 percent of the 254 first-place votes cast by turf writers and racing executives. The 5-year-old earned the Eclipse Award as the year's champion male 4-years-and-up, with 97 percent of the votes.

Second in Horse of the Year balloting was Afleet Alex, with 22 percent, while Lost in the Fog, Ghostzapper, Rock Hard Ten and Roses in May received one vote each.

At times, Saint Liam was simply overshadowed by Afleet Alex, who contributed the season's most memorable moment when he recovered from a near fall to win the Preakness on the way to being named champion 3-year-old, and by Lost in the Fog, who was the most talked-about horse of the season as he stuck to short distances and ran his winning streak to 10 on the way to being named champion sprinter.

And it seemed Saint Liam, who has been retired to stud, failed to catch the public's fancy in part because he was not trained by a leading light of the backstretch. Trainer Rick Dutrow was suspended for a medication violation and signed over Saint Liam's trainer-of-record duties to Bobby Frankel for the horse's victory in the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs in June.

But when Horse of the Year voters sat down to review the contenders' records for 2005, they had to acknowledge the virtually season-long superiority of Saint Liam, a son of Saint Ballado and Quiet Dance who was bred in Kentucky by Edward P. Evans, owned by William and Suzanne Warren and ridden by Edgar Prado and Jerry Bailey.

''He has all the characteristics of a champion,'' said William Warren, who realized Saint Liam's potential when he nearly upset 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper.

Saint Liam won Grade I stakes in the winter (Donn Handicap), spring (Foster), summer (Woodward) and fall (Breeders' Cup Classic) - the first Horse of the Year to win major races in all four seasons since Cigar in 1995 and the second since Affirmed in 1979.

Saint Liam raced mostly on the East Coast. His lone trip west resulted in a sixth-place finish behind Rock Hard Ten in the Santa Anita Handicap, his only bad performance in a six-race schedule that produced four victories and $3.6 million in earnings.

Most of the voting results announced at Monday's black-tie dinner were predictably one-sided, including victories by California-based Stevie Wonderboy in the 2-year-old males division, Intercontinental in the turf females division and Lost in the Fog in the sprint division.

Ashado added the 4-year-old-and-up females championship to her 2004 3-year-old fillies title.

John Velazquez was top jockey and Todd Pletcher top trainer, the second title in a row for each. Michael Gill was top owner for the first time in a widely divided vote, after being angry to be passed over despite big numbers at the claiming level the past few years.

In the closest contest, Leroidesanimaux edged Artie Schiller by three votes to win the turf males division. Leroidesanimaux and Intercontinental made Frankel the first trainer to have both turf champions.

Folklore came closest to a unanimous win, getting 257 of 260 votes for 2-year-old fillies, giving trainer D. Wayne Lukas his 24 th champion and owners Bob and Beverly Lewis their sixth. Smuggler won easily among 3-year-old fillies although 10 candidates received votes.

Afleet Alex, the Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner, ran away with the 3-year-old males division, with Flower Alley the only other first-place vote-getter.

Kevin Modesti, [phone]

heymodesti(at)aol.com

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