It's not really difficult to find a list of Eclipse Award winners, but often we forget who the runner-ups were.  We think compiling a history of Eclipse voting is a trip down memory lane and a reminder of the 'almost' champions.

The method of vote tabulation changed several times over the years.  The three voting organizations--Daily Racing Form, Thoroughbred Racing Association and National Turf Writers Association--for a number of years each had one bloc vote.  For awhile each groups first three choices in individual categories was counted on a 5-3-1 basis; later on a 10-5-1 basis.  In a couple of years I failed to locate detail or had to rely on total point counts, although for the past several years the calculation has been based on total votes cast, eliminating the sometimes unfair bloc procedure.

No matter how the calculation was made in a given year, the differences in comparing numerics offers a view of how strongly those horses were viewed at the time.  If it offers you a sense of history and perhaps a little information, then the time compiling it was worthwhile.

---Ron Parker