Hewick wins Steeplechase Eclipse Award
- Details
- February 1, 2023
- By SARA CAVANAGH
In what was to almost everybody's surprise and a stunning upset, after just one win, albeit that one by 11 1/2 lengths in the G1 Grand National Hurdle on Oct.15 at Fair Hills in New Jersey, the Irish invader, T.J. McDonald's Hewick, trained by John "Shark"Hanlon, was voted the Eclipse Award winner.
Hewick leads Noah and the Ark over last in Grand National (Photo by To Marks)Bred in Ireland, and bought for $991 at the 2017 Goresbridge Bloodstock Sale, the rags to riches Hewick had previously won twice in England and Ireland in 2022, and only ran the one time in the U.S, returning after the race to his home base in Ireland.
Hewick has yet to run in 2023.
Hewick beat the other two Eclipse nominees, Snap Decision and Down Royal, with Hewick receiving 113 votes to Snap Decision's 88 and Down Royal's 15.
Snap Decison, owned by Bruton Street-US and trained by Jack Fisher, had won the G1 Iroquois and the G1 Jonathan Sheppard at Saratoga but finished sixth in the Grand National, while Down Royal, owned by Joseph F. Fowler, Jr., and trained by Kate Dalton, had won the G1 A.P. Smithwick and the G2 David L. (Zeke) Ferguson, but didn't run in the Grand National.