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HIRAPOUR WINS STEEPLECHASE ECLIPSE

Eldon Farm's Hirapour, twice a Grade I winner on the year, received the Eclipse Award as champion steeplechase horse for 2004 in a runaway vote tally over fellow finalists McDynamo and Preemptive Strike.

Presented at the Regent Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, Calif., the Eclipse Awards are Thoroughbred racing's official championships and are voted on by members of the National Turf Writers Association, the Daily Racing Form and NTRA/Equibase representatives. Eclipse Awards are bestowed upon the Thoroughbred horses and individuals whose achievements have earned them the title of Champion in their respective divisions. The awards are named after the great 18th-century racehorse and sire Eclipse, who began racing at age 5 and was undefeated in 18 starts, including eight
walkovers. Eclipse sired the winners of 344 races, including three Epsom Derbies.

First-place vote tallies were released with Hirapour receiving 216 of the 239 cast. Others receiving first-place votes were Sur La Tete, 10; McDynamo, 8; Preemptive Strike, 2; Tres Touche, 2; Cherokeeinthehills, 1.Trainer Doug Fout marveled at the Eclipse experience after stepping off the airplane at Dulles International Tuesday.

"It was pretty neat to be there with all those other people, all the big names," he said. "Hearing his name was a huge relief off my shoulders. Nobody let on about who the winner was so we didn't know until the last second. We made plenty of noise - they definitely knew we were there."

Bred in Ireland by the Aga Khan, Hirapour started four times in 2004 and piled up $199,625 in earnings thanks to two wins (both Grade I) and two seconds. Now 9, Hirapour opened 2004 with a second to Preemptive Strike in the Grade III Carolina Cup and then leaped to the head of the class with a powerful score in the Grade I Royal Chase at Keeneland April 16. Shelved
until fall, the son of Kahyasi finished a game second to McDynamo in October's Breeders' Cup (Gr. I) and then avenged that loss with a powerful victory in the Grade I Colonial Cup in November.

Hirapour began his racing career as a high-priced 3-year-old (150,000 guineas) at Tattersalls in England. He won four races on the flat before being sold again at Tattersalls (this time for 12,000 guineas) in 2002. Trained by Ian Williams, Hirapour won five English hurdle races and was sold to Eldon (Atlanta resident Ken Luke) and Fout in 2003. The gelding won his first U.S. start, a Grade I novice stakes, that fall and completed the championship season in 2004.

Fout took Hirapour to Camden, S.C. early this month to begin preparations for a 2005 campaign that could include another try in the Royal Chase (Gr. I) at Keeneland April 22 and the Iroquois (also Gr. I) at Nashville, Tenn. May 14.

NOTES: Hirapour is the first champion trained by Fout, and the first owned by Eldon (which started its first steeplechase horse in 2002). Hirapour joins fellow Irish-breds Correggio (1996), Morley Street (1990 and 1991) and L'Escargot (1969) to win American steeplechase championships.



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