Monday, Horse of the Year is announced. I'm going to hate 2010 if Zenyatta doesn't win it and I really don't have a gut feeling which way it'll go. The Daily Racing Forum is leaning towards Blame and they have a voting interest, but I'm not sure about the other 2 groups. If Blame wins, he'll only ever be known as the "only horse to ever beat Zenyatta" and "the horse that beat Zenyatta for HOY". He'll never have the title for his accomplishments for the year, as people are saying he should be voted for. He'll be judged, for the rest of history, for ONE fact and one fact alone -- he beat Zenyatta. Boring horse to have for HOY. (I still refuse to admit Curlin won it two years in a row -- lame-o). I still can't believe Goldikova is on the ballot for HoY. Really? She's raced ONCE in the US and, underneath the voting regulations, they must have raced once in the US, but still. If Goldikova wins it, there is seriously no justice in this World and the US might as well unrevolutionize itself from Britain because it obviously is favoring European horses for some bizarre reason. I admit she's amazing, but NOT enough for a HOY vote and at least ONE person is voting for her. Talk about no base for a vote...With that reasoning, you might as well vote me for HOY.
But...there are two sides to the coin. I think if it was any normal year, Blame would win HOY and no one would have second guessed it; however, the phenomenon Zenyatta created has been unlike any horse in modern times (most people say they don't remember this type of hype since Secretariat and he won the Triple Crown in 1973). She did run a good year, even if it wasn't amazing. The year that Azeri (a female horse) won HoY, her year was pretty unspectacular, but no other horse had an amazing year either. So the award kind of defaulted to her (I think she was like 6th in the BC Classic too and it was her only race against males). It was kind of a weird year in horse racing when no one dominated. Anyway, the horse racing industry is kind of straddling a sticky point. Any other year, Blame should/would have won HOY without any debate, but...they don't want to alienate and be criticized by all the fans who want Zenyatta to win too. And, let's face it, no horse has had THIS much pressure to win HOY in, well, I don't think ever. If she doesn't win, it'll polarize a lot of people. If she does win, she'll polarize a lot of people. There are some who are trying to stick to tradition (horse racing is quite the traditionalist and superstitious sport) and there are those who are, well, more emotional in their voting. I do like some opinions I've read about Zenyatta. Regardless of their prestige or the depth of the field, Zenyatta has won the most Grade 1 wins, will be a memorable HOY, and has been more consistent than Blame (I think her margin of wins has been greater than his overall and her margin of loss was lengths shorter than his loss this year). I think there's a rational explanation in there for why she should win, but good ol' tradition may win out. Then again, maybe the racing industry will surprise me and Zenyatta will win based on public opinion.
Female HoY, by the way, are incredibly rare. The award has been around (or awards -- The Eclipse Awards are more than just Horse of the Year, but also divisions) since 1887. Of those 120+ awards awarded, only 10 females have won HOY. That's almost shameful, but it's also the way the US runs its horses. There is more of a division between male and female runners in the US than there are in the other countries (Europe and Japan tend to run females/males together more often). The males are the big money earners so most of the big purses are also in male races (females are allowed in all male races as long as their age is appropriate, but it's rare -- which is why Zenyatta winning the BC Classic last year was HUGE), but it's also most of the prestigious races in the US are male races too. So, it's really no wonder that the males tend to dominate HOY. I think all females who have won HOY (except maybe one or two) have ran significant races against males. Rachael Alexandra's HOY win last year was because she won the Preakness (leg of the Triple Crown against 3yo males) and won the Woodward (race against older males). She ran the more prestigious races even though Zenyatta won against males once last year (which some are saying was an "inferior field" compared to RA's male won races).
So...yeah...I don't know. This was simply a rant about HOY more than a logical explanation for why Zenyatta should win or not. Her team was recently awarded a "special award" (big whoop) about, well, Zenyatta, which has made some worried that this means she didn't win and they're just trying to "appease the fans". I'm not so sure. I'm really on the fence about who will win. I will be extremely sad if she loses, though. She had raced in "bad" years because some say she should have won 3 years ago (her first year of racing) when Curlin won his 2nd HoY (she was nominated for HOY that year). He won it for very little reason other than the fact he was a favorite all year long and no one else outshone him (kind of like Azeri). I never thought he should have won that year and he did. I admit RA probably should have won last year over Zenyatta, but I wasn't happy that RA quit halfway through the year too (if she raced the full year, I think I would have been happier with her winning HOY). Actually, I'm pretty upset with her owners for this year too. RA was not handled well, but that's another story and topic. I'd feel bad if Blame didn't win, but it'd feel like an injustice if Zenyatta didn't win. There are no strict rules about who you should/shouldn't vote for. It's all subjective and this year Eclipse Awards might just cause them to redo the entire way you vote for future years because, no matter who wins, one side is going to be completely bent out of shape about it. There IS no clear way how to vote and there is justification for both horses to win. Last year they could have solved the problem by allowing co-HOY (RA and Zenyatta), but they have refused that option and so they have dug themselves into a hole that will leave someone bent out of shape. If she wins, at least the nation will be peaceful because she has over 58,000 fans on Facebook. Granted, a few thousand of those don't live in the US and a few other thousand don't care about HOY and/or are indifferent and/or are Blame and Zenyatta fans, but I'd still say about 45-50,000 are rooting for her HOY win.
You know...I'm finding through her blog and FB that most Zenyatta fans are a little crazy. It's like politics in the horse racing world. Did you know there is a PETITION for her to win HOY? There are buttons that say "Zenyatta HOY"? She has a "Zenyatta HOTY 2010" page too. Both sides have given their opinion about why their horse should win too. It's truly crazy. If I thought last year's HOY race was crazy, it's NOTHING like this year. People are quite sensitive about Blame arguments to win and some Zenyatta fans have gotten down right nasty too. I don't endorse that, but it's crazy! So, yes, Monday, January 17th will be a "touchy" day for race horse fans. The Eclipse Awards are in Florida this year (never knew they went to other places since they've been in Beverly Hills every year that I remember of) and it should be interesting...
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