R A Horse of the Year - Zenyata should have been

[tbrace]

Both good horses, but if you refuse to play in the Super Bowl because it is on artificial turf, you don't get The Ring.

[vineyridge]

But if the Super Bowl isn't in California and you don't play outside that state, you can't win it.

[dray33]

Though the Breeders Cup wants us to think this way, the: "if you don't win the classic, you cannot be HOY" is not good for the sport. Even saying that not running in the Classic should disqualify you, is dangerous. Its a Champioship day to decide the Breeders Cup Champion. Think about the repercussions of extending that to include HOY, and consider the amount of power we are handing a single series of races if on one single day you can wipe out the accomplishments of one year.If that was the case, eliminate the HOY part of the eclipse awards. Its superfluous. Most agree, hence the votes for Curlin and RA. The Breeders Cup is the deciding race for just that, the BC races.A less global view, an exclusionary mindset, negates every other major race run from January to December. After all, we are talking HOY here.

[winds]

Then the Breeders Cup shouldn't be called Championship races. What's the point in running in them and winning if you don't get the accolades afforded after?

winds

[LB]

I have to agree with vineyridge. If you'll only compete in one state and the competition has to meet you on your home field, that shouldn't get you a ring either.

Emotion aside, I thought RA was the clear choice for HOY.

[LB]

Then the Breeders Cup shouldn't be called Championship races. What's the point in running in them and winning if you don't get the accolades afforded after?

The Breeders Cup named itself the championship day--what a wonderful marketing gimmick. I could name one of my colts Champion Two Year Old, but it wouldn't make it so.

[UmmYeah]

I could name one of my colts Champion Two Year Old, but it wouldn't make it so.

Reminds me of that colt running at Belmont a few years ago named Wood Winner. Talk about wishful thinking!

[FOS]

hi tbrace...hi vineyridge...hi winds...hi dray33...hi LB

Both good horses, but if you refuse to play in the Super Bowl because it is on artificial turf, you don't get The Ring.

The surface was likely (to some extent anyway) a Jess Jackson Red Herring. A way to deflect questions about the mile and a quarter (or beyond) distance he chose not to give his girl a go at, and a subject he preferred not to talk about.

Regardless the whats the whys the wherefores...Rachel A received Horse of the Year Honors; and congratulations are in order, she's a helluva a filly.

That said...reality is I still have serious doubts about RA's ability to win going a mile and a quarter versus TOP class wide-open company, as Z did in the BC Classic.

Not a knock...simply honest to goodness, genuine doubts.

But if the Super Bowl isn't in California and you don't play outside that state, you can't win it.

FACT is though the Super Bowl (in this case meaning the Breeders' Cup) was in California...and it was Team Rachel A that refused to play.

... The Breeders Cup is the deciding race for just that, the BC races.

So that's it, simple as that ? Hmmm .

A less global view, an exclusionary mindset, negates every other major race run from January to December. ...

Negates every other major race run from January to December

Seems you want it both ways.

Think about the following, then ask yourself...

...why did Speightstown, a never before G1 winner prior to the BC Sprint-2004 receive eclipse honors as Champion Sprinter-2004 over Pico Central? After all, during that year (2004) Pico won the G1 Met Mile, plus the G1 Carter (7 furlongs) plus the G1 Vosburgh (6 furlongs), a race in which Pico Central toyed with and ultimately crushed Speightstown the only time they ever met.

Team Pico passed on the G1-BC Sprint figuring they had the eclipse wrapped up (and if that wasn't enough, South American-bred Pico was not BC nominated and would not be eligible to run w/o paying a very hefty supplement). Oh well, Speightstown won the BC Sprint (by the way it was his one and only G1 win ever) and Pletcher and Melnyk made a LOT OF NOISE and took a VERY LOUD position that if a horse doesn't show up to race on BC day, it shouldn't be awarded eclipse honors.

Oh well. In that case, seems like those with the bully pulpit got the results they SHOUTED for.

Then the Breeders Cup shouldn't be called Championship races.

The marketing guys and gals probably loved tagging the word championship to the words Breeders' Cup. Clearly though it has a hollow ring to it when an undefeated G1 winning eclipse award winner that was 2nd in the voting for Horse of the Year honors in a previous year, goes on to win the $5mil Breeders' Cup Classic, remains undefeated, yet isn't named Horse of the Year.

Ouch !!!

Emotion aside, I thought RA was the clear choice for HOY.

Emotion aside, I thought Z was the clear choice for HOY .

As for speculation...I believe that if both Zenyatta and Rachel A race at a mile and a quarter, and each delivers her lifetime best performance...Zenyatta will make easy work of Rachel A.

Best to ya.

Respectfully

[Joltman]

I agree with FOS. Fact is that the BC came into being as a cooperative effort to try to create a championship. Racing HAD that until this year. Now we are no better than the BCS which emphasizes the politics and the back room deals and a computer to get in.

When Z started the year she had little to prove really, and to beat her head against G1s every month would have been stupid. To downgrade her races or competition is silly. I don't berate RA either, for skipping the BC - she was a worn down filly. Going against older males (even not so great ones) as a 3YO filly will do that. HOY for RA might have been a good thing, if Z had not won the BC Classic. It's like winning the Super Bowl and the winner of the Canadian Grey Cup getting the Super Bowl trophy.

jm

[Georgerz]

Rachel Alexandra won the Horse of the Year title, and won Champion 3 yr Old Filly, gathering all the votes in the last. These are facts.
Zenyatta won Champion Older Female, without getting all the votes in her division. This is a fact.

[AscotStud]

What's the point in running in them and winning if you don't get the accolades afforded after?

There were many Eclipse Award winners last night who did not win a BC race and BC winners who did not win an Eclipse. The Breeders Cup is a race that anyone who has a nominated foal can run in if they put up the bucks and get in. It should not be held above a whole years body of work.

I could name one of my colts Champion Two Year Old

Too late LB I already have...but Champion Two Year Old Filly is still open

[oliverstoned]

Then the Breeders Cup shouldn't be called Championship races. What's the point in running in them and winning if you don't get the accolades afforded after?

winds

So whoever wins a BC race gets an Eclipse award? How about we call it the Eclipse Cup. The point in running is the money and getting a Grade One win...no not a superduper triple grade one in one. The whole Super Bowl analogy is silly, horse racing is not football and there is no playoffs in horseracing either. Many many BC Classic winners were not voted HOY.

[LB]

Rachel Alexandra won the Horse of the Year title, and won Champion 3 yr Old Filly, gathering all the votes in the last. These are facts.
Zenyatta won Champion Older Female, without getting all the votes in her division. This is a fact.

Well yeah, but the guy--the one single voter--who voted for Icon Project rather than Zenyatta for Champion Older Female was an idiot.

[Cree]

I will go to my grave knowing that Zenyatta was robbed.

[bdw0617]

Both good horses, but if you refuse to play in the Super Bowl because it is on artificial turf, you don't get The Ring.

quite possibly the worst analogy in the history of analogies