2yo Male: Hansen- Say what you may about him, the right horse won the award. He beat Union Rags on the track where it counts.
2yo Female: My Miss Aurelia- Nice that we heard from her namesake, but Barbara Banke was just as bad as her late husband when it comes to length.
3yo Male: Animal Kingdom- Three votes separated him and Caleb's Posse, and becomes the first Derby winner since Big Brown to win the award. However, I didn't agree with the decision (I was saying on both Twitter and Facebook that it was BS). Caleb won 2 G1's over a BC race winner from the year before and a TC race winner. Plus he defeated Archarcharch earlier in the year. Animal Kingdom got a great ride in what turned out (at least to me) the worst Derby in quite a while. I'm hoping that Caleb kicks butt this year while I believe Animal Kingdom will struggle. Especially with where he's going.
3yo Female: Royal Delta- No surprise, she deserved it, but Awesome Feather got a few votes? Really?
Older Male: Acclamation- In the end his win in a G1 nullified his G3 last place finish. Deserved it over the two other candidates who had good, but not great seasons. HOY Finalist
Older Female: Havre de Grace- Was there ever a doubt? Was very surprising that Maria got a vote instead of just Grace and Clover. HOY Finalist
Turf Male: Cape Blanco- Another not surprising choice, I had heard some people voted for Acclamation, so I figured that the vote would be close, but it wasn't. HOY Finalist
Turf Female: Stacelita- Did her owner really have to give her life story? Another non surprise, but I somewhat hoping that Perfect Shirl would have pulled off the upset.
Male Sprinter: Amazombie- I feel bad for Caleb, he didn't have a chance in this category and he lost his other category by a very slim margin. This was the biggest cheer I heard all night, at least to me it was.
Female Sprinter: Musical Romance- Honestly this was the award that I wasn't a 100% who would get it, but I'm not sure if the right horse won. Then again I was hoping that Sassy Image would be the winner.
Owner: Ken and Sarah Ramsey- Really glad they won and not Team Valor. Hopefully Stephanie's Kitten does well for them this year.
Breeder: Adena Springs- This. Is. BS. Really, I can't name a single Adena bred who won a stakes race this past year (not saying there where none, just at the top of my head I can't think of any). I find it funny that when the awards are on his station, Frank Stronach actually shows up (he usually lets his wife handle the awards).
Trainer: Bill Mott- The right person won, you can't take away who Drosselmeyer and Royal Delta did this year in the BC. Just like in 1995, he wins the Eclipse for Trainer.
Apprentice Jockey: Kyle Frey- The most heartwrenching as he was griving the loss of his grandfather. A superstar could be born at Phila, I mean Parx.
Jockey: Ramon Domingez- The Mid-Atlantic is the place to be. Sure he's based in New York now, but he dominated Delaware for years and rode Grace in all, but 1 of her wins in 2011 (Obeah was ridden by Gabriel Saez since it was the same day as the Belmont, Gabe rides her in morning workouts).
HORSE OF THE YEAR: There where three finalists, all deserving of the accolade to make it to this list. Acclamation, Cape Blanco and Havre de Grace. All three of them had the same amount of G1 wins, 3. All three had faced the best of their division, and all three where the winners of their division's Eclipse. In the end though only one horse could win, and that horse was....
Grace!!! Say what you may about who she ran against, and that she didn't win the Classic. However, she defeated the Ladies Classic winner and the F/M Sprint runner up. Plus her final duel with Blind Luck In the end, the right horse won the Award.
ESPN's Jeannine Edwards was the host, and considering the circumstances she did an okay job. HRTV on the other hand, did a poor job with making it look like a rush job, although it turned out to be a last minute addition as Jason Shandler writes. I do disagree with him about making it look like how the MLB, NFL and NBA does it. I feel that they do a poor job by stretching it out since we have to wait for a certin award to come if we don't care about the rest of them. NHL, I feel is the only one that does it correctly in holding a ceremony right after the Stanley Cup Finals are over. Maybe that is something that the NTRA should look at for future years down the road is to hold it right after the Breeders' Cup at a nice hotel near the host track.
In the end, awards are now over and we don't have to think about them again... until this upcoming November.
Yeah, the show was pretty painful to watch. However, I completely disagree about the trainer category. One day does not a championship season make. Bob Baffert won important stakes races from January to December, and had more earnings and wins than Mott despite less starters. If the BC is so important, why didn't Mandella win the award when he won HALF the races, nor Shirreffs when he won the Classic and Ladies' Classic?
ReplyDeleteWell on Drosselmeyer yes, but keep in mind that Mott also had To Honor and Serve who won the PA Derby and the Cigar Mile, Royal Delta won the Black Eyed Susan and the Alabama. Baffert was snakebitten and I think what cost him was the fact that Game on Dude lost the 3 stakes that he should have won, including the Pacific Classic. The Factor blew up in the AR Derby and BC Dirt Mile as well.
ReplyDeleteThe fact you said that Baffert won important stakes is also a reason why Caleb's Posse should have won, but didn't. Unfortanlly it's just the way the ball bounces sometimes, weather we like it or not. Unfortanlly for Mandella and Shirreffs didn't win is because they where going against trainers who had won a TC race that year.