With the Breeders' Cup now less then 2 weeks away, lets take a look at the horses who will be in the drivers seat to succeed Wise Dan as Horse of the Year.
Showing posts with label Horse of the Year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Horse of the Year. Show all posts
October 18, 2014
October 30, 2012
Horse of the Year Contenders
For the first time since 2009, the Horse of the Year will more then likely be a male. Lets take a look at them.
Game On Dude (Awesome Again): Won the Hollywood Gold Cup and Awesome Again, 2nd in the Pacific Classic to Dullahan. Going in the Classic.
What he has to do? Win the race and HOY is his.
What needs to happen if he can't get the job done? Wise Dan has to lose the Mile and anyone either then POE or Dullahan to win the Turf. However his race is after theirs so the pressure will be on.
Wise Dan (Wiseman's Ferry): Won the Fourstardave, Woodbine Mile and Shadwell Mile. Going in the Mile.
What he has to do? Win the race, and hope either Game On Dude or Point of Entry lose.
What needs to happen if he can't get the job done? See what he has to do, his race is inbetween the two races so he has the most to gain.
Point of Entry (Dynaformer): Won the Joe Hirsch, Sword Dancer and Man O War. Going in the Turf
What he has to do? While a win will put the pressure on the two other contenders, he actually has the least to prove and doesn't have to absolutly win his race. With that being said, if Dullahan (who I don't think will win the Turf) pulls out another rabbit out of his hat, then well we have ourselves a situation.
What needs to happen if he can't get the job done? Both Wise Dan and Game On Dude have to lose their races.
There is a fourth contender in I'll Have Another, but he needs all three of them to lose, plus Dullahan. The likelyhood of that happening is slim.
Game On Dude (Awesome Again): Won the Hollywood Gold Cup and Awesome Again, 2nd in the Pacific Classic to Dullahan. Going in the Classic.
What he has to do? Win the race and HOY is his.
What needs to happen if he can't get the job done? Wise Dan has to lose the Mile and anyone either then POE or Dullahan to win the Turf. However his race is after theirs so the pressure will be on.
Wise Dan (Wiseman's Ferry): Won the Fourstardave, Woodbine Mile and Shadwell Mile. Going in the Mile.
What he has to do? Win the race, and hope either Game On Dude or Point of Entry lose.
What needs to happen if he can't get the job done? See what he has to do, his race is inbetween the two races so he has the most to gain.
Point of Entry (Dynaformer): Won the Joe Hirsch, Sword Dancer and Man O War. Going in the Turf
What he has to do? While a win will put the pressure on the two other contenders, he actually has the least to prove and doesn't have to absolutly win his race. With that being said, if Dullahan (who I don't think will win the Turf) pulls out another rabbit out of his hat, then well we have ourselves a situation.
What needs to happen if he can't get the job done? Both Wise Dan and Game On Dude have to lose their races.
There is a fourth contender in I'll Have Another, but he needs all three of them to lose, plus Dullahan. The likelyhood of that happening is slim.
January 17, 2012
Eclipse Recap
Here are the results for the Eclipse, as well as my thoughts.
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....
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.
January 17, 2011
My Pick for Horse of the Year is...
So here we are, the Eclipses will be announced tonight. I gave who I think will be the winners when the finalists where announced, except for Horse of the Year. The past couple of months I've been going through the 3 finalists: Blame, Goldikova and Zenyatta. Orginally I was going with Blame because he defeated Z. Then I went to Goldi thanks to her third win in a row in the Mile. Then I decided on Z because well she's Z.
However last week when I was getting ready to write a post onto why Blame should be HOY, but I can't. I know it's supposed to be Horse of the Year and not Horse of the past Three Years, but Zenyatta may have just enough to finally get HOY. While Curlin lost twice and Rachel was undefeated, Blame actually has a weaker camapagin then the both of them combined. Look at who Zenyatta defeated this year compared to Blame. With the exception of 2 (Haynesfield and Quality Road), none of the horses Blame defeated came back to win. Zenyatta meanwhile defeated Switch who finished second to Dubai Majesty in the F/M Sprint and won the La Brea to close out her 3yo season and St. Tritians who gave Zenyatta the toughest race to date was done for the year after her hard battle. Also Zenyatta once again won every major Southern California female race, along with the Apple Blossom which would have been the setting for the expected match-up between Rachel and her.
Blame also had the hometrack advantage, which is the same thing that happend to Z in 09 when it was held at Santa Anita which is near what was her true hometrack Hollywood Park. I think if Mike Smith had moved two seconds earlier, she probley would have been the Classic winner.
I would not be suprised if Blame wins, but I also would not be suprised if Goldikova wins either. That being said, my pick for Horse of the Year is Zenyatta.
However last week when I was getting ready to write a post onto why Blame should be HOY, but I can't. I know it's supposed to be Horse of the Year and not Horse of the past Three Years, but Zenyatta may have just enough to finally get HOY. While Curlin lost twice and Rachel was undefeated, Blame actually has a weaker camapagin then the both of them combined. Look at who Zenyatta defeated this year compared to Blame. With the exception of 2 (Haynesfield and Quality Road), none of the horses Blame defeated came back to win. Zenyatta meanwhile defeated Switch who finished second to Dubai Majesty in the F/M Sprint and won the La Brea to close out her 3yo season and St. Tritians who gave Zenyatta the toughest race to date was done for the year after her hard battle. Also Zenyatta once again won every major Southern California female race, along with the Apple Blossom which would have been the setting for the expected match-up between Rachel and her.
Blame also had the hometrack advantage, which is the same thing that happend to Z in 09 when it was held at Santa Anita which is near what was her true hometrack Hollywood Park. I think if Mike Smith had moved two seconds earlier, she probley would have been the Classic winner.
I would not be suprised if Blame wins, but I also would not be suprised if Goldikova wins either. That being said, my pick for Horse of the Year is Zenyatta.
December 17, 2010
Horse of the Year Chat- The Animated Edition
When looking at something not related to horse racing, I stumped upon this website called Xtranormal where you can create animated movies. The voices are computer generated and they didn't pronounce Zenyatta correctly, but here is a little video of HOY of the year descussion.
January 19, 2010
All Hail Rachel the Great!
Last night's Eclipse awards finally ended the speculation of who was Horse of the Year. Would it be the stunning Rachel Alexandra, who was eight for eight on the season, or the undefeated Zenyatta who was five for five for the season. Before I talk about HOY, I'm going to go over the other catagories that where also honored last night.
2yo Male: Really it was no suprise that Lookin at Lucky won, and it was well deserved. However when the vote totals came out, Vale of York finished second in first place votes. Why? Just because he was the BC Juvenile winner? Noble's Promises had been a much better horse going into that race then Vale of York, and still is IMO. That being said, Lucky is the very early Derby favorite, and he may not even be the best horse in his own barn anymore.
2yo Female: I really loved Nancy Mazzoni's shout out to She Be Wild ("She Be Wild, we love you!"), I've been a fan of this filly since watching HRTV's Against the Odds when Jeff Sigel picked her for the Arlington Lassie (and this was before I actually had HRTV, I was watching the show on MASN). Hopefully she does well on this year's Oaks Trail.
3yo Male: Obviously dispite being a huge fan of Summer Bird, I'm not a fan of his connections. No offence to his fans, but I find Tim Ice to have annoying voice (sorry!).
3yo Female: Two words: Rachel, unanimous. Enough said. Although I will say that Jess Jackson did not thank Hal Wiggins or Calvin Borel when he accepted this award (a hint of what is to come), and that was disapointing.
Older Male: A well deserved award for Gio Ponti, he did win an award earlier in the night so his owner didn't talk for that long.
Older Female: Dear DRF, Whoever voted for Icon Project, needs to be fired Love a Zenyatta fan. Seriously, she should have been unanimous, but some dingdong (apperently all signs point to the highley respected Andy Beyer) voted for IP (who had 1 G1 win, against really not that great horses), instead of Zen. The cool thing is Sting whose group the Police's album Zenyatta Mondatta, Big Z is named after gave a video congrats!
Female Sprinter: Even though I knew she would win, that doesn't mean I'm disapointed about Informed Decision. She's a synth specialist who peaked at the right time, I'm sorry.
Male Sprinter: Second most disapointing announcement of the night, with Kodiak Kowboy winning. Nice horse, but far from my favorite. Tom Ludt also did not include KK's former trainer, Larry Jones. However, this I'm not as annoyed about as he started and ended his career with Steve Asmussen. In a way though, it ended up being how Zayat's second half of the season went: With a thud. As I said before karma, hated Pioneerof the Nile, and it hated Zensational (both who I think will be failures at stud, but that's a story for another day).
Grass Male: GIO!!!!!! There was a chance that Condiuit would steal it, but thankfully with an upgrade in Team USA grass horses, the award was returned to the States. And the cool thing? He's coming back, expect him and Presious Passion to tear up the grass ranks, and then he most likley will end his career in the BCC (I don't see dirt being a problem for him, he's a 1/2 brother to the G1 placed Bon Jovi Girl).
Grass Female: Most disapointing announcement of the night. Yes Goldikova is a nice horse, but I think most of us where rooting for Ventura. I honestly think that she and Music Note will go down as two of the best horses not to win an Eclipse.
I'm going to skip the human awards, because I will be talking about them later this week.
Horse of the Year: Since the Eclipses started in the 1970's only three females have won the award (before the Eclipses I believe the TRF and DRF gave out two different sets of awards): All Along, Lady's Secret and Azeri. The Sisterhood added a new member to that list. Would it be Zenyatta, or Rachel Alexandra. In the end, the Princess of Racing, was crowned the Queen of 2009 as Rachel won in a unexpected landslide (it was expected the vote to be close). Jess Jackson did thank Calvin Borel this time around, but forgot Hal Wiggins for the second time. This was really the only thing that disapointed me, some people may agree, some people may disagree. That's what opinons are made of.
There was also outcry because Jerry Moss was acting unclassy right after Rachel was announced. I'm not going to comment on that, even though my opinon may shock some people. However I will say that it was classy for both Mr. Jackson and Mr. Moss to congraduate each other's horses. They really didn't have to do that.
A few other things I took out of the ceremony Kenny Mayne > Kenny Rice when it comes to the funny jokes (although I found the Conan joke pretty funny, but it could be because of my dislike of Conan). While Ambasssador Farish was giving his speech, there was a heckler, I really hope they took her out of the room because that was a bit rude (rumor has it she said California, and they told her to be quite, but she said no).
I do want to appologize for not having a Weekend Recap post, I got involved with the Golden Globes. But just a little bit of a recap, it was a hit and miss weekend. I do want to thank everyone who particpated in yesterday's chat, I plan on doing the chats most likely once a month up to Derby on Mondays for about an hour or so. Check back here for more details in the upcoming weeks.
2yo Male: Really it was no suprise that Lookin at Lucky won, and it was well deserved. However when the vote totals came out, Vale of York finished second in first place votes. Why? Just because he was the BC Juvenile winner? Noble's Promises had been a much better horse going into that race then Vale of York, and still is IMO. That being said, Lucky is the very early Derby favorite, and he may not even be the best horse in his own barn anymore.
2yo Female: I really loved Nancy Mazzoni's shout out to She Be Wild ("She Be Wild, we love you!"), I've been a fan of this filly since watching HRTV's Against the Odds when Jeff Sigel picked her for the Arlington Lassie (and this was before I actually had HRTV, I was watching the show on MASN). Hopefully she does well on this year's Oaks Trail.
3yo Male: Obviously dispite being a huge fan of Summer Bird, I'm not a fan of his connections. No offence to his fans, but I find Tim Ice to have annoying voice (sorry!).
3yo Female: Two words: Rachel, unanimous. Enough said. Although I will say that Jess Jackson did not thank Hal Wiggins or Calvin Borel when he accepted this award (a hint of what is to come), and that was disapointing.
Older Male: A well deserved award for Gio Ponti, he did win an award earlier in the night so his owner didn't talk for that long.
Older Female: Dear DRF, Whoever voted for Icon Project, needs to be fired Love a Zenyatta fan. Seriously, she should have been unanimous, but some dingdong (apperently all signs point to the highley respected Andy Beyer) voted for IP (who had 1 G1 win, against really not that great horses), instead of Zen. The cool thing is Sting whose group the Police's album Zenyatta Mondatta, Big Z is named after gave a video congrats!
Female Sprinter: Even though I knew she would win, that doesn't mean I'm disapointed about Informed Decision. She's a synth specialist who peaked at the right time, I'm sorry.
Male Sprinter: Second most disapointing announcement of the night, with Kodiak Kowboy winning. Nice horse, but far from my favorite. Tom Ludt also did not include KK's former trainer, Larry Jones. However, this I'm not as annoyed about as he started and ended his career with Steve Asmussen. In a way though, it ended up being how Zayat's second half of the season went: With a thud. As I said before karma, hated Pioneerof the Nile, and it hated Zensational (both who I think will be failures at stud, but that's a story for another day).
Grass Male: GIO!!!!!! There was a chance that Condiuit would steal it, but thankfully with an upgrade in Team USA grass horses, the award was returned to the States. And the cool thing? He's coming back, expect him and Presious Passion to tear up the grass ranks, and then he most likley will end his career in the BCC (I don't see dirt being a problem for him, he's a 1/2 brother to the G1 placed Bon Jovi Girl).
Grass Female: Most disapointing announcement of the night. Yes Goldikova is a nice horse, but I think most of us where rooting for Ventura. I honestly think that she and Music Note will go down as two of the best horses not to win an Eclipse.
I'm going to skip the human awards, because I will be talking about them later this week.
Horse of the Year: Since the Eclipses started in the 1970's only three females have won the award (before the Eclipses I believe the TRF and DRF gave out two different sets of awards): All Along, Lady's Secret and Azeri. The Sisterhood added a new member to that list. Would it be Zenyatta, or Rachel Alexandra. In the end, the Princess of Racing, was crowned the Queen of 2009 as Rachel won in a unexpected landslide (it was expected the vote to be close). Jess Jackson did thank Calvin Borel this time around, but forgot Hal Wiggins for the second time. This was really the only thing that disapointed me, some people may agree, some people may disagree. That's what opinons are made of.
There was also outcry because Jerry Moss was acting unclassy right after Rachel was announced. I'm not going to comment on that, even though my opinon may shock some people. However I will say that it was classy for both Mr. Jackson and Mr. Moss to congraduate each other's horses. They really didn't have to do that.
A few other things I took out of the ceremony Kenny Mayne > Kenny Rice when it comes to the funny jokes (although I found the Conan joke pretty funny, but it could be because of my dislike of Conan). While Ambasssador Farish was giving his speech, there was a heckler, I really hope they took her out of the room because that was a bit rude (rumor has it she said California, and they told her to be quite, but she said no).
I do want to appologize for not having a Weekend Recap post, I got involved with the Golden Globes. But just a little bit of a recap, it was a hit and miss weekend. I do want to thank everyone who particpated in yesterday's chat, I plan on doing the chats most likely once a month up to Derby on Mondays for about an hour or so. Check back here for more details in the upcoming weeks.
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