Horse of the Year

[imallin]

Your argument that he beat \'nobody\' is laughable. He ran in the best and highest pursed races. The horses that were in those races were the best in the world. If there was a horse who is equal or better than Curlin, he OR SHE would have been in those races earning grade 1 status and making boatloads of money.

[Flighted Iron]

When Curlin faced top competition, he wasn\'t up to the task. One could blame the surface, he lost on turf and Pro-Ride, but the fact remains he lost.


  If I took the time to research all the past HOY honorees it would be a who\'s
who of horses who lost during their HOY campaign.I\'ll just choose Secretariat.
3rd in the Wood,2nd in the Woodward and Whitney.

  I also acknowledge the Man\'o War as top comp.Drf chart for Curlin has him banging the gate at the start.Smashing into metal and then running a super second
is credit to him.Pro-ride? I believe Albarado regarding Curlin\'s action during
the BC classic.

  I choose not to be overly critical of Curlin\'s victories because the fact
remains he won and received big figs by most of the top handicappers in the
world.By the same token I do not dismiss Zenyatta.Wow!! I sure hope they
run her next season.

With respect,
mjs

[TonyP.]

What is the criteria for selecting a horse of the year? I think what racing fans want is the horse who crosses the finish line first in exciting fashion against grade one competition. I expect the voters would use that template rather than some embellished reasoning.

[Silver Charm]

I think the voting will reflect that also.

She had her chance and they ducked the competition.

This is no Favorite Trick Year.

[smalltimer]

JB,
Actually, Curlin won only 4 Grade 1\'s this year.  Dubai, Foster, Woodward and the Jockey Club. His first win in Dubai was a Hcp race, but non-Graded.
In his 5 graded races, he only beat 38 horses total.

In \'02 when Azeri won HOY she won 8 of 9 Grade 1\'s including the BC Distaff.
In \'03 she won the Eclipse while winning 2 Grade 1\'s and 1 Grade 2 race, then finished 3rd in the Lady Secret.  All the Graded races she won in So. California.  The interesting thing is the runner-up, Sightseek won 4 of 8 Grade 1\'s and in her last start as the 3/5 favortie in the BC Distaff she finished 4th by 10 1/2 lengths.  

Zenyatta won 4 Grade 1\'s and 3 Grade 2\'s with all So Cal wins except the Apple Blossom. A little similar to Azeri who wasn\'t punished because she didn\'t venture outside So Cal.

There are a 3 horses worthy of Horse of the Year Award.  The voting could be very close because you never know what criteria the voters are using.  

I\'m not gonna hold my breath regardless of which horse wins.

[Ace]

All this discussion is meaningless to me, I couldn\'t care less about any of these awards.  Basket777 hit the nail on the head:  How does this make me a better handicapper? I\'m not wagering on who is going to win what award, therefore I care not.  - Ace

[jimbo66]

Hopefully the voters see it this way.

Can\'t believe what I am reading on this thread.  A poly specialist, who ran outside California on dirt, exactly once gets horse of the year over a horse who won all his dirt races (yes, we are still a dirt track country!!!) and who lost two races on alternate surfaces while travelling all over the country and to Dubai.

Gimme a break.  The vote will not be that close.

Zenyatta is the best female polycrap horse on the planet.  Maybe they ought to have a category for that.

[ronwar]

I didn\'t realize that horse of the year was dirt award.  Didn\'t a grass horse win sometime back.  I think it was Kotashan(sp?).

[Flighted Iron]

Few people would argue that Curlin was the best horse in the country on dirt.




   

since we\'re adding and(/)or deleting things,I would substitute country and send \"world on dirt\".
.Since you already have Curlin\'s concession on the turf,where
were they in Dubai? I admire Stonestreet stables for training this horse through
this year.Their committments to testing their athlete on ANY surface.I feel very
certain Mr jackson is a reasonable man whomever wins...


With Respect,
mjs

[Flighted Iron]

Ronwar,

 The concession of turf is most certain.I remember the French champion filly
All Along winning the International at 3(i think).Kotashaan was HOY in 1993.Horse
Racing is a sport(some say the King of sports).I thought it quite commendable
for the sport for the racing of Curlin on any natural surface.I\"m curious to see
in 2010 if any foreign invaders try the Classic?


With Respect,
mjs

[P-Dub]

TonyP. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What is the criteria for selecting a horse of the
> year? I think what racing fans want is the horse
> who crosses the finish line first in exciting
> fashion against grade one competition. I expect
> the voters would use that template rather than
> some embellished reasoning.


Sounds like Zenyatta.

[P-Dub]

jimbo66 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hopefully the voters see it this way.
>
> Can\'t believe what I am reading on this thread.  A
> poly specialist, who ran outside California on
> dirt, exactly once gets horse of the year over a
> horse who won all his dirt races (yes, we are
> still a dirt track country!!!) and who lost two
> races on alternate surfaces while travelling all
> over the country and to Dubai.
>

.
> Gimme a break.  The vote will not be that close.
>
> Zenyatta is the best female polycrap horse on the
> planet.  Maybe they ought to have a category for
> that.


Jimbo,

Its ok to prefer Curlin in this discussion.  However, your petty little snipes at discrediting the talents and accomplishments of Zenyatta make you sound like a spoiled little boy. She\'s more than a synthetic surface specialist.  Not acknowledging this is asinine, not to mention its just plain idiotic.

[miff]

It\'s somewhat a popularity contest with some voters. There have been years when a number of voters disregarded the obvious.This year it\'s conceivable that it could be close and I doubt the winner will be unanimous.

[TGJB]

Pdub-- you continue characterizing people as asinine and idiotic and you won\'t be here much longer. Grow the f--k up.

[P-Dub]

JB,

I\'ll send you a private.