Rapid Redux - Horse Of The Year

[sekrah]

19 in a row.  17 for 17 in 2011.   Slam Dunk Horse of the Year IMO.  As we learned in the past, the caliber of competition should not matter, right?

[P-Dub]

Just give it a rest.

[sekrah]

It\'s a legitimate question.  At what point do we cut off a horse to not qualified to be Horse of the Year?  The 20th best horse?  The 200th best horse?  The 500th best horse?

17 for 17 is 17 for 17 anyway you want to cut it.   Again, based on the precedent of \"If it\'s so easy, why hasn\'t anyone else done it.\", the level of competition should be irrelevant when making this decision.

If he breaks the all-time record of 19 and gets to 20, it\'s a cinch right?

[jimbo66]

Sekrah,

I have to side with P-Dub here.

it is a LITTLE unfair.

Zenyatta beat fields that were a wee bit better than Rapid Redux\'s fields..  

[richiebee]

I\'m not too familiar with RR -- How many Graded Stakes has he won?

When was the last time a runner was named HOY without winning a Graded Stake?

You got your gratuitous shot in against last years HOY. Can we move on to the
important races now?

[sekrah]

I agree they were better fields, but since we opened the box, where do we draw the line?   One of the crowning arguments from the Z crowd was that it didn\'t matter who she beat, and if it were easy somebody else would have done it.  

IMO, Although obviously not the same calibre horse, it is far more difficult (and unlikely) to do what Rapid Redux has done.  17 for 17 in one season (19 for 19 in under 12 months, not 36 months).  All on dirt tracks which everyone agrees is a much more taxing surface than synthetics.  7 different tracks (2 bull rings) and 7 different distances (from 5f to 1 1/8)

[Footlick]

I can\'t even believe we are doing this again.  She is retired.  Leave her alone.

[TGJB]

That\'s not the point, nor is it whether Z won G I\'s or got HOTY. The man made the point clear-- if you don\'t consider how fast they ran, who they beat or by how much, it doesn\'t mean anything that they won. That\'s his point and I agree.

[Footlick]

then by all means keep commenting about it and bringing it up.  It is boring.

[P-Dub]

TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That\'s not the point, nor is it whether Z won G
> I\'s or got HOTY. The man made the point clear-- if
> you don\'t consider how fast they ran, who they
> beat or by how much, it doesn\'t mean anything that
> they won. That\'s his point and I agree.


Geezus, you really think that\'s the point he\'s making?

As Richie pointed out, its nothing more than a gratuitous cheap shot at another horse.

He mentioned caliber of competition. He never mentioned speed figures, so thats not his point.  You agree with him, but you also have a dog in the fight.    

We\'re a week from the Breeders\' Cup, and this is the talk of the day. Let me say it Miff........

Brilliant!!

[TGJB]

Of COURSE the point applies to Z, that\'s how the subject came up originally a couple of years ago. But it came up again now because that horse just won 19 straight, and the point itself stands on its own merits-- which is why nobody has answered Sekrah\'s questions.

As for having a dog in the fight, I took my position BECAUSE of the reasoning, not the other way around. And you know it.

[Breakage]

Astonishing that no other horse has distinguished itself on synthetic surfaces and that some can still pretend that synthetic surfaces don\'t artificially bring the horses closer together.

or in simple english some still can\'t recognize the immense achievement of the horse.

mind bogglingly astonishing in a sport where processing critical information is paramount.

[Lost Cause]

The issue is that she won based on sentiment not because she was the best horse that ran last year..I don\'t think anyone is gong to doubt that she was a hell of a racehorse but Blame beat her fair and square and won better races than her throughout the year and it irks alot of people  (myself included ) that she still won HOY.

[plasticman]

LC, Blame beat Z fair and square but Haynesfield beat Blame fair and square. Both horses lost one race fair and square. Z had the better career and the better span of 2/3 years. I know its \'horse of the YEAR\' but since there is really no criteria for voting and the voting is done by humans, those same humans are allowed to make the last TWO years a factor, even if they technically should not.

Z won the BCC the year before in stunning fashion and LOST the HOY. She had back to back sensational performances in the BCC while Blame only had 1.

The award is horse of the YEAR, but it could theoretically be \'horse of the period\'. Its the same in pro sports. MVP is most VALUABLE player, but usually, the player who wins this award is the BEST player and not necessarily the most valuable to his team. It SAYS valuable, but really means BEST. Maybe \"Year\" really means \"period\".

Since there is no bylaws for HOY voters that they are not allowed to \'take into consideration\' anything that happened outside of the \'jan 1-dec 31\' calendar year, its open to interpretation, its just a matter of how you want to interpret it.

[plasticman]

No male horse in the history of racing has ever won 19 in a row. What Rapid Redux has done is equivalent to beating Dimaggio\'s hitting streak.

Ask yourself this. If Dan Uggla somehow beat Dimaggio\'s streak in the 2011 baseball season and ended up hitting .240 for the year, would he win MVP?

Its an interesting point of discussion, you can make a case for either side.