Zenyatta Wins The 2010 Horse Of The Year!
By Stephen Alicknovic
The deadline to vote for this year’s Eclipse awards is January 4, 2011. In 2009 there were a total of 271 ballots sent out by mail, but of that number, only 231 were returned. That means 40 people opted not to vote for whatever reason. The outcome of 2009 Horse of the Year was cause for a wild, back and forth, and sometimes nasty debate between people who backed Zenyatta, and the people who backed Rachel Alexandra. Raw emotions took over any objectivity in regards to the matter. It was a nasty, bitter argument that lasted well into 2010. As the years go by, I think it will be safe to say they got it right. Rachel Alexandra was super, and she deserved to win the 2009 Horse of the Year.
That was 2009. Here we are talking about 2010, and it’s DeJa Vu all over again, as the great Yogi Berra would say. Zenyatta is once again in the mix for Horse of the Year with Blame, the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner. He defeated Zenyatta by a head in one of the most dramatic horses races in the history of the sport. The race captivated a nation. And with his win many will argue that Blame should be crowned the 2010 top horse solely based on that feat.
I firmly disagree with this notion that he should win it simply because he won the Breeders’ Cup Classic, by a head over Zenyatta. Did not Zenyatta win the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2009? Yes she did, in spectacular style. She was denied Horse of the Year because the 3-year-old filly had one of the greatest 3-year-old campaigns a filly can have. Zenyatta did all she could, but it was the wrong year for her to win it.
2010 is the right year. This is not about raw emotions, or being jaded by who the more popular horse is, or what speed figure one earned. Zenyatta earned it on the track, and the facts speak for themselves. The numbers point to Zenyatta. She had a stellar 2010 campaign. She chalked up 5 Grade I wins. Blame had 3 Grade I wins, and a Grade III win. And he was a distant 2nd to Haynesfield in the Jockey Club Gold Cup GI at Belmont Park. Zenyatta tied the North American all-time record for most consecutive wins by a thoroughbred. Zenyatta also broke the all-time North American female earnings record. She passed Ouija Board with career earnings of over $7 million. And ran an amazing race in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, coming up a head short in an epic stretch duel with Blame.
Many point to the fact that Blame beat Zenyatta on the track, and that is all there is to it, but there is more, much more to it. Horse racing is unlike any other sport. Wins and losses are not determined by points, or judges rather by performances on the track. Blame’s win over Zenyatta was not enough to do it. He had to beat her convincingly to win it. To become a champion in boxing, not only must a fighter win, he or she must do it convincingly, batter the opponent, crush the opponent. An obvious whooping must be delivered. Zenyatta was not whooped at all. In fact she ran a great, great race to just miss by a narrow margin.
The logic that says a horse must win the Breeders’ Cup Classic to win Horse of the Year is as holey as a pair of 15-year-old socks. If this was in fact the case, Zenyatta should have won it in 2009. Curlin won Horse of The Year in 2008, and he was 4th in The Breeders’ Cup Classic. So that exact same argument can be used against Blame. Call it being a victim of circumstances, as in the case of Zenyatta in 2009. She had a great year, but Rachel Alexandra was a tad better.
The numbers above speak for themselves. 5 Grade I’s beat 3 Grade I’s. Blame won the Breeder’s Cup Classic, by a head. Is that head good enough to edge out one of the greatest thoroughbreds of our lifetime for Horse of the Year? I don’t think it was. Blame needed to add about 10 more heads to his margin of victory. He needed to pull away from her in the stretch. He did not. He won in a courageous, hard fought battle. This is not about popularity, as some will have you believe. This is about performance on the race track. Zenyatta did not win, but you can’t say she did not run a tremendous race, rallying from so far out of it, it looked as if she would need a taxi to come pick her up to even have a chance. All things considered, Zenyatta had the better year. There will be some voting for her based on their affection, and affinity for her, others will be voting for Blame because of their disdain for Zenyatta. Both are completely wrong reasons to base a vote on.
Zenyatta finished up her amazing career with 19 wins from 20 starts. She will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest race mares of all-time. Blame had a great year as well. A championship year in just about any other year, like Zenyatta had in 2009. If Zenyatta fails to win the top award, it is a safe assessment to say that she will be one the greatest horses of all-time to not win Horse of the Year. And you could also say it would be a shame if she is deprived again of the top honor.
Zenyatta in 20 career starts only lost once, by a mere head in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic. The same can not be said for Blame, who was thoroughly defeated by Haynesfield in the Jockey Club Gold Cup GI at Belmont Park. If you want a tie-breaker, take a good close look at that race. The performance was far from Horse of The Year materiel. Even though it might have been considered only a prep, it was still a Grade I race. You run to win the race. And on paper it was not a win. Anyone who tells you different about the race is missing the point. Zenyatta was never smoked in 2010 the way Blame was, and his head is just not big enough to get him the Horse of the Year. In fact Zenyatta was never smoked in her entire career, let alone in 2010. Zenyatta earned it-on the track. Hopefully they will get it right this time around as well. History will remind us if they do not. She is the 2010 Horse of the Year.
****
On a side note, one of the horses Zenyatta defeated in a thriller was Switch in The Lady’s Secret Stakes Grade I at Hollywood Park. Switch came back to decimate a good field in The La Brea Grade I the day after Christmas. Switch is certainly proved she is no tomato can.
