NEWS
Commentary: Some Down Under perspective on Horse of the Year debate
Posted: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 11:17 AM
HORSE OF THE YEAR STATUETTE
Thoroughbred Times/photos by Z
by Steve Bailey
Let the debate and the sniping begin.
Less than 24 hours after Blame’s dramatic head victory over Zenyatta in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) on Saturday, Thoroughbred Times began receiving letters and e-mails from fans stating their cases for which horse should be crowned the 2010 Horse of the Year.
As was the case during much of the year, when fans of Rachel Alexandra and fans of Zenyatta took turns bashing each other in their quest to prove who truly was the more talented racemare—a disastrous episode in futility from my point of view—shots have been fired and the gauntlet already has been thrown down by backers on both sides.
Claiborne Farm President Seth Hancock lobbed the first grenade only moments after Blame had ended Zenyatta’s quest for perfection and the fairytale ending that hundreds of thousands of racing fans and non-racing fans alike had been anticipating in the Classic.
“I thought the battle for Horse of the Year was fought about a half-hour ago, and Blame won it,” Hancock said. “She’s a great horse, Zenyatta is, but she had her shot to get by and she couldn’t do it. So I don’t think you can vote for her. I don’t know who else you could vote for.”
What Mr. Hancock said may be spot on, depending upon your point of view, but I am not here to argue for or against Blame for Horse of the Year. I also am not here to argue for Zenyatta for Horse of the Year.
I had the unique opportunity on Sunday to get a glimpse of how Zenyatta and the Breeders’ Cup Classic were viewed and digested by someone who, as they say, does not have a dog in the fight.
For more than four decades, Australian form analyst Peter Ellis has traveled the globe breaking down meetings, walking courses, and witnessing some of the greatest horses and races around the world.
Ellis was at Churchill Downs on Friday and Saturday for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships and, on Sunday, spoke to a radio audience of hundreds of thousands back home in Australia about what he had seen.
I was taken completely off guard by what came out of his mouth.
“I’ve been doing this for more than 40 years, and I can tell you that [Zenyatta’s] performance was the greatest that I have ever seen by a horse that did not win the race,” he told the host. “Some people will say that she shouldn’t be named Horse of the Year because she didn’t win. I would argue that her performance in defeat was much better than her winning effort a year earlier and should guarantee that she is named Horse of the Year.”
Whoa! Don’t hold back, Peter. Tell your listeners Down Under how you really feel.
“She was squeezed out of the gate, forcing the jockey to check up a bit, and then spent several hundred meters in a storm of kickback; that’s why she dropped back so far,” Ellis said. “On the backstretch, she got behind 20 to 25 [lengths] and I’m not sure anyone thought she had any business even catching up to that field much less getting back in the race.
“The fact that she was able to make up that much ground on a track that deep and cuppy and give herself a chance to get up and win it in the last strides is one of the most impressive efforts I have seen on a racetrack.
“Blame ran a great race; you can’t take anything away from him. He is a fantastic horse. But would he have been able to do the same? [Zenyatta] was the best horse on that racetrack, as she was in all of her previous 19 starts. By definition, isn’t that what Horse of the Year is?”
“Some people are going to argue that the horse that wins the Breeders’ Cup Classic against the toughest field of the year should get Horse of the Year, right? It didn’t work out that way last year, did it?”
Ellis also said he was struck by the way Zenyatta captured the hearts of racing fans and non-racing fans not only in the U.S. but all over the world.
“I have never seen a horse that touched people and brought them together like this one,” he said. “She seems to connect with people unlike any horse I have ever seen; even people who don’t follow racing at all.
“I rang a friend in Queensland after the races and he told me that his wife was extremely upset that Zenyatta had lost. These people do not follow American racing a lick, but they tuned in to see Zenyatta.
“Racing in America is not always seen in such a positive light in other parts of the world, but here is a champion and a story that people around the world are captivated and touched by. I don’t think people are going to realize just how special she is until she’s gone because there will not be another one like her.”
When the radio interview was over, I told Ellis that I doubted that Zenyatta would be named Horse of the Year based upon many of the pre-Classic writings by some of the sport’s most well-known Turf writers.
He smiled.
“That’s the thing,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if she’s Horse of the Year or not. She’s THE horse of the last 40 years. Which one do you think people are going to remember?”
Steve Bailey is deputy news editor of Thoroughbred Times
READER COMMENTS
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Posted by: Linda , Prince Frederick , MD on December 27, 2010 at 04:06 PM
It the people who vote for Horse of the Year dare not to giver her the title this year there is going to be severe consequences for the racing industry. The thousands and thousands of people who have spent the past year following the spectacular horse Zenyatta will certainly be disillusioned. Zenyatta brought them into the racing sport and this would probably take them OUT. It was bad enough last year that she didn't win, but Rachel Alexandra had a spectacular year, broke records and won. This other horse, Blame, did nothing at all spectacular. He only won this one race by a nose. Since when does a horse win HOTY for winning one race. Weeks before the BC there was little said about Blame as he had already lost races.
I watch the horse races each and every weekend and subscribe to several magazines on horse racing, heave race horse breeders in my family and I had not heard of Blame before the BC.
The voters had better dig deep before they deny this Spectacular Mare the honor she deserves!!!
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Posted by: Susan, Hoyt, KS on November 26, 2010 at 08:41 AM
What fascinates me...everyone who calls Zenyatta fans Z freaks are really closet Rabid Rachel fans who are so mad that Zenyatta has captured America's (and the entire WORLD'S) hearts they feel the need to put her down.
If you want to put down Z's record by saying she ran in the same races (even though they were G1's) you NEED to include Blame's G3 and loss in the JCGC to Haynesfield in HIS consideration. He's a fine horse, but I watched that JCGC, and in his defeat, he wasn't impressive. I have been a Zenyatta fan since the beginning, and her lone defeat in the BCC was the most brilliant loss I have ever seen. Blame, or any other horse, could NEVER have made up that much ground so quickly and come up short by, yes, a head bob. She ate them up and ran out of time. If you think Rachel (last year) or Blame could have done the same, you are so incredibly delusioned.
She is Horse of the last 40 years and Horse of my lifetime, and I'm so glad I got to see HISTORY, which is something Blame will be a footnote in.
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Posted by: Leonard, Lawndale, CA on November 18, 2010 at 12:24 PM
No-one can win over 7 Million $$$ on the race track and never having won HORSE OF THE YEAR. You don't win that kind of $$$ by not accomplishing something on the race track, can anyone say 13 Grade 1's, mighty John Henry won 16 G1's, Zenyatta and Forego are tied for second with 13 G1's and Affirmed and Spectacular Bid are tied for third for most grade 1 win's in their career's, has anyone heard of these GREAT's I mentioned ??? Hands Down Zenyatta is America's HORSE OF THE YEAR for 2010 and no-one else come's close......
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Posted by: Handicapper, Inglewood, CA on November 18, 2010 at 12:16 PM
Zenyatta won the B.C.Classic last year and did-not win HOTY which was just a travesty, she got ROBBED and now Blame win's the Classic and the naysayer's are saying that Blame should win because he won the Classic that why he should be HOTY, talk about DOUBLE STANDARD'S. Zenyatta was the most accomplished horse in America for the last 3yrs. it about time she get's her due's...... JMO <\_~
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Posted by: Lauren, New Zealand, CA on November 17, 2010 at 12:06 PM
I am from New Zealand and it is sickening reading these posts how Blame should be horse of the year. No one here knows who Blame is but they certainly know who Zenyatta is. End of Story!
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