The Great Debate

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Horse of theYear.. .the great debate

Something Special About Perfection

By MICHAEL COMPTON he merits for Horse of the Year honors of both Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra have been widely chronicled in print since Zenyatta’s epic Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) triumph Nov. 7 at Santa Anita. The debate over who deserves Horse of theYear more—Zenyatta or Rachel Alexandra—is certain to rage right up to the minute of the announcement Jan. 18 at the Eclipse Awards ceremony in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Championships should be settled on the racetrack.

My vote is for Zenyatta.

Both runners enjoyed brilliant, undefeated seasons in 2009. They both recorded accomplishments that will go down in history as firsts. Rachel Alexandra became the first female ever to win the Woodward Stakes (G1) at Saratoga and was the first filly in 85 years to win the Preakness Stakes (G1) against fellow 3-year-olds.

Zenyatta, however, became the first female to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), conquering the best horses assembled of any age from around the globe.

It was fitting that this year’s Breeders’ Cup was held in Southern California. There isn’t a Hollywood script out there that could have compared to the dramatic flair in which Zenyatta captured the imaginations of fans all over the world and won the richest race in the U.S. on a

I believe it would be difficult for any racing enthusiast watching this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic to envision any horse on the planet beating Zenyatta to the wire in that race.

46 THE FLORIDA HORSE • DECEMBER 2009

BENOIT & ASSOCIATES PHOTO

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Zenyatta

day that champions are crowned.

After breaking a step slowly, Zenyatta dropped out last, far behind her male rivals. In front of her were the winners of this year’s Kentucky Derby (G1), Belmont Stakes (G1), Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1), Travers Stakes (G1), Pacific Classic (G1), Santa Anita Handicap (G1), Arlington Million (G1) and England’s Champions Stakes (G1) and Eclipse Stakes (G1), a formidable bunch, to say the least.

On the far turn Zenyatta had improved to ninth position but still had a wealth of ground to make up on the leaders.

When her jockey, Mike Smith, angled her out from behind runners, Zenyatta shifted into another gear, a gear her connections always figured she had but never called upon her to actually hit in a race because she never needed to dig that deep.

With her ears flipping back and forth, Zenyatta set sail after Grade 1 winners Twice Over and Gio Ponti, easily cruising past them both inside the sixteenth pole en route to one of the most deceptively easy victories in the history of the Breeders’ Cup. The scary thing is that Zenyatta seemed to have more run, still, if it was needed.

I believe it would be difficult for any racing enthusiast watching this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, with the exception of Jess Jackson, Harold McCormick, Steve Asmussen, Calvin Borel and my colleague, Patrick Vinzant, to envision any horse on the planet beating Zenyatta to the wire in that race. The presence of Rachel Alexandra over that surface that day might have made Zenyatta run faster than the 2:00.62 it took her to cover the 1¼ miles over Santa Anita’s Pro-Ride surface, but there isn’t a horse alive that would have crossed the wire ahead of Zenyatta.

The Classic was simply her finest performance and one of the best of all time. That victory alone stamps her as the 2009 Horse of the Year.

Zenyatta’s winner’s share of the Classic purse amounted to $2,700,000 and virtually equaled the amount bankrolled all season by Rachel Alexandra. The victory also made Zenyatta the richest mare in history.

With all due respect to RachelAlexandra and her sporting connections, Zenyatta’s performance in the Breeders’ Cup Classic against a stellar field on racing’s biggest stage is the clincher for Horse of the Year honors. ■

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Sound Off! Who do you think should be Horse of the Year? Send us your opinion.

We'll continue the debate with your responses in our January issue.

Send to: Compton @thefloridahorse.com. Be sure to include your name and city.

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Rachel Alexandra: Enough Said It’s only fitting that Jess Jackson’s Stonestreet Stables is in line for its third consecutive Horse of the Year title. Stonestreet’s Curlin won the award in 2007 and 2008.

Jackson exemplifies the term “sportsman”. Following Rachel Alexandra’s Kentucky Oaks masterpiece, Jackson and his partner, Harold McCormick, stepped up and paid a reported $10 million for the filly by Medaglia d’Oro. In the four starts she made in Stonestreet’s colors with Steve Asmussen as trainer, Rachel Alexandra took on males three times and jumped to the forefront of the Horse of the Year race.

In those races, Rachel Alexandra beat the winners of the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes, the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the Whitney Handicap and the Stephen Foster Handicap.

Just because her connections declined to ship her to California to compete over a synthetic surface in the Breeders’ Cup Classic should not be a reason for her to lose her only race this year, the race for Horse of the Year. Enough said. ■

DENVER PHOTO

By PATRICK VINZANT s Horse of the Year based on a single performance? Or is it based on a body of work, incorporating an entire season? These are really the only questions to answer in determining Horse of the Year honors for 2009.

Since it is virtually impossible to split the award, voters must choose whether Horse of theYear is Zenyatta, based on her Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) victory, or Rachel Alexandra, for her three wins against males, including the Preakness Stakes (G1), one of our country’s classic events.

Not to take away from Zenyatta’s stellar year and what she has meant to racing, but compared to Rachel Alexandra, her accomplishments simply do not stack up.

Rachel Alexandra began her yearlong campaign with an eight-length romp in a stakes race at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas. From there, she dominated her competition in subsequent starts at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., and Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Her success over the different dirt surfaces she encountered demonstrates her ability to take on all competition—of both sexes—without toting her track with her.

In 2009, Rachel Alexandra won all eight of her starts, including five Grade 1 races. Numbered among them, the prestigious Kentucky Oaks (G1), which she won by 201⁄4 lengths; the Preakness Stakes, in which she was the first filly to win in 85 years; the Mother Goose Stakes (G1), which she won by 19¼ lengths; the Haskell Invitational (G1), beating Belmont and Travers Stakes winner Summer Bird; and she closed out her year with a victory in the Woodward Stakes (G1), becoming the first filly to defeat older males in the race.

In comparison, Zenyatta never raced outside of California in 2009. She won five races over synthetic surfaces at Hollywood Park, Del Mar and Santa Anita. The Breeders’ Cup Classic accounted for $2.7 million of her $3,330,000 on the year and marked her fourth Grade 1 score.

Rachel Alexandra annexed five Grade 1 wins in 2009 and defeated males three times in Grade 1 races.

She earned $2,746,914 in her undefeated 3-year-old season, winning races over seven different racetracks.

Rachel Alexandra

Just because her connections declined to ship her to California to compete over a synthetic surface in the Breeders’ Cup Classic should not be a reason for her to lose her only race this year, the race for Horse of the Year.

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