Eclipse Awards Voting, By The Numbers

Zenyatta won 5 G1's in 2010, none aganst males. Goldikova won 5 Grade/group 1's in 2010, 4 of them against males. Doesn't take much of a rocket scientist to see who was the true HOY even with Goldis single appearance in the USA which was an easy 2 length victpry over the best males in the world and was a more impressive race than any that Zenyatta ran ths year by far. Eclipse HOY has become more about fan hype, sentiment and BS than what was actually accomplished on the track. Goldikova was the best older horse to race in the USA this year, that is reality and she didn't need sentiment or hype to win her Eclipse award unlike Zenyatta.

Congrats to Zenyatta on a well deserved lifetime achievement award. As a bitter denizen of the New York circuit .... I was actually happy when she lost the Breeders Cup ...and i should be ashamed of myself as a horse racing fan. What a shame the Moss's were not more like the Paulsons and try to make Zenyatta a horse of the world ...instead of just the Hollywood elite. But there was only one Allen Paulson.

I grew up on horse racing so I am not a new fan!!! Zenyatta won fair and square, she was the best horse that ran in 2010. Although she lost the BC Classic she was obviously the best horse (unless you are east coast biased) in the race. If Zenyatta would of won she very likely sweeps the vote, she came up a small head short while encountering traffic trouble and having to overcome an unheard of 20 length early deficit where she looked like she might be pulled up. All while Blame had the perfect trip and saved ground. The voters completely got it right, Zenyatta was the best horse to run in 2010 and the BC confirmed even more.. She is UNBELIEVABLE!

I really want to try to say something that hasn't already been said... and it appears that there is a "fairness" doctrine that exists to some degree. This vote is proof of it. However, if I were an owner (and every one of you here in Steve's blog pretend to be the same) of a horse that was undefeated (19-0 and every race was last to first), won the BCC in 2009 against males, retired, and then came out of retirement to defend her title and then came oh so close to running down a horse that was undefeated at Churchill Downs after a horrible trip, well... you get the point. If you were the owner of Zenyatta, you would have felt slighted for not winning HOY in the past. I don't care what ANY of you say, if YOU were the owner, you would feel slighted. That is all that happened in this HOY debate, they (the Moss family) were slighted in the past and EVERYONE knew it. The fact that Rachel never showed up and had declined so much from a performance level, made it easier for the writers to fix the slight. I respect the voters who obviously corrected a huge mistake.

Now Seth Hancock knows how Jerry Moss felt in 2009. Sometimes you have to "live in a person's shoes" before it all hits home. Maybe Seth can express his feelings to the Eclipse voters and let them know what Jerry Moss went through in 2009. The old saying "What comes around, goes around" couldn't be more true (when it comes to Eclipse awards).

Take nothing away from either of the top contenders for 2010 HOY. Both are wonderful horses that anyone would love to own. The line in the sand kept getting redrawn for Zenyatta. The more horses she beat, the fewer that wanted to enter against her. She was criticized for 'not beating anyone'. So by that logic, a horse like Spectacular Bid who won in a walkover wasn't that great. HUH? Pretzel logic. Zenyatta raced on two surfaces, synthetic and dirt. Blame raced on one surface, dirt. If Zenyatta was a being marketed at stud she would be called versatile. Naysayers called her a poly specialist even though her best races were on dirt. Blame won 3 G1's in 2010. Zenyatta won 5 G1's in 2010. Personal Ensign and Ruffian were never, and should never, be knocked for rarely leaving their home states. It seems to be fair game to knock Zenyatta for racing most of her career in CA. I think the Eclipse voters had it correct in 2010.

zenyatta should have one hoy last year after her bc win... hollendorfer was my trainer of the year. tp will win more derbies but jh had a championship season.

Winner: Hattie's over Flay .... 'by a nose!' (Steve handicapped the winner?)

I'm glad that those with the vote actually voted with their heads rather than any biases that they may have developed over the HOTY discussion... Curlin stopping at the head of the Santa Anita stretch was blamed on the track.... That was also garbage in my opinion since Curlin made a huge move in the turn and looked the winner until he flat quit...Curlin was a great animal who had a bad day! Some people have also been bitter about the Mosses and the reaction to losing last year...I know I would be a little miffed since in my mind at no time would have Rachael's connections agreed to meet at the Classic distance of 10F whether it was on dirt or synthetic. What a shame if we would have had to blame, Blame for Zenyatta's omittance from the pages of history...

Another joke for horse racing, yes! Blown last year when the award should have been split with RA and Zen, so let’s cover our butts over that debacle by mucking it up further. It’s no wonder the sport is in decline with credibility on parade like this. With overzealous takeouts, inconsistency in racing surfaces, and political shenanigans like this, it won’t be long before race fans just don’t care anymore. Racing insiders are now synonymous with politicians inside the beltway. Nice going . . .

...What do you want for racing? This is a mare that ran 3 years in a row without a break from track life. NO cozy 6 months off. She gave her all at distances at times were not her best. She carried weight varied from 123-129. I don't care who you run against, carrying 129 and spotting fields weight hurts their chances especially for closers. Anything can happen in a horse race, stub your toe and you lose no matter of the competition. Where were the best fillies and mares that could have run against her? Give it up to a mare that showed her heart on the track and her charisma off. Who had people with real cameras to camera phones clicking away and yelling her name. Who brought her fame to magazines and 60 Minutes. For once racing was noticed with a different image not the one associated with that seedy background.

hey steve. first, very sorry to read about the loss of your beloved greyhound. i hope you had a great holiday, and it is nice to have you back blogging, and putting some thoughts together for us. i just wanted to comment about the voting, as i really cannot understand how some people can cast the votes they do, and have this privilege year after year. there was a vote for No Such Word for 3 year old filly champion? for Pluck as 2 year old champion? even Boys at Toscanova? Drosselmeyer for 3 year old champ? Super Saver? More than Real for 2 year old filly? these are wrong, and it is just not right that this goes on. i am reminded of a writer, a few years back, who would not cast a vote for Derek Jeter for MVP because he played for the dreaded Yankees, and therfor had some decided advantage. the failure to cast even a 4th place vote essentially cost Jeter an mvp he deserved. this type of voting needs to be admonished, and i think it is time that people recognized that is a privilege to vote, or have the opportunity to vote in these, and it should be taken seriously. otherwise, abstain or give up the seat. but voting for horses with basically no merit for the title is just wrong. IMHO

A TV SARATOGA MUST TONIGHT ... WEDNESDAY 1/19: BOBBY FLAY IN A COOKOFF WITH JASPER OF 'HATTIES!' SC SHOULD HAVE BEEN A JUDGE.

no this is a discussion of how a horse can win the head to head battle but lose the popularity contest. If horse racing is a sport, then to the winner go the spoils. It would be as if in the 1992 Olympics Sarah Hughes, who clearly won the head to head, would have been placed second because Michelle Quan was more 'loved' . So figure skating shows more integrity than horse racing-how sad. I should not care if horse racing is no longer a sport since I cleaned up on Blame and how I wish they would be in the same race again! Before the Classic it was widely agreed that whoever won the Classic would be horse of the year, Hollywood did it's thing influencing those who know nothing about the sport to go with the 'queen'. I am proud of the DRF voters, disappointed in the others, especially the weak 'abstention'.

What bothers me most is the arrogance of Moss and Sherriffs. They learned nothing from the 2009 loss of HOY to RA and decided to sit at home and try and get the 20 in a row. Imagine if they had beaten the boys just once in the summer or fall, Zenyatta would have been HOY in a landslide. Then, there was all the whining about how much Zenyatta did for racing and her popularity. Consider what she would have done for racing if she had run at Saratoga. Imagine all the fans she would have made if she had visited some tracks in the East where her fan base was considerably weaker. For the past 2 years, Sherriffs and Moss ran passive campaigns instead of aggressively going after the HOY title.

HOTY blog is one of the biggest in the world. Thanks all for sharring. The entertainment is great. Maybe some day there will be DRF channel and give us an option for viewers.

Her statue is going up in CA.

Brian: I was just doing some Monday morning quarterbacking trying to understand why people voted as they did. I wasn't necessarilly trying to justify their decisions or the rationale behind them; rather, I wanted to get a better understanding of their decision calculus. And for the most part, I can see why someone would vote Zenyatta HoY, just like I appreciate the reasons why others voted for Blame. Had Blame been voted HoY, I would have explored what I thought were the key factors that produced such an outcome. My belief is that there were probably some pro-Zenyatta voters who, after the contentious votes in 08' and 09', would have only voted against Zenyatta if some other horse had put together a truly historic campaign. I'm not implying such a position is correct, but I can understand it...However, as Zenyatta kept winning, I do think she became the "default" option for some, the presumptive HoY; for these voters, it might have taken something truly remarkable from another horse to deny Zenyatta the HoY. Given how close Zenyatta had come to HoY in 08' and 09', some voters probably drew a line in the sand, and concluded that Blame's 2010 campaign was simply not historic enough to warrant voting for Blame over Zenyatta(and by late December the vote for HoY had basically become a dichotomous choice, either Zenyatta or Blame). I agree that if we go by a strict interpretation of what it means to be HoY, races from earlier years should be immarterial. My point is that I think it was probably difficult for many voters to divorce Zenyatta's 2010 campaign from her earlier accomplishments, and I can certainly understand how this would be challenging.

eddiecoyle, I used that same analogy ('07 Patriots should have been awarded the Super Bowl victory using the Zenyatta "logic"). This is why I pay little attention to any sports awards decided by voters. DRF clearly got it right. A vote for Blame was based 100% on reason and this does not make me a Zentatta hater. She is a tremendous racehorse and brought racing into the mainstream arena......she just did not deserve to be HOY. As a previous post said, to believe this means I am not a fan of horseracing. Nothing could be further than the truth!

The fluke HOY result was the one for 2009. Rachel Alexandra was always a farce and she was further exposed for it in 2010. She was heralded for a win in the KY Oaks over a runner-up with a 75 Beyer and that runner-up netted a 76 fig. in her only subsequent win. Rachel Alexandra barely won the Preakness over a terrible Derby winner who netted just a single win in America. Rachel Alexandra then won a 3-horse race in which the others battled head-to-head up front in 1:08 and change setting up the only possible outcome. She beat a horribly weak Summer Bird (who did truly deserve the male divisional championship) and later beat a terrible field of older males only narrowly as the 1-to-2 choice. (only one of those older males has won since!) Those grumbling about this year's HOY outcome need only take a look in the mirror to find the reasons why HOY became the "popularity contest" that it is alleged to be. When you are the problem, you can not be a part of the solution.

Having followed this HOY debate with great interest, as a Zenyatta fan and a big BC Classic winner with Blame, I am wondering whether the ideal solution would have been to declare a draw/tie between the 2 horses. I know it is not in the American psyche to welcome a tie, but here in the UK we have loads of draws in our football, and also in our cricket (sometimes after matches lasting 5 days). Some of these draws are tedious, with neither team prepared to go all out for victory for fear of defeat, but plenty of other draws provide great sport and an honourable outcome. Zenyatta's 3 year record plus great 'personality' versus Blame's better 2010 campaign - yes, should have been called a tie.

For those criticizing Zenyatta's winning of this award, this thread is but a mere rehashing of the same arguments presented before the vote. "It's not about this" or "HOY is about that." What it is really about is whatever the voters want it to be about apart from the single written rule: the horse must have raced at least once it the US (maybe it's North America.) All three finalists met this requirement. From there it is up to the voter and I, for one, don't know what the voter is thinking. All I know is that more voters thought the award should go to Zenyatta and, therfore, it did.

It sickens me that a horse who defeated ZERO GI winners in victory, won ZERO unrestricted races and lost the Classic was given the award, while the horse who defeated all the top ranked horses many times throughout the year, notched 4 victories in open company including a victory over Zen in the Classic went home empty-handed. His only defeat was a 2nd place finish to a loose on the lead, 7-time stakes winner in Haynesfield. His travel was delayed that day as well. Had Blame faced Dance to My Tune and Rinterval leading up to the Classic, does anyone seriously think he would have lost? No. Sad that he was not rewarded for the tougher and more successful campaign. The sport I grew up watching is changing fast, and for all the wrong reasons. Self promotion, manufactured press releases, begging, crying, complaining, and such should not garner the HOY crown. The precedent has always shown it goes to the top older male because the races they enter are the most difficult and taxing, and require a horse to be fully cranked all year. It's unfair to suddenly change the rules and consider f/m races equal to older male unrestricted races. Zenyatta fans can't seem to grasp simple concepts about the echelons of racing, and they don't seem capable of opening a book and reading about the history of the sport. If they did, they would realize why so many people are upset with the result, and that not everyone is on the kissy poo poo bandwagon. It really got sickening and was taken way too far. TVG -- the worst thing to happen in racing IMO -- didn't help either. They serve up an all-Zenyatta all day lovefest, and I heard them spew out such untruths about what determines the highest level of competition I wanted to throw something at my tv! At any rate, the Mosses and Shirreffs get all these accolades and such an outpouring of support, but I don't appreciate their feeling of entitlement one bit. Just because your mare is popular doesn't mean she deserves every title under the sun, especially when people say she is the greatest of all time. We all know she would never have a prayer of catching Ruffian, let alone Secretariat or the Bid. All this ass-kissing makes me ill. I can't wait to stop hearing about this horse! For heaven's sake enough! She is a nice hores but nowhere near the greatest ever, and her lone victory against males on synthetic they hated and 18 victories against weak females is not evidence of her being so.

The HOY result simply makes no sense. Are Zenyatta voters really saying that an ultra-conservative campaign against a bunch of overmatched fillies and mares is more impressive than winning the BC Classic, a number of other open grade 1s, and beating Zenyatta on the square? Gunbow's point 1 above sets up a presumption that the HOY title was Zenyatta's to start with and any other horse that wanted it not only had to eclipse her credentials for the year but also had to eclipse historic standards for HOY (whatever that means). That's not at all how the process works. Gunbow also says that Z's 2008-09 achievements were considered. And I am sure they were. But this is not right; the award is Horse of the YEAR and prior years are not considered. So, this rationale simply tries to justify a poor decision with an appropriate sounding, but albeit faulty, rationale; it is a better rationale than "I like girls better" or "the word Blame has such a negative connotation" but it is not an appropriate rationale. Finally, let's remember that Z's connections were not unaware of the standards traditionally used to measure HOY. Indeed, they learned quite well in connection with the 2009 award that voters are not generally impressed by spending most of the year in less than the most demanding of races. Armed with that knowledge, the connections again chose the easiest of roads until November and a road already traveled a couple of times. That should have been held against them once she lost the BC Classic, but it wasn't. Said another way, 2009 HOY voting showed that winning the BC Classic was not an automatic ticket to the award. But it also - I would have thought - showed that if a horse was not going to win the BC Classic, he or she had to have a very solid record to fall back on. RA's 2009 record was sufficient, I believe, while Zenyatta's 2010 record was plainly not. Indeed, the case against Zenyatta in 2010 is even stronger on this point because she ran in and lost to her competition for the award, while we are left to wonder how RA would have done in the 2009 BC (not well, it seems almost certain, but we don't know).

The issue of popularity inevitably arises and whether or not Eclipse Awards should be a popularity contest. Justin Bieber is "popular"! Zenyatta is a bit more than that!

Zenyatta--will be in the Hall of Fame someday, something that Blame will not even sniff at--r

As posted by s/s : "Unfortunately DRF writers voted the wrong way again. Sometimes when you see you are on the other side of the fence you have to wonder how you got there more than how to get back. It certainly gives me a different respect for the DRF writers. You couldn't have got the vote more wrong." It's not a horse race where people were trying to select the winner. It was a decision making process. The heartening thing for the people at the publication you decided to visit is that their voters got it right. They voted for the most qualified applicant. Your side, the side that doesn't even understand what this vote was about, won. Congratulations, hysteria won over accomplishment. What a wonderful day for horse racing.

Horse of the Year should have been simple to come up with and DRF definitely got it right. Look at the compeitition Blame beat when he won his races. Look at the compeitition Zenyatta beat when she won her races. The award was not called a Lifetime Achievement award but it was given that way. Blame gets punished just because people felt the need to give her an award. Blame won arguably the two best older horse races this year (BC Classic and the Whitney). At some point, Zenyatta fans (and I say fans, not true horse racing watchers/historians) need to understand that despite her brilliant record and career, her achievements as a whole (while undisputedly great) were not the best during the course of the years she raced. Just because Joey Votto won the NL MVP last year doesn't mean he is a better player than Albert Pujols, but it doesn't mean you just give Pujols the award because he is the better player. The same rule applies here. While Zenyatta will go down as the better horse over both Rachel Alexandra and Blame, that doesn't mean she was better then either of them during the course of the years that they had. No other real issues with the voting but a case can be made against Big Drama over Majesticperfection. I agree that Big Drama had the better body of work and I have no problem with him winning the award after the Breeder's Cup win but if you were there watching the Vanderbilt at Saratoga like I was, you thought you were watching the sprint champion in Majesticperfection. Too bad he couldn't continue on.

Congrats to team Zenyatta ...after reading the DRF's staffs vote and articles of why Zenyatta didn't deserve to be voted HOY..I have come to the realization that the DRF staff is just a small voice in the voting processs..While I understand the cases made for Blame and Zenyatta..I thought to myself how can a horse win so many races and one second place finish not be recognized as a great horse many years from now.. As an avid horseplayer for 35 plus years I not seen the excitement and thrills Zenyatta brought to the sport going back to the 1970's.. Her legend and accomplishments will be remembered by all who witnessed a great horse.She moved like no other. We will all look forward to her future babies and will never forget Blame who tarnished an otherwise perfect record..

To me, the HOTY award has lost a lot of legitimacy with this result. Beyond that, however, the big loser seems to be the Breeder's Cup. They tout their races, and particularly the Classic, as 'Championship' races. But what does it say about the BC when you have have a head-to-head matchup in the Classic between the top 2 contenders for HOTY and the winner of the race fails to win the award? I guess you could argue that this is an atypical year given Zenyatta's involvement, but its just a shame that the voters didn't allow the award to be settled on the race track. Blame is the clear HOTY in this fan's eyes.

Hey s/s Could you remind me what happened on the track that late afternoon in early Nov. 2010, please. DRF writers were the only one's to nail this vote. I am still trying to figure out how 2008 and 2009, as some will argue, has anything to do with 2010 HOY voting. Does Zenyatta bring a tear to my eye? Absolutely! Should Blame have won HOY? Absolutely! And a side bar; I would love to see her win at Santa Anita this year! Again, what a JOKE this game I love has become. Very sad!

Thanks for the raw data, Steve. There must be a better way to limit the voting to truly knowledgeable (informed) participants who attempt to review all of the facts and reflect on their merits. In addition, the process is so poorly organized and structured that no meaningful guidance is given to those who vote, such as defining what being an eclipse winner means, including criteria that are specific to the category. In the absence of a common sense structure and guidelines in the Breeder category, for example, voters mindlessly look at total earnings of runners year after year and give the award to Frank Stronach, even though he should be nominated for doing the least with the most.

Sour grapes make for a very bitter wine. Kudos to Claibourne and the excellent Blame. I think he will make an exceptional sire. But Zenyatta did earn the Eclipse, and hats of to her entire team, and to Lane's End for their devotion to her new career. Let's be fair...the 3 finalists were the best in the world. No choices were easy. We, however, know that Zen will go into the Hall of Fame in 5 years. Did anyone really expect her to go there without a HOY Eclipse.

Zenyatta over Blame? I now consider the Eclipse awards a total joke!

Justice is not always swift, but this year Justice got it right! Z's performance in 2009 was far superior to RA's racing record but was denied the HOY Award she clearly deserved.Mike Smith's horrendous ride aboard Z in last years Breeders Classic denied Her the most prestigeous Life Time Honor: The Greatest Horse in History to Race on a USA Track!

The horses don't care about the awards at all. Blame doesn't feel terrible now that he "lost" HOY. The awards are for the people associated with the horses. With that said, I can't understand why the Moss's and John Shirreffs were rewarded for their conservative approach to Z's races. If a perfect record was the most important goal, then don't expect to be rewarded with HOY. If HOY is the goal, then race her against the boys! If they were so scared that she would lose, and mar that perfect record, they should have kept her retired. I just wish Zenyatta lost her first race, so this silliness would never have occurred.

I really can't believe. I would not want to detract from Zenyattas accomplishments, denegrate nor aggrandize them. But come on? What is this a feel good club? If this is really about HOY how can they award her based on her performance. NO horsemen would ever agree. Zenyattas loss didn't diminsh her stature. But if the award reflects the body of work. Then you can't deny GOLDIKOVA. From my vantage point HOY was Blame. Pure and simple the best HOY. Battle tested faced the best of the best for the year. Zenyatta faced the best of the best in one race and loss to a better horse. Further, How does anyone other than The Wiethiemer Brothers get owner of the year. The Eclipse awards are truly a joke. I wish her connections well, I hope Zenyatta has great offspring that can really claim title to a great legacy.

And I was worried that Racing was going to let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Whoever the two completely ignorant people who didnt vote for Uncle Mo, should never be allowed to vote or have any connection with horse racing.

SS - Great discoveries are made only by those on the "other side" of issues. For starters, see Copernicus, Nikolas.

Spot-on and clear-minded "raw numbers" post, Steve. Also, HIALEAH, very-well said, and I truly believe you are right, "HISTORY will view this (HOY) as the right choice."

Steve, Andy and Mike did their best to rally for Blame, but you were outnumbered, so give it up people. This website was very out of touch with the voting as you can see by the results. Time to step up and see what is really going on....

I am so proud that Zenyatta got horse of the year,,,,,she well deserved it and earned it ,,,there is not doubt about it,,,,,,,,,way to go ZENYATTA MONDATTA,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,CONGRATS TO THE TEAM Z,,AND THE MOSSES.......

At least that's over.Unless they give it to her again next year without running a race.Take away the synthetic tracks and none of this ever happens.

I just wonder how the HOY and 3 yr. old male categories would look like had Eskendereya remained sound and raced all year. I think he was bound for greatness. Oh well! Divot80

"Zenyatta brought new fans to the game." Repeating the same fiction does not make it true. The game needs new bettors, not fickle fans who show up on 'event' days. New bettors will arrive when high quality full fields are available in conjunction with lower takeouts. See Hong Kong. See Australia. Smarty Jones had a bigger following than Ghostzapper. Zenyatta logic would have made Smarty HOY in 2004.

I guess Blame needed to beat Zenyatta twice to get HOY. What a joke! This would be akin to the '07 New England Patriots being undefeated and losing to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl and months later being voted Team of the Year for all they did for the NFL. In real sports such things are decided in competition but not horse racing. If Zenyatta had won she would have deserved it, but Blame won, didn't he? What a joke! Another bad day for racing.

So I suppose Zenyatta's BC win in '09 was just against a bunch of allowance runners, correct? And I suppose her gut wrenching, running her eyeballs out 2nd place finish in this year's BC Classic was just a fluke also, correct? For me, what this year's HOTY vote signaled was a departure from the business-as-usual, Old Guard of KY, East Coast bias clearly demonstrated in past years, which was long overdue.

My few comment became many. To continue: 4) Horse of the Year voting is not simply a matter of head-to-head matchups. Obviously, those who believe Blame should be HoY point to the fact that he defeated Zenyatta in their only matchup. However, this is not the first year in which the HoY lost its head-to-head matchup with its main HoY rival. Think back to 1998. That year, Awesome Again won the Stephen Foster, Whitney and Breeder's Cup Classic(as well as the Hawthorne Gold Cup and Saratoga Br. Cup Cap') as part of an undefeated season and beat Skip Away in their one meeting, yet Skip Away was voted HoY. 5) Horse of the Year voting isn't even necessarilly about the BEST horse. If HoY simply went to the horse most voters believed to be best/fastest, then Favorite Trick would never have been HoY in 1997. No voter in their right mind believed that the 2 year old Favorite Trick would have beaten top 3 year olds such as Silver Charm, Touch Gold, or Free House let alone older males like Skip Away, Formal Gold, Gentlemen, Siphon, or Will's Way. According to Beyer speed figures, these older horses were at least 15 lengths superior to Favorite Trick. 6) Horse of the Year is as much about accomplishment and dominance within a division than it is about head-to-head or which horse is "best". This is reflected in Azeri's 2002 HoY title and Lady's Secret 1986 title. By selecting these two mares as HoY, most voters did not mean to imply that either Azeri or Lady's Secret were the fastest horses of those particular years or that they could have beaten the top males. As it concerns Lady's Secret, voters knew that she wasn't as good as one her main challengers for HoY, Precisionist. Lady's Secret had run against Precisionist twice in 1986, and both times Precisionist finished ahead of her, including a nearly 5 length drubbing in their final matchup, the Woodward. And yet, it was Lady's Secret, who bypassed the Classic and instead ran in the Distaff, that was voted HoY. Why? Well, because her accomplishments were greater than those of any older male and her dominance within the female ranks was far superior to the domiance of the top older males...In 2002, Azeri didn't even need to face males once to garner the HoY. Azeri's 5 gr.1 wins that year, and her utter dominance of the distaff division so towered over the accomplishments and dominance of any of the top males that she won the HoY easily. 7) Rachel Alexandra's 2009 campaign and Zenyatta's 2009 BC Classic win changed the criteria for what it means to be a great North American female and made Zenyatta's 2010 HoY bid more difficult. As seen with the examples of Lady's Secret and Azeri, running in the Classic, let alone winning it, is not a prerequisite for a female horse to be voted HoY. In fact, of all the wonderful fillies and mares during the Breeder's Cup era, only a handful have ever even tried the Classic. Fillies and mares like Princess Rooney, Bayakoa, Paseana, Inside Information, Beautiful Pleasure, and Ashado didn't need to run in the Classic to be considered special or even to make the Hall of Fame. Like most every top female since 1984, running and winning the Distaff was seen as perfectly enough. This was true for the great Personal Ensign as well. Zenyatta's 2010 campaign prior to the Breeder's Cup was very similar to Personal Ensign's 88' campaign leading up to the BC Distaff. However, where as for Personal Ensign it was perfectly acceptable to run in the Distaff rather than facing off head-to-head against her toughest HoY rivals(Alysheba, Forty Niner) in the Classic, the Distaff was basically a non-option for Team Zenyatta. What had happened in the 20 or so years between 1988 and 2010 to so drastically change the expectations people had for a top filly or mare? Well, Rachel and Zenyatta happened. While many want to focus on how many "unrestricted" races Zenyatta won compared to the same number for Blame, shouldn't we acknowledge that we are holding Zenyatta up to a standard that we didn't hold other recent great females like Lady's Secret, Personal Ensign, and Azeri to? For them, winning gr.1s, even "restricted" gr.1s, dominating their division, and running competitively against males was enough to earn HoY(for 2 of the 3) and the title of "great". If we hold Zenyatta to the same standard, she absolutely deserves the HoY title she was awarded last night.

Unfortunately DRF writers voted the wrong way again. Sometimes when you see you are on the other side of the fence you have to wonder how you got there more than how to get back. It certainly gives me a different respect for the DRF writers. You couldn't have got the vote more wrong.

I can understand why many are upset that Zenyatta was voted HoY over Blame. I think Blame would have been a deserving winner, although this does not imply that I believe Zenyatta was undeserving. Frankly, like last year, I thought both top candidates were deserving. If forced to chose this year, I would have selected Zenyatta(last year I would have voted Rachel, in 08' Curlin). However, I very much expected Blame to win the voting and was somewhat surprised to see the headlines this evening. A couple of points about this HoY race. 1) While Blame had a championship season, historically it would have constituted a subpar HoY campaign. No knock against Blame, who as a horse can only do what his owners and trainer ask of him, but winning 3 gr.1 races and 4 overall races does not compare favorably to the accomplishments of previous Horse of the Years, even recent ones. A few notable exceptions are Charismatic in 99', Tiznow in 00', and Ghostzapper in 04'. However, unlike Ghostzapper in 04', Blame never blew away his compeition nor did he run particularly fast(especially when looking at speed figures). Again, I think Blame would have been a deserving HoY this year given the lack of alternatives(besides Zenyatta), but had he been given the award he would have been one of the weaker HoYs in history. Blame's record simply didn't jump out and demand the award. And given reason #2 below, if voters were going to give the award to a horse not named Zenyatta, this other horse would have needed a record that stood out and demanded recognition. 2) As humans, I am sure many voters were not able to keep 2008 and 2009 out of their decision calculus. In the end, voters likely had trouble perfectly amputating Zenyatta's 2010 campaign from her 08' and 09' seasons. How could one be expected to look at the 2010 BC Classic as merely Zenyatta's 6th race of the year and not as the 20th race in what to that point was an unprecented undefeated career? And how could voters be expected to divorce Zenyatta's 5 consecutive victories to start 2010 from her previous 14 consecutive wins leading into 2010? Finally, how could voters ignore the fact that arguably the greatest horse of this new century, and possibly the greatest female in North American racing history had narrowly lost the previous 2 HoY votes and could retire having never been recognized for the sports highest award? Ultimately, it appears voters just could not whitewash 2008 and 2009 from their minds. And I for can't criticizee them for this. 3) Popularity likely did enter into the voting equation. But is there anything wrong with that? Should voters ignore the larger social impact a particular horse has on a population? Consider the parallel of MVP voting in basketball or football; typically, the MVP doesn't represent the best player but the most valuable player, in other words, the player of most value to his team(of foremost value) and the league as a whole(which is why sometimes MVP voting is accused of being a popularity contest). Just like some voters take into account an athelete's larger contribution to not just his/her team but the league and larger society, is it necessarilly wrong for an Eclipse voter to take into account the value a horse possesses beyond the racetrack?

I think the right thing to do would be for Birdstone to voluntarily surrender his 2008 Belmont Stakes win so that Smarty Jones can be a Triple Crown Champion ! I wish I had thought of this earlier. Mary Lou could have made the announcement last night and the fans would have loved it ! Next year !

HOY RESULTS, POPPYCOCK

Man, am I glad this is over.

In advance of all you Zenyatta haters hitting the blogs with your mounds of poo-poo about the travesty of all this, please let it go. This sport is in deep trouble. It is in need of real heroes and a ton of re-organization. Zenyatta took care of the former. She brought a bright light to a dimly lit sport. She gave us hope we might see another like her one day. We owe her this award. Her connections deserve this award. If a nose photo finish is the basis of your argument against this result, you are not a fan of horse racing. Her true greatness can be summed up in one revelation, many who wagered on Blame in The Classic would have been thrilled had Zenyatta took his measure. That I can vouch for.

It's so sad when the HOY turns out to be a popularity contest. It's about time the voters be given some objective criteria on which to judge the horses. To me HOY means the horse that performed the best against the best competition. In pro basketball, you think an MVP is going to be coming from the LA Clippers - not a chance. They "owe" her the award. Get real. This isn't another Obama charity case. "Blame never blew away the competion" and Zenyatta did?! Couldn't even beat the horse that couldn't blow away the competition I agree with the statement is that this is a substandard year for HOY - the horse just happens to be Zenyatta.

Hey Steve, Just wondering when we stopped settling these things on the track? Wonder if an unbeaten college football team lost to a one loss team in the National championship. Who would vote for the loser? In my opinion, Seth Hancock got robbed. Popular decsion but clearly the wrong one. The voters should be ashamed of themselves for getting caught up in the hype. George in Tampa

You cannot get past the logic of it all: LAST YEAR: Zenyatta won the classic BUT didn’t get HOY because Rachel Alexandra was perceived to have thrust horse racing into the national spotlight in 2009, for all the right reasons. And this year you were to agree with: THIS YEAR: Blame won the classic and WILL get HOY in spite of Zenyatta thrusting horse racing into the national spotlight in 2010, for all the right reasons.

HOY -What a travesty. Let's not vote for what is done on the racetrack but which horse is the most popular. Anyone who voted for Zenyatta should have their credentials taken away. These are the types that voted for Joe D. over Ted Williams. It won't change, fortunatley I have their money after placing a large win bet(5K) on Blame.

Thanks for the data, Steve. A few questions that I hope are addressed in the coming days: 1. Any word on what's behind the "voter abstention" and two "no votes" for Horse of the Year? Who were they? 2. It's really a rotten shame that Zenyatta was not voted the older female champion unanimously for the second year in a row. 3. The NTWAB went for Zenyatta 71-49, with 2 votes for Goldikova. The NTRA went for Zenyatta 36-15, with one vote for Goldikova. But the DRF went for Blame by 38-21 over Zenyatta, with 2 votes for Goldikova. Obviously, the fans and general public supported Zenyatta by a wide margin...It appears that the DRF, collectively, just didn't "get it" when it came to Zenyatta. It never did. 4. Too bad that Blind Luck was not the unanimous choice for 3-year old filly. Whoever voted for No Such Word, whom Blind Luck defeated twice, handily, did a disservice to the Sport, and should have their voting privileges revoked. Do we know who cast this vote? If so, how do they defend it? 5. Another question: what does it say about the turf media that they constantly support Todd Pletcher? Pletcher always gets the top stock, both in terms of quantity and quality, so it is not surprising that his win percentage and earnings are off the charts...The vote for Pletcher does not speak well for the turf media. The NTRA should adopt a firm rule barring any trainer from eligibility for an Eclipse Award if they are suspended during that year for a drug-related infraction. And for the turf media to suffer from amnesia about the Life at Ten episode as they were casting their Eclipse Awards ballots is remarkable.

HORSE OF THE YEAR???? NEITHER!!!! Hey, before you all dismiss me as some sort of "communist radical freako," hear me out. A few of you might even agree with me. Now, they are both terrific horses, and both deserving champions. HOWEVER, I would NOT vote for either, mainly as a "protest" to their trainers, owners, connections, etc. Last year when Rachel was a deserving HOY, her record was a sparkling 8 for 8. What about this year? I challenge anyone to name one very good runner that Zenyatta beat all year... St. Trinians??? (Uh, yeah sure...). I'll also challenge anyone to argue that Zenyatta DID NOT win this year because of her 19 for 20 lifetime record... but is that really what Horse of the YEAR ia all about?? As for Blame, his 5 race schedule in 2010 was "light" also. Am I the ONLY ONE who is tired of horse racing *rewarding* owners, etc., after they run their horses very few times??? (How about one runner who wins an award this year after running three times - let me repeat that... THREE TIMES, or about 5 minutes total. Is that a "champion")??? I say racing should start to consider the amount of times a runner actually races before they're eligible for year end honors. Maybe some sort of "race minimum" is in order here. Does anyone agree with this??? Don't we want to see runners more than once, twice, just a few times before the Breeders Cup???

While the HoY vote is sure to renew the nonsensical controversy over who was or wasn't 'deserving', is there anyone else apalled at the Male Turfer result? Nothing against Gio Ponti or his connections, but the fella won two of seven races! And that's desrving of an Eclipse?

From what I can see, the DRF voters were the only ones to get it. HOY should not be a popularity contest. No other sport decides it championship based on popularity. Team sports have playoffs and championship games, while non-team sports often have a point system. I think it is time to re-examine the way Eclipse awards are decided. Maybe a point system could be developed based on graded stakes with open graded races carrying the highest point scale. If things are equal the decision should be based on head to head competition, or where that has not occurred, based on the number of graded stakes horses defeated. This is the age of computers so it shouldn't be that difficult to keep up with.

Of course Zenyatta was voted horse of the year. However I think Goldikova was the best horse based level of competition. People will say that she only is a miler, she only runs in Europe but when you look at the video of her performances this year mainly running against boys in Grade 1 races so see a very special horse that we wont see the likes of for many years. I think that Winning Colors, Ladys Secret & Personal Ensign were better mares then Zenyatta because they faced a higher level of competition compared to what exists today! Many of Zenyatta's wins that were called Grade 1's really would have been called Grade 2's ten years ago. No doubts Zenyatta is a very good mare but she also came along at a time when she really didnt have much to run against. She was handled in a very excellent manner and promoted very well. When it comes to horses I only use my head and not my heart. I bet Blame to win & I place a nice sized win bet on Goldikova. I knew Zenyatta wouldn't win because it was a bridge too far for her. For those that follow your hearts if you don't believe me just look at video of how Goldikova won the Breeders Cup Mile 3 years in a row and you might just change your opinion.

There is no such thing as a "wrong" vote. A vote might be called "stupid" or "wasteful" (and a vote for Blame was neither), but "wrong" is inappropriate. The DRF writers were not HANDICAPPING the vote, they were actually voting according to their own perspective, which differs from that of the NTRA and the NTWAB. Clearly, DRF writers used more historically standard criteria to evaluate the HOY vote. Along these lines, there is really little argument regarding the best choice. If you dutifully ignore Z's 2008 and 2009 campaigns (or pretend she had lost a number of races) and focus on 2010 only, what you get before November is a nice 5-for-5 record in "Grade I" races wherein the competition hardly reflected that status. Blame's 4-3-1-0 with 2 major open G-I wins was certainly good enough to set up the Classic as a race to decide HOY... again, if you are using standard merit-based criteria. And Z's race in the Classic was remarkable-- puzzling at first, then hopeful, then exhilirating, and then heartbreaking. I won a huge pile on Blame, but in spite of myself, I was still rooting for Z down the stretch. I'm a racing fan, first and foremost. But Blame WON THE RACE, and by the way, ran a fantastically underrated final furlong to outlast Z. Old school, DRF style, says: win the race, win the award. By the time they announced the vote Monday, however, I was expecting Z to win, based on, well, everything we've seen and heard in the last weeks and months. Seeing and hearing the reaction of the room, and understanding how the vote would be received by the public, it was clear why it had to be Zenyatta. She was THE HORSE of 2010, more than any horse in any year in recent memory. Yes, that status was achieved largely because of accomplishments in the past, but it can't be denied. If Mister Ed had carried his layman's popularity to a HOY title in 1961 over a young Kelso, then yes, we could say that popularity should never trump accomplishment and set up rules to prevent any further travesties. But in this case, Z's overwhelming appeal, record, and style was enough to close the tiny margin we saw at Churchill. And as a would-be Blame voter, I can accept that.

for people saying this is the right decision because the sport is dying, you're being complicit in it's actual demise....blame had the better campaign and won head to head...enough said..

What I would like to see in the coming year: 1. Everyone talked about making things better for the fan at the Eclipse Award last night. I would personally like to see some follow through on that. It seems to be the recurring theme every year at the Awards, but has turned more into almost like a political campaign promise. Instead of saying it all the time...lets do something about it. 2. While I admit I wanted Blame for HOY just based on race record and performance on the track, kudos to Zenyatta and her team for the award. She did bring many new fans to the game, and on that note I would like to see those newly proclaimed fans of the game to continue to support it at the track. Show up for the races even if a horse like Zenyatta is not running. If you all go by the wayside because there is not a "Zenyatta" for you to come out and cheer, then really..in the long run she did not do what you all say she did for the sport. I would be very surprised if the attendance at any of the races this year she won last year were 1/10th of that when she was running. A majority of those fans obviously were not the hard core gambling type...so I hope they stay true passionate fans of the sport and just show up because of the beauty that the sport provides. I fear that will not happen, but I hope I am proved wrong. Finally, I do agree with those about Pletcher. I fully admit the man wins races at a great clip...but how you can award a "Trainer of the Year" title to someone who obviously did not look out for the well being of Life at Ten on the National Stage?? That is mind boggling to me...

Thanks for all the late night info....kudos for your devotion to us hard core fans for the late night posting and info....and the mini field trip to Gulfstream was neat. Hope you enjoyed your time. Looked like fun and a good time for many that deserved it :)

War on common sense. Otherwise known as the Eclipse Awards. After a recount Sham & Alydar are the '73 & '78 HOY. Buzz Aldrin the most famous astronaut. President MCain meet President Kerry. 2 is the new 1.

It's funny... Zenyatta had to lose a race to win Horse of the Year... go figure? What does that say about the past EA's for HOY?

And here's to Blame, who lost the Eclipse award battle not because he didn't beat better horses in bigger races (he did); not because because he didn't win the race that was to determine this year's HOY (he did); not because he didn't beat his main rival for HOY in their only match up (he did), but because Blame, you see, was just too...horsey. Blame didn't have enough...*pizzaz*...Blame didn't have enough *personality*. No longer is it enough for a horse to just be very good and able to prove it in top competition on the track, no, a horse must now be entertaining and personable, as well. No doubt, connections of seemingly promising young horses are requesting that their trainers teach their charges to, maybe...dance a little jig on que in the walking ring to increase their popularity...just in case their on track accomplishments or Blacktype comes up a bit weak. And, here's to Team Zenyatta which deserves an Eclipse award for Gamblers of the Decade for their extraordinary coup...to take a single, huge gamble, loose that gamble, comeback the next year, take the same huge gamble--again--loose that gamble.--again--but still take home the jackpot. my, my...if that aint the stuff of legends. And, finally, here's to Zenyatta, who didn't quite do it in top company on the track this year, but probably could have had she been allowed to. But hey, it doesn't matter because, you see...*HIT IT BOYS!*: She's got personality' style Peronality walk personality talk Plus she's got a great big smile - oh over and over I'll be a fool for you - over and over I'm a fool for you...

Thanks for this late post Steve. Always good to see the raw numbers. Let's all have a Guinness for the one that voted for Goldikova in the Older Female Cat. Just think of how the sands shifted from month to month as HOY got spelled out for 2010. Quality Road was the early leader once it was obvious that Rachel wasn't the same, but did anyone fear him going 10 furlongs? It wasn't until 70 yds from the wire in the Whitney where Blame even entered the picture. By then Z had her schedule set. The most telling moment - for me - might have been as Mike Smith crossed the line in the Pacific Classic aboard Richard's Kid. There was no celebration, just a jockey standing in the irons while staring straight ahead. Almost as if he was thinking, "Z would have won this easy." Then the vote would have been easier. But history will view this as the right choice - I feel. Thanks for all the great coverage.

Who on earth voted for No Such Word, Boys at Toscanova and Pluck?