Breeders' Cup Classic win by Drosselmeyer voted 'Moment of the Year'

Voters in an online poll have selected Drosselmeyer’s victory over Game On Dude in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic as the National Thoroughbred Racing Association “Moment of the Year,” the NTRA announced on Friday.

The Classic, which received 46 percent of the vote, overwhelmingly beat the second-place finisher, Blind Luck’s stretch-long duel with Havre de Grace in the 2010 Delaware Handicap, which received 14 percent of the votes among the 12 candidates. Finishing tied for a distant third was Rapid Redux’s 20th straight victory and Havre de Grace’s win over male horses in the Woodward Stakes.

In the Classic, jockey Mike Smith, aboard Drosselmeyer, outfinished his former fiancée Chantal Sutherland, the rider of Game On Dude. The Classic win was also the second Breeders’ Cup win in two days for Drosselmeyer’s trainer, Bill Mott, who also trained the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic, Royal Delta.

The NTRA has sponsored the “Moment of the Year” since 1999. The connections of the winners will be presented with an award during the Eclipse Award ceremonies on Jan. 16 in Beverly Hills, Calif.