Harness: Difficult decisions in year-end voting for 2-year-old filly pacers

An interesting back-and-forth took place on Twitter recently on divisional honors between 2-year-old pacing fillies Test The Faith and Fire Start Hanover. It is the classic voting conundrum: Do statistics trump visual performance?

Let's lay out the facts as they stand on November 17:

* Both horses have eight wins. Fire Start Hanover owns a record of 12-8-2-0 and Test Of Faith 9-8-1-0. So, it is a draw in terms of wins and Test Of Faith has the edge in percentage.

* Fire Start Hanover has a slight edge in earnings at $589,326 vs. $500,000 for Test of Faith.

* Fire Start Hanover owns a lead in terms of open stakes wins, having scored in the Breeders Crown, Kindergarten, International Stallion Stakes and Bluegrass. Test Of Faith also won the last two listed for her competitor as well as the Kentuckiana, plus she was the New York Sire Stakes champion, though that race is restricted to state-breds.

* Test Of Faith owns a sizable advantage in the "best win time" category with a clocking of 1:48 4/5, almost two seconds faster than Fire Start Hanover at 1:50 3/5.

So here we sit. Two deserving fillies, both loaded with talent. How do we make a decision?

Here are how a few people on Twitter saw the situation:

Gabe Prewitt, Director of Racing for Caesar's Entertainment, and someone who was on hand as both fillies raced at The Red Mile, offered up there thought: "I just think she's [Test Of Faith] visually the most impressive 2YOPF I've seen in a long time . . . If I were voting, I would vote for the best 2YO Pacing Filly in my opinion. Regardless of stats."

DRF contributor Greg Reinhart offer up the following: "I think head-to-head Test Of Faith is the better horse but what do you do when there's another one who won both weeks in Lexington, then won the Crown, Kindergarten, and Three Diamonds on top of it while she was at Kentuckiana?"

Justin Marks chimed in with: "They both were 2-for-2 at Red Mile Grand Circuit, Test Of Faith beat Hoosier field [Kentuckiana] that I wouldn't say was overly tough. Fire Start Hanover wins Kindergarten and Crown. Absolutely 2 yr old champ. Resume counts."

For the record, my weekly Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown Poll has Test of Faith ranked sixth and Fire Start Hanover ninth. While I believe that Fire Start Hanover has the better résumé overall, the performances I saw from Test Of Faith in the Kentuckiana and International Stallion Stakes were so impressive that they push the daughter of Art Major over the top of her Somebeachsomewhere counterpart.

The above said, one more major race remains on the schedule for 2-year-old filly pacers and only Fire Start Hanover is eligible and expected to compete. The Three Diamonds, with a purse that should hover in the $330,000 range, is slated for November 21 at The Meadowlands.

For me, it all comes down to the Three Diamonds. A win there gives Fire Start Hanover a sizable lead in earnings and two more open stakes races in her column. Despite the fact that I might instinctually feel that Test Of Faith is better, the statistical evidence would be too strong to deny.

That is IF Fire Start Hanover wins the Three Diamonds. Stay tuned!