Harness: Horse of the Year battle remains in play

It’s hard to remember a time in recent harness history that with roughly six weeks left on the calendar there is no clear-cut favorite for Horse of the Year. It’s not as if the year hasn’t been long enough. In some cases for top contenders, the price of racing into and through November has diminished their chances rather than accelerated them.

In an era that we prize statistics above nearly every other criteria, one could categorize the horse with the most wins, the biggest bankroll or the most world records as the leading contenders. Yet 2019 is going to be a very puzzling year due in part to the spurts many contenders had and the aforementioned lack of clarity following the known decider, the Breeders Crown.

That the now-retired Lather Up is not likely to be among the contenders is hardly surprising based on the history of the award and the lack of an autumn racing campaign. Yet leaving the 4-year-old off the list is to simply deny that his greatest moments were in another stratosphere at the time. Clearly, when on his game, Lather Up was the best horse of 2019. Yet voters are not likely to get behind horses they haven’t seen race (Lather Up did show up for the Breeders Crown but not to compete) near years end. Perhaps there could be an exception this year considering his exploits during July and August were so far ahead of the competition. During that span Lather Up scored in the $250,000 Graduate Final matching 2016 Horse of the Year Always B Miki’s 1:46 world standard in the process. A pair of world-record mile and one-eighths victories came back-to-back in the Haughton and Sam McKee while racing against older company. Then just six days after his McKee win came a victory in the Dan Patch at Hoosier Park where after being passed by last year’s Horse of the Year McWicked, Lather Up rallied back for the win. That Lather Up closed out August with a second-place finish in the Canadian Pacing Derby is certainly not the way one would have expected the champion to go out, but it wasn’t that bad.

The stats will only show eight wins in 12 starts for Lather Up in 2019 and perhaps going to post but a dozen times is below the qualifying limit for a “Horse of the Year.” At the same time we should also consider that Lather Up’s 4-year-old campaign saw him routinely beating older foes, something that most horsemen don’t expect to see at that age. His 1:46 mark came when he was more than one year younger than Always B Miki in breaking that barrier. Certainly there are plenty of reasons Lather Up should be considered.

Weekly polls aside, Shartin looked like a lock to take the Horse of the Year title for a good part of the racing season. Unlike Lather Up, she has raced often and has been nearly unbeatable. The nearly part is what has thrown this year’s race into question as Shartin’s 13-race winning streak was broken in the Allerage at Lexington’s Red Mile. That loss was very easy for those in her camp to excuse given she was making her first start back following illness. When she went down in defeat in the Breeders Crown three weeks later it caught many by surprise. Shartin did race competitively in March and is still quite competitive in November if not as dominant. That’s a long expanse for any horse to maintain form and that alone should make her the slight favorite at year’s end. Then again, she is currently racing and losses will outweigh victories at this time of year.

While Shartin’s accomplishments must be measured against the content and quality of the division she races against, it’s hard to say she’s had more than one serious rival to her throne, that being Caviart Ally. That’s not the case for any 3-year-old male pacer this year that has gone the distance and fought in all of the major battles. That’s why despite a loss in the Breeders Crown, a loss in the Meadowlands Pace and a loss in the North America Cup, there is still plenty of sentiment left for Bettor’s Wish to earn his way to the title. Despite those losses, Bettor’s Wish has not been worse than second all season long. Actually it would be argued by me that his second-place finish in the Meadowlands Pace was this year’s most dramatic and gutsy performance by any standardbred pacer or trotter. Despite being parked the distance and uncovered most of the way, the Bettor’s Delight-sired colt fought with rarely-seen determination right to the wire.

A victory in the Breeders Crown would have made Bettor’s Wish’s coronation a lot more likely, but the elements and the trip saw the late-season run of Dancin Lou climax with an upset victory.

Perhaps lost in the mix in how Horse of the Year votes are collected is the presence of three pacers with legitimate qualifications. What that represents is a chance that none of the three will have enough votes collected when the decision is made whether to elevate the Trotter of the Year or Pacer of the Year to the ultimate title.

On the trotting side of the equation is the muddied picture of a now-retired Greenshoe, who lived up to the expectation of breeders in a major way this season but left a void on the racetrack with key losses in the Hambletonian and Breeders Crown. As a pre-Hambo favorite and a horse people were talking about in 2018, Greenshoe does have name recognition and perhaps more importantly limited competition from other divisional winners. Had Real Cool Sam remained unbeaten in the Breeders Crown, perhaps the 2-year-old gelding would have been in the running for Trotter of the Year.

To those looking for a late-season hero to spoil the trotting side of the equation, Manchego may in fact be the savior. Over the last six weeks there has been no better trotter in North America than the 4-year-old daughter of Muscle Hill. Of all 12 Breeders Crown performances at Woodbine Mohawk Park a few weeks back, Manchego’s was in a league of its own in my mind, distancing all rivals by open lengths. Manchego’s camp on Breeders Crown night appeared to be looking into the distance at an Elitlopp run in 2020, but perhaps a victory against older male trotters in the TVG on November 23 at The Meadowlands would propel her to a Trotter of the Year title and even further.