There are three finalists for champion older filly or mare, but the other two finalists are merely understudies to racing’s diva, Zenyatta. For the third straight year, Zenyatta is an overwhelming favorite to win this divisional title. And for the third straight year, she is a top contender for Horse of the Year, a prize that eluded her in 2008 and 2009.

Unrivaled Belle traveled from California to Florida and spent much of the year in New York, but for her in 2010, old Kentucky was her home. At Churchill Downs in the spring, she beat Rachel Alexandra, the 2009 Horse of the Year, in the La Troienne Stakes. That proved a preview of coming attractions, for when Unrivaled Belle returned to Churchill Downs in the fall, she won the most important race of her career, the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic.

When trainer Todd Pletcher was seeking a ready-made horse for owner Candy DeBartolo in fall 2007, he contacted Gary Young, a respected clocker and bloodstock agent in Southern California, and asked him to find a horse who was ready to win next time out.

Young suggested a 2-year-old daughter of Malibu Moon who had raced just once, finishing second in that debut.

That horse was Life At Ten, and, as Young predicted, she won her next start. But over the course of the next two seasons, the oversized filly could not break through to the next level.

Horse of the Year for 2010 will come down to two horses, Blame and Zenyatta. Horse of the Half-Year? That was an easy call: Quality Road.
No horse in North America was nearly as dominant the first six months of 2010 as Quality Road. His 2 3/4-length win in the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope on Jan. 3 served merely as a palate teaser. One month later, he turned in what might have been the single most powerful victory of the season, a track-record-setting 12 3/4-length thrashing of eight overwhelmed rivals in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap.

It was March in New Orleans, and Al Stall spent part of every morning tinkering with Blame. A jog here, a gallop there; nothing too serious. Stall would look out across the Fair Grounds racetrack, not entirely pleased with the condition of the dirt surface. Here was an exercise in patience.

At some point early in the 2010 racing season, the connections of Lookin At Lucky had to be pondering the age-old question: What’s in a name?

Bob Baffert had purchased Lookin At Lucky on behalf of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman for $475,000 at the Keeneland 2009 April sale after the colt, a son of Smart Strike out of the Belong to Me mare Private Feeling, worked an eighth-mile in 10 seconds. Within a few months, Lookin At Lucky had already won himself out with four straight wins, including the Best Pal, Del Mar Futurity, and Norfolk. So far, so good.

The crop of 2-year-old fillies trainer Todd Pletcher had in his care last season was about as deep as the Atlantic Ocean. R Heat Lightning rose to the fore when it counted most, and for her win in the Grade 1 Spinaway and runner-up finish in the Grade 1, $2 million Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, she was named a finalist for champion 2-year-old filly of 2010.

Fred Brei hit a heck of a lick the first weekend in November.

He won the Grade 1, $2 million Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies with Awesome Feather on Nov. 5, and two days later sold her at auction for $2.3 million. Awesome Feather had swept her division of the Florida Stallion Stakes leading up to the Breeders’ Cup, and for her accomplishments last year she is a finalist for champion 2-year-old filly of 2010.

After unveiling one good-looking 2-year-old after another during the Saratoga meet, trainer Todd Pletcher went into the Travers Day card knowing he had yet to take the wrapper off his top model. By the middle of the Aug. 28 Saratoga card, there was no mistaking which colt was best in class.

To Honor and Serve ran fast enough in his maiden win at Belmont Park on Oct. 2 to warrant consideration for a start in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. While his connections did give that race some thought, in the end owner Charlotte Weber of Live Oak Plantation and Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott opted for a more conservative route.