In the run-up to the Eclipse Awards ceremony on Jan. 17, Daily Racing Form reporters and handicappers will reveal their votes for Horse of the Year and discuss the thinking behind their decision.

Dirt, Churchill, 1 1/4 miles . . . give me Zenyatta every time.

Well, almost every time.

I remain convinced that if Zenyatta and Blame raced under such conditions 10 times Zenyatta would win the vast majority. Maybe Blame would beat her just once. Trouble is, they only met once, when everything was on the line, and Blame prevailed.

In the run-up to the Eclipse Awards ceremony on Jan. 17, Daily Racing Form reporters and handicappers will reveal their votes for Horse of the Year and discuss the thinking behind their decision.

If there are five stages of grief, how many stages are there in Horse of the Year contemplation? I am on my third.

Seth Hancock, whose family has owned and operated Claiborne Farm for a century, has the dubious honor of having being portrayed fictionally twice in recent weeks.

The first was an inaccurate depiction in the movie “Secretariat,” which opened last month. In the Hollywood version, Hancock was the greenhorn who was unable to sell a single stallion share in Secretariat until Penny Chenery (Diane Lane) sweet-talked Ogden Phipps (James Cameron) after everyone else had turned them down. In reality, Phipps was the first person to sign up and shares were sold out within four days.

Breeders' Cup Classic winner Blame will start his stud career with a $35,000 fee at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., the farm announced Wednesday evening.

The 4-year-old Blame enters stud fresh off his head victory over previously undefeated Zenyatta. He will stand alongside his sire, Arch, whose fee will rise from $25,000 this year to $30,000 in 2011.

Two other Claiborne horses also will get fee increases. They are War Front, who goes from $10,000 to $15,000, and Flatter, whose fee climbs from $5,000 to $7,500.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The five leading contenders for Horse of the Year were all in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday at Churchill Downs, and though two of them finished just a head apart for the win, with Blame holding off Zenyatta in a thriller, the debate over who should be Horse of the Year seems certain to last at least another two months, right through the Eclipse Awards on Jan. 17 in Miami Beach, Fla.

Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider will make Breeders' Cup Classic winner Blame available for breeders to view this week at Keeneland on Tuesday and Wednesday at trainer Al Stall Jr.'s Keeneland barn.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It wasn’t quite Babe Ruth calling his shot, but trainer Al Stall Jr. definitely hit one out of the park. Nearly a year ago, he mapped out a plan to best get Blame to the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs. And on Saturday night, Blame hit a home run for Stall, scoring a dramatic victory over favored Zenyatta in the Classic.

“It’s rare for anybody,” Stall said at his Churchill Downs barn on Sunday morning. “But that’s what it takes to win these things. You have to hit every short-term goal as you go along.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There is no joy in Louisville. Mighty Zenyatta got beat in her last at bat.

The storybook finish did not include a photo. Zenyatta, seeking her 20th victory without a defeat, came up just short of catching Blame in a dramatic running of the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday at Churchill Downs, falling short by a head after closing furiously from far back.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It was nearly a year ago, shortly after Blame ended his 2009 campaign with a victory in the Clark Handicap here at Churchill Downs, that trainer Al Stall Jr. mapped out a 2010 schedule with one primary goal, getting to the Breeders’ Cup Classic with a chance to be Horse of the Year.