Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

If Desert Party Romps, Street Cry Is the New Mr. P

The Five-Cross Files — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:18:24 GMT

Kentucky Derby hopeful Desert Party has a re-emerging female family, the world's most prominent racing stable -- and maybe the most important sire at stud today.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

sgillies — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:31:57 GMT

For almost any other sire this year, I'd say a stud fee increase of 50% would be crazy. For Street Cry (IRE), it's a bargain. Click here to read more, and to see the full list of 2009 stud fees for Darley's roster.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

draynot — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:54:13 GMT

VT,

I do agree that neither Curlin or Big Brown beat or faced real top notch turf performers. Neither can ever be considered top notch or "brilliant" turf animals based on how they performed and who they beat on the grass. I've been winning money betting against Better Talk Now for a couple of years and Red Rocks has certainly dropped off from his Breeders Cup win a few years back. By the same token Shakis is no better than a G2 level animal talentwise either. He showed over the weekend that he does not belong in the same category as true G1 horses.

I think it was great that the connections of Curlin tried the turf and considered the ARC in an attempt to give racing fans all over the world a look at whether or not he was more than one of the greatest dirt horses ever. It didn't turn out that way but I commend them for trying.

The connections of Big Brown however had another agenda on their mind. That was to get a race over the grass to protect Brownies feet and get it written specifically for him so he could get a win. I believe their idea was to hope they could nuture him to the Classic and hope to pull off a huge upset and capture the HOY honors with a one time shot. Shame on them for putting Big Brown through more agony in spite of his bad feet. They should have retired him after the Belmont but instead were hell bent on finding weak competition and more wins to preserve his value at stud.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

katie — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:09:14 GMT

Curlin is my favorite, but I love all of them. Big Brown did his best with what he had to offer. He couldn't choose his fate. I love him for trying his best. He is related to Curlin by Northern Dancer. I hope Big Brown is recovering well from his injury.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

schabelli — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:35:50 GMT

You are right on The Wizard when you say Curlin is a sure thing Hall of Famer and Big Brown should never get there.

Hall of Famer's have to have beaten someone, anyone more than once in their career that was one of the best at the time they faced them and Big Brown can never say he faced anyone like that much less beat them. G1 wins against 3 yr old only are deceiving to say the least. The animals Big Brown faced in his G1 wins were nowhere near G1 caliber when he faced them. They need to further clarify what a G1 race is, maybe G1-A for 3yr olds and up and just G1 for 3 yr olds. Better yet don't grade the race until the year is over and then grade it on where the competition was at as a whole at the time of the race.

Last years Derby was certainly a true G1 with the likes of Curlin, Street Sense and Hard Spun. To make this years renewal a G1 because of last years competition is not right. This years edition was a G3 level if that based on competition. No animal has come out of that race to consistently win anywhere else. Any that have met true G1 competition have failed.

Curlin: Future Hall Of Famer alongside the likes of Secratariat and many others who would have left Big Brown in their dust.

Big Brown: Just another in a long line of those who failed to beat true top notch animals at anytime in his very very short career. His G1 wins were not against anything that approaches true G1 competition when he faced them and against 3yr olds only. Not the resume of a Hall Of Famer by any means. He'll be forgotten in a few short years maybe less.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

the_wiz — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:04:55 GMT

Sharon,

What draynay meant by he would put Big Brown in Ghostzapper's class is that they are both part of the "retired class".

There is no other comparison to be made with the two. Ghostzapper like Curlin and many others would have had Big Brown for lunch over the track. Big Brown never beat anyone that would be in consideration for any type of honor. In reality he never faced anyone that was very good at the time. nay nay can spout all he wants about Big Brown but the facts don't lie. He was never tested by top notch competition and was beaten by less than stellar animals. It's off to retirement with a nice looking resume but it's tainted by lack of competition.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

VT — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:51:28 GMT

Hmm, I must have mixed up display names.

It does drive me up a wall when people say Curlin was beat by a good turf horse while Big Brown proved nothing beating a horse like Shakis. Yes, Red Rocks was a good horse a couple years ago, but he is a few notches below the top now...along with Better Talk Now. I would put him at a similar level as Shakis, so in my eyes I say atleast Big Brown BEAT Shakis, while Curlin was beaten rather easily by Red Rocks.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

draynot — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:03:29 GMT

VT,

It was draynay who said the Big Ole Browneye was a "brilliant " turf horse and I was just stating that he in fact never proved anything over the turf. Two wins against nobody that could even be considered near the top doesn't make you brilliant, it makes you just another one of the crowd. I don't know where you came up with the notion that I was comparing him to Curlin on the turf. My point was strictly that Brownie never beat anyone of top quality on the grass just like he never beat anyone of top quality on the dirt. Quite frankly never faced anyone who at the time could be considered one of the top horses on any surface. Hope that clarifies what I meant for you. The Big Ole Browneye will go down as just another Derby/Preakness winner who failed in the biggest race of his life and won the other two against some very weak compwtition at the time. In a couple of years most will have forgotten who he was.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

bornbelmontday1948 — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:57:42 GMT

Match Curlin vs. Zenyatta. Dirt, synthetic, turf. You name it. She wins. Ditto Big Brown. You saw what happened when his steroids were withdrawn. Pathetic. She is from another planet. Curlin will defintely get Horse of the Year. Male, East Coast-oriented, right connections. Same old story. Zenyatta has not even displayed half of that which she is capable. Curlin will be retired ASAP. Watch.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

katie — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:35:07 GMT

For all of you Big Brown and Curlin fans, they are related. Northern Dancer is the great grandfather of Big Brown and the Great Great Grandfather of Curlin.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

Katie — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:02:34 GMT

Who gets to vote for Horse of the Year?

Scot's reply: You can find some basic information about the Eclipse Awards (including Horse of the Year) here.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

Katie — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:02:33 GMT

Who gets to vote for Horse of the Year?

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

Katie — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:00:42 GMT

I love Zenyatta, but Curlin was the most dominant horse this year. I'm afraid next year all the great American horses will skip the BCC because of what happened this year. I will not be as enthusiastic it about it next year as I was this year. All the great horses that I watched all year long win numerous races finished in the back. I was very dissappointed. I'm not knocking any of the horses, I love them all. Curlin ran the BCC because everyone wanted him to bring fans back. I read numerous articles before the race about how the track owner begged them to bring him. Remember, he did it for the fans. I quit watching horse racing for a long time, and then came Curlin. I have kept up with him and love watching him. Before the Classic, everyone thought he should get HOTY. Is one race going to change your minds. Bashing horses to me is ridiculous. They can't choose what life brings them. I must say, Curlin looks like he is well taken care of. He loves racing and you can tell. If he doesn't receive the honor, his great racing this year was not taken into consideration. I respect Zenyatta, but she has to try other places to race more competitive horses. Curlin should definitely be HOTY. Just my opinion, and please don't bash any more horses.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

Sharon — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:20:04 GMT

Draynay,

Are you forgetting about the Belmont flop? Or the Monmouth (UNGRADED) Stakes? Who exactly did he run against in THAT one? And what have they done since that race?

And you put him in the same class as Ghostzapper?

Give me a break. Big Brown did have some nice races, but he does NOT deserve to be HOY. Especially since he didn't run against very many "good" horses.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

VT — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:40:59 GMT

I'm not entirely sure what you are talking about draynot. I never said Big Brown was a brilliant turf horse, I just pointed out that if you are going to knock him for only beating Shakis, then Curlin should get a knock for being beaten by Red Rocks, if you are comparing Breeders' Cup form, I would take beating Shakis to being beaten by Red Rocks at this point in the year.

Big Brown is definitely not in my consideration for HOTY, if anything he's 3rd or 4th on the list. I feel a horse that had an undefeated year and proved herself on two different surfaces (along with multiple forms of fake stuff) and defeated the best of her class with absolute ease without missing a beat throughout the entire year deserves horse of the YEAR.

And the Dubai World Cup should NOT count towards Curlin's HOTY consideration. The travel perhaps, the race, no. These are the AMERICAN awards and thus Curlin races in Dubai should not go into HOTY in this country. Just as Raven's Pass's races in England do not count towards our Eclipse awards, only his Classic does.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

gary camejo — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:40:40 GMT

HEY GUYS, AFTER ALL THE POLITICS LET'S HAVE THESE TWO EQUINE SUPERSTARS MEET IN THE CLARK AT CD FOR $2 MILLION AND LET THE RACE BEGIN TO SETTLE HOY HONORS!!!!

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

GingerBoy — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:38:51 GMT

Zenyatta=west coast specialist. Yeah, she won in Arkansas, but every other race on artificial surface. Bring her east & let's see what she can do. HOY? No!

Curlin is still the best!

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

mike — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:29:07 GMT

wizard,

please read, I said equilbase numbers not Beyers yes Curlin Beyers are better than Zenyatta but equilabase numbers are not 113,111,113,111 are last 4 in breeders cup program. And Curlin beyers are just allright for his career nothing great. I think the Beyers are the worst of the speed rating speeds. His equilabase numbers are below Invasor for his career his Beyers are about the same, His ragaozin are about the same, therograph are little bit slower Invasor. In my opioon Invasor was slightly better horse than Curlin. They both won 6 grade 1's versus older males with Curlin getting one of his victories against Lawyer Ron getting 4 pounds that Curlin won by a nose maybe he might have lost with 4 more pounds. Invasor ran faster in Dubai broke 2 minutes. I just saying Curlin was great because of competion and when somebody steped up and ran a big he wasn't in the winner circle. He and Invasor numbers are slow campared to Cigar and Skip Away and Ghostzapper. The big difference that Invasor only lost one time and always fiqued out a way to step up his level comapared to competion in his races to win, Curlin lost 5 times and lost by more than a length in all 5 races. Cigar is best horse in last 15 year than Skip away, than Invasor, and than Curlin, Ghostzapper didn't run enough 1 1/8 routes to put him in top 4 in last 15 years. Curlin was very consistant 3 -5 lengths slower than Cigar every race if you take there last 10 races he was no Cigar but Curlin and Invasor or

about the best we can hope for these days in a span of more than 5 grade 1's in row versus older comapany. Because everybody else will retire after 4 grade 1 victory's in a row in the older male division unless their a gelding. Worth to much in breeding so you better go to You Tube and type in Invasor, and Curlin because win it comes to going against older horses best of luck finding anybody else like them.

mike

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

Draynay — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:02:16 GMT

The Wiz your right I will never put Big Brown in Curlin's class... I will put him in the same class with Ghostzapper.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

kmauer — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:01:23 GMT

I don't know why everyone is getting so bent out of shape about this we don't get to choose who HOY is anyway. I think Zenyatta has a good shot despite the fact that she didn't race against colts Azeri didn't race against colts in 2002 when she won it she got it. A because War Emblem lost the classic. Just as Curlin did on Saturday. And why in the heck should Raven's Pass be champion 3 year old he's only had one start in the US that should not constitute a championship. and those of you who think Zenyatta shouldn't be HOY because she raced only on Synthetic track is BS because sooner or later whether we like it or not all tracks will be synthetic. so get over it just because horses race on synthetic surface doesn't mean they aren't great horses and should be denied the championships they deserve.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

thw_wiz — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:27:11 GMT

HOY goes to Zenyatta who won on MORE than one kind of fake track AND on dirt. She competed the WHOLE year and dominated from start to finish. Not as strong a pick as in the past but for this year she's deserving.

Champion Older Horse to Curlin. He travelled the world over as his connections sought out the best competition they could find. He didn't duck anyone and they even tried the turf where they had hopes of running him in Europes biggest race the ARC. He ran a respectable race there but wasn't good enough to attempt the ARC. Kudos to the connections for bringing him to the Cup when they could have retired him after a long and exhausting year of huge travels to run on a fake surface he had never tried before. To run under a 2:00 mile and a half on a new surface after all he had been through this year was too much to ask for and he still almost pulled it off!! The travel alone this year was enough to wear any animal out.

Raven's Pass gets 3 yr old of the year not Big Brown. He beat the reigning HOY and won the Classic on top of beating very good Europeans on the turf. He was by far the best 3 yr old at the end of the year. Big Brown beat only weak 3 yr olds all year and his connections ducked better competition when they had the chance to go against them. His one grass race was written specifically for him. The distance was what his connections believed his best, the timing of the race meant he could point specifically to it but didn't give others the same opportunity. They had to alter plans to get there and as a result he beat only 2nd level animals and not even america's best on the grass. You can spout his G1 wins all you want, they just don't mean as much this year in light of the weak animals he faced. Raven's Pass is a far superior horse than Big Brown and proved it on the world's biggest stage. He beat top europeans on the grass in a true G1 race, he took down the reigning HOY in another true G1 race, and he won the Breeders Cup Classic which many have stated was the best field they have seen in a Classic(although there is at least one other I think was as good), something Big Brown never did and was never capable of doing. Raven's Pass beat top level horses and Big Brown for all his G1 wins never faced any.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

Saratoga AJ — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:20:46 GMT

What makes Curlin special is what he did in such a short span of time. From breaking his maiden in February '07, to being thrust into the triple Crown Races with so little seasoning (3 months and 3 races), to winning HOTY with a dominating BC Classic (119 Beyer)in only 9 months, to becoming the all time money winner in 20 months. No horse accomplished so much in so little time. Hall of Famer Allen Jerkens, the greatest trainer of my lifetime, and the one who is looked up to and called "The Chief" by all other trainers, said it best. "To do what Curlin has done in so short of time, well he's not one in a million, he's one in a zillion". Enough said.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

mdfanofracing — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:20:14 GMT

You have to hand it to Curlins connections, they placed him in races where they pretty much knew he was a given. Easy to win ten million when you run in races with horses that are so far beneath you talent wise. Ive never liked the horse or his trainer. Cant trust a man who never makes eye contact. Dont get me wrong, he has accomplished many things for his owners, fans and the thoroughbred industry as a whole, but he is dead boring to watch run. Ive heard lots of people say he looks just like Secretariat. Please, HAHA, Big Red was deeper thru the chest and thicker in the shoulder then that skinny freak Curlin. Zenyatta has beaten the best fillies and mares of her generation. Music Note, Ginger Punch (twice), Hystericalady, and she did it with incredible moves that left everyone else in those races in the dust. The way she ran Friday, I think if they had put her in the classic, she very well could have blown the boys away. She is unbeaten, Curlin is well beaten. hmmmm, who gets horse of the year? Come on people, that was Tiago who finished in front of Curlin in the classic.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

draynot — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:02:18 GMT

VT, perhaps you should read what I wrote again about the Big Ole Browneye and his ability on turf. I never included mention of Curlin when referencing the fact that Brownie never proved anything on turf but had been dubbed a "brilliant turf horse " by some uninformed blogger.

My point was not to compare the Great Curlin to the Big Ole Browneye but to point out Brownie only beat maidens and no top of the world turf talent on the grass. You aren't a "brilliant" anything unless you prove it by going against the best there is. Brownie never faced the best there was in any race not even the best 3 yr olds out there, therefore he never beat the best there was out there and speculation gets you nowhere. Just look at the stock market for proof of that. My vote for 3 yr old of the year goes to Raven's Pass who took down the reigning HOY and actually beat somebody this year worth mentioning. This is a far superior animal than Big Brown. Big Brown didn't show up to the dance so he don't deserve the honor. That's what draynay and others were spouting earlier on and I'm going to hold them to that. Raven's Pass was by far the best 3 yr old in the world at years end and he won the Classic which should nail down at least 3 yr old of the year for him and maybe more.

re: Zenyatta Earns Horse of the Year Honors

The Wizard — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:45:11 GMT

Mike,

Beyers of 112,112 and 111 are a HELL OF A LOT HIGHER THAN ZENYATTA OR BIG BROWN EVER GOT!

In fact, Curlin's Beyers have been incredibly high throughout his racing career and failed to reach 100 only twice...in the '07 Derby (98) and '07 Rebel Stakes (99). Even when he broke his maiden he got a 102. (How many horses can you name who was rated over 100 Beyer in their very first race? I can't think of any).

And let's not forger his two races in Dubai in March when he ran the 1 1/4 miles in 2:00.3 (in the Jaquar carrying 132) and 2:00, the latter the third fastest Dubai World Cup in history, and by the biggest margin ever over Well Armed and co. It would have been interesting to see what the Beyer ratings on those races would have been.

So if you are saying Curlin doesn't deserve HOTY, the last thing you want to do is bring up Beyer Speed Ratings. You're contradicting your own argument!