With all the talk surrounding the Zenyatta – Blame Horse of the Year battle, the brilliant, but sometimes strange career of Quality Road has unfortunately faded from public consciousness, due in good part to the colt’s uncharacteristic last-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. But Quality Road...

By Jennifer Wirth, of The Saturday Post The old rule of etiquette used to be that people shouldn’t bring up politics or religion in casual social settings. It is the quickest way to anger friends, start rivalries and ignite a big ol’ brawl in any circle. I agree perfectly with this rule of etiquette...

By Jack Shinar Striking parallels exist in the current debate between supporters of Blame and Zenyatta over Horse of the Year and the decision confronting voters in 1996 with Cigar. Like Zenyatta, Cigar was assaulting the hallowed mark for consecutive victories held by Citation. And like the big mare...

By Patrick Patten, of Handride Like most racing fans, a number of members of the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance have strong feelings about the meaning of Saturday's Breeders Cup Classic for the Horse of the Year race, Zenyatta's legacy, and related issues. We'll be highlighting some of these posts in...

(Originally published in the November 13, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine . Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column. ) By Eric Mitchell - @EJMitchellKy on Twitter Following an emotionally charged Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I), the question for those deciding...

I was going to write a recap of the Breeders' Cup but as expected the Horse of the Year debate has already become the focus of everyone's attention, and so I am forced to address the issue sooner than I wanted. Let me get this out of the way right now before it goes any further: Blame should be Horse...

Hopefully many of you were able to read the unique interview that John Shirreffs gave this morning at Keeneland. If not, here are the highlights . Shirreffs, who prefers to play things close to the vest, was gracious enough to answer questions from a group of about eight reporters for 45 minutes. He...

Even though it was only a little over two months, it seemed as though the Horse of the Year debate had gone on forever. Now that it is finally (and thankfully) over, I wanted to give people a final chance to express their thoughts before we move on. The voting did lose a bit of its luster since Jerry...

The 3-year-old filly Rachel Alexandra, winner of all eight of her starts in 2009, including the Preakness Stakes, and the 5-year old mare Zenyatta, who won all five of her races last year and culminated her undefeated career by becoming the first female to win the Breeders' Cup Classic, are the only...

As the year winds down, a few closing thoughts on gifts given this year that will continue to bring a smile to my face as long as I live. Feel free to share favorite memories, but please leave your HOY and HOD arguments at home. I want to hear races, from Maiden Claiming to Foreign Allowance races to...