Indian Blessing has been the best 3yo filly of 2008. It's really that simple. The award doesn't say who's the best one at routing or who's the best one at sprinting. It ask who is the best one period and that answer is Indian Blessing. What I'm hoping for is Midnight Lute to not make the Sprint and Baffert enter IB in the open race against the boys. After she drills them there, then can we end this debate?

one race, before she learned to rate... i think Zatfigs a 1 hit wonder, where has she been ?

A much better 3yo filly on that day?

The 3yo filly Eclipse should be resolved on Breeders Cup day - it's just a shame this Breeders Cup is being run over a surface other than dirt.

Well, how about best/most accomplished 3yo filly? I do think your question is an interesting one though. Why not Zaftig for the Eclipse? I remember back in 2005 I was campaigning for Ghostzapper to win the Eclipse as HOY again even though he only raced once. The thinking is that the criteria says only that a horse has to have started at least once in North America. Think about it. How many times have we seen a European come over here and win one of the BC races and be named NA champion? Off the top, I know Miesque (twice), High Chaparral (twice, and he didn't even win his race outright the second time), Johannesburg, Daylami, Kalanisi, Ouija Board a couple of times. Then think about the cases of Arazi and Singspiel. Arazi not only won the Eclipse as top 2yo but was also one of that year's three finalist for HOY. Singspiel never actually won a race in the United States in his year (won the Canadian International and ran second in the BC Turf) and still won the title. So, since technically Zaftig has met the criteria, why not vote for her if you think she was the best 3yo filly to race in NA in 2008?

hmm she had one other stakes win where she beat NO ONE, im sure even you dont look at that as anything special, i remember it well, she beat a way overbet Kiran filly, maybe a daughter of Forestry.

let me ask you a question that i think is reasonable.... Are you high on Zatfig, or just in the mood to knock Indian Blessing ?

It was not clear cut to me either, but with Proud Spell's loss, i feel shes all but lossed it, especially if she does not race again this year... If Music Note wins the Lady's Classic its her's, if she does not and Indian Blessing wins her sprint race i think its her's, if they both win, i think it goes to Music Note because she will be beating a champion and Zenyatta, if they both lose i think it comes back to Indian Blessing

I believe IB is the best but I won't disagree with anyone that has a different opinion and definitely won't argue with anyone that doesn't agree that it's clear cut. It certainly isn't. If I had a vote, I think the way that I would vote would be for the horse that I thought was the best combination of most accomplished and best. I think that IB best combines what I'd look for.

If you compare it with other sports - It would be like saying "why should so much ride on one game?"

The Patriots had a much better overall season than the Giants last year - but the championship basically all boiled down to one game in Arizona.

I don't have a problem with the concept of the Breeders Cup at all - and the only people who seem to are the people who were around before the Breeders Cup started in '84.

The idea of having these great field of dirt horses compete over synthetic surfaces that are atleast as much like turf as they are dirt doesn't sit well with me.

It was meant as a day to decide championships that were up for grabs between horses from all different parts of the country who otherwise wouldn't likely meet.

It's not like the Super Bowl in that the winner is going to be the champion - but - if a championship isn't clinched - as it isn't in the 3yo filly division - it becomes like the Super Bowl in a way - because the championship will be won based on what happens that day.

It's also ALWAYS the best betting day of the entire year because of big fields loaded top to bottom with great quality.

Again, I'm going to bypass your comments about all of AP Indy's flaws as a sire because I just don't know where you are coming from here. The Alabama was not MN's best race, IMO and in the opinion of her connections. In this race, she didn't cruise up as she normally (and willingly does - do not compare her to AP Adventure, who was no good) does. She had to work a bit. This was in part because her CCA apparently took something out of her (her workout at Greentree center in Saratoga wasn't that good and you'll note that I posted about that here at the time; also, read the Blood Horse's recap of the Gazelle. They wanted Javier to wrap up on the filly because he had let her run a huge race in the Oaks and that took some starch out of her in the Alabama).

I've never understood why MN or any horse gets penalized by fans for having some sort of "advantage" at a greater distance. I can understand if one horse is carring 10 lbs fewer than another, but in this case, any advantage MN has is genetic. In any case, if LB was supposed to be some sort of rabbit, she (or rather Maragh, her jock) did a lousy job. Instead of setting racehorse fractions (I'm not asking for blazing, just even ordinary), he decided to strangle LB and set trotting horse fractions.

Absolutely NOT. The BC is not a problem of the game today. It wasn't a problem in previous years when trainers actually ran their horses in other races throughout the year AND ran in the BC. The problem is the way people train and race their horses these days. It's not the BC's fault that trainers like Dutrow don't want to run Kip Deville only 4-5 times in a year or that trainers like Frankel decide that they need to have their last prep in August or early September. Don't blame the BC for that. Also, don't blame the BC for the way Eclipse voters decide to vote. It's not the BC's fault that the top horses get together so infrequently during the year that the BC is often the only place they will meet each other. The concept of the BC was to bring together all of the best horses in each division for a championship day of racing and that's still what it does now. Well, two days but you get the point. If Curlin and Commentator do indeed run in the BC and they face Big Brown and Henrythenavigator, New Approach and Duke of Marmalade......where else outside of the Bc could you ever hope to have that kind of race? There are many problems in the sport. The BC is not one of them.

Again, I'm going to bypass your comments about all of AP Indy's flaws as a sire because I just don't know where you are coming from here.

Aside from his undesirable racehorse characteristics, A.P. Indy has one of the worst "unsoundnesses" a stallion can have from a purist's perspective. His genitalia are flawed. He has one testicle. Both he and many of his sons (entire or not) pass on this trait at a high incidence. Some of his male offspring have even been near sterile (eg AP Valentine). Thankfully, artificial insemination is not allowed with Thoroughbreds, otherwise, were he to become an overwhelmingly dominant sire, the breed would be headed towards infertility. I suppose the endpoint would be something similar to a mule...

The Alabama was not MN's best race, IMO and in the opinion of her connections. In this race, she didn't cruise up as she normally (and willingly does - do not compare her to AP Adventure, who was no good) does. She had to work a bit.

Based on Proud Spell leaving her high and dry at the 1/4 pole, I'm gonna hold out and say that she doesn't have the turn speed of a more agile horse, something we've seen a lot of with AP Indy horses, particularly the plodding type.

This was in part because her CCA apparently took something out of her (her workout at Greentree center in Saratoga wasn't that good and you'll note that I posted about that here at the time; also, read the Blood Horse's recap of the Gazelle. They wanted Javier to wrap up on the filly because he had let her run a huge race in the Oaks and that took some starch out of her in the Alabama).

She had a month in between races. She ran her race at Saratoga. She just finally ran into a good horse that wasn't compromised by racing luck. Castellano had a ton of horse when he pulled alongside Proud Spell. The CCA Oaks didn't take the starch out of Music Note (for 4 straight weeks?) down the lane...Proud Spell sticking her neck out and locking horns with her did...

I've never understood why MN or any horse gets penalized by fans for having some sort of "advantage" at a greater distance. I can understand if one horse is carring 10 lbs fewer than another, but in this case, any advantage MN has is genetic.

That wasn't the point. We all know Music Note probably prefers more ground than Proud Spell. That's what makes Music Note's loss to that one, at her preferred distance, all the more definitive.

In any case, if LB was supposed to be some sort of rabbit, she (or rather Maragh, her jock) did a lousy job. Instead of setting racehorse fractions (I'm not asking for blazing, just even ordinary), he decided to strangle LB and set trotting horse fractions.

As I said in the other post, I don't think she was suppose to go rocketing out of there. Music Note hasn't up to this point shown any sort of reliance on the early fractions of a race (at least as a 3yo), so I don't think that was an issue. But its possible that Little Belle was in there to hound Proud Spell and in particular Proud Spell's jockey, who has been called out more than once for being a bit green at this stage of his career. Maybe she was just in there because it was another slam-dunk, ho-hum Grade 1 placing that enhances her value. Either way, it didn't do Proud Spell any favors having to put that one away after soft fractions and then have to brace herself for the stablemate that was laying in wait throughout.