Horse of the Year?
 

Tuesday will be the last day of thoroughbred racing before the two day shutdown for Christmas. The racing year always seems to start with the opening of Santa Anita the day after Christmas. The selection of 2008's Horse of the Year should be an interesting one.

There are lots of deserving candidates. IMO Curlin and Zenyatta are the two front runners but I can see several other horses that will receive some votes. Big Brown, Pepper's Pride, Commentator, and even Eight Belles all could garner support.

My choice is Zenyatta.

Horse of the Year does not always go to the fastest horse. I believe that Secretariat as a two year old won Horse Of The Year. Seldom does any foreign horse receive consideration and Curlin’s BIG MONEY win came in Asia. Yes he beat more horses in his victories then Zenyatta but that is because the big filly scared away much of her competition. As Jon White pointed out in his weekly column "Zenyatta led all Thoroughbreds with seven North American graded stakes wins in 2008."

And unlike a lot of the other big names of 2008 she'll be back in 2009. That will make for a Happy New Year for this racing fan!

if peppers pride manages one vote, it'd be one too many. doubt that commentator or eight belles will be mentioned.
top three will be curlin, zenyatta and big brown.

Can't be Eight Belles. We all miss her, but it would just be a grim reminder of what happened in the Derby.

I don't think that would be warranted on any level.

Her death wasn't because of her use of meds but the public was so shocked that the racing industry took a hard look at the perception that thoroughbred racing has among the masses.

The tragedy of Eight Belles could be the turning point of thoroughbred racing's medication policies and track implementation of more synthetic track surfaces The sport is moving more toward making racing as safe as possible for the participants. For that reason her Derby might be one of the most important races of the decade.

I would not vote for her but she would be in my top ten.

Maram

Curlin took his game to the big races and looked like a world beater in Dubai. Zenyatta was undefeated against the girls and mostly in her own back yard. Big Brown was a flash in the pan 3yo. Curlin should be HOY.

Pepper's Pride??? Are you serious?? She's a high priced claiming horse if she was on any other circuit!!

horse of the YEAR - not the last race of the year. Zenyatta is questionable because she faced questionable competition all in California.

Who was Curlin ducking when he went to Dubai or Saratoga

wow.. that's pretty lean

I vote for none of the above and I really don't care who gets it

Curlin is HOTY!
 

Curlin is HOTY... please no whinning by Zenyatta crowd. Fillies and mares participate in restricted races. If Zenyatta had taken on boys in Breeders' Cup and prevailed, she would have earned HOTY.

Curlin won open Grade I races at multple venues on two continents. Zenyatta left California for her lone non-synthetic race and did not even cross Mississippi River! One could argue that she is California HOTY, or synthetic HOTY.

too funny

and let me guess, your in the Easy Goer was better then Sunday Silence crowd as well.

Does anyone think who Curlin's trainer is might swing a few votes, the guy has been popped for more drug offenses then Laurence Taylor. How much of the good stuff did Curlin get this year? To my knowledge Zenyatta's trainer has not a whiff of a problem like that with the jurisdictions.

It doesn't seem like he got much...considering he lost a couple of times and the times he won were against suspect horses.

"Z" horses! .......Don't get excited Zayat Stables.
 

Horse of the Year is an award for North American horses for North American efforts. Curlin people, you should know better, don't mention the Dubai World Cup. If you want to throw that race in the mix then you will lose your argument for sure. The stage widens and we have to consider Zarkava.

Her victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I) was over a better field than Curlin faced in his Dubai race. She, like Zenyatta, was undefeated but she, unlike Zenyatta, did beat the boys.

Horse of the Year should go to a “Z” horse. Zarkava or Zenyatta

i think it should go to a us based horse.the filly in europe is fantastic but we did not see her here on us soil.. so for me its curlin..hate the owner and trainer but the horse doesent know them ..he just runs hard... big brown is second choice if i voted

If I had a vote I would cast it for MissingLisaLewis.