Personal HOY
 

There have been some members of this forum that have been racing fans for many years and some are fairly new. What I was hoping to do with this thread is hear from each of you, if you want to, who you would have voted for HOY in each of your years if you had a vote. It's pretty clear that most people not in the media did not support Zenyatta for HOY yet she still won the title. I know she gets the official title but to an individual that didn't vote for her, does he still recognize her as the champ? Personally, I don't. I think of the champion as the one I would have voted for. I was curious to see how many other times your vote would have been different than the actual winner.

Tear this apart is you feel like it but here's mine:
1986-Manila
1987-Java Gold
1988-Alysheba
1989-Sunday Silence
1990-Go for Wand
1991-In Excess
1992-Paseana
1993-Kotashaan
1994-Holy Bull
1995-Cigar
1996-Alphabet Soup
1997-Formal Gold
1998-Skip Away
1999-Artax
2000-Tiznow
2001-Point Given
2002-Azeri
2003-Candy Ride
2004-Smarty Jones
2005-Ghostzapper
2006-Invasor
2007-Curlin
2008-Zenyatta
2009-Zenyatta
2010-Goldikova

Just because he was a favorite of mine Unbridled in 1990. Blame last year and I'd have to see the contenders the year Favorite Trick won. Can't recall most year's contenders but for the most part I don't remember any issue with the voter's choice.

Almost anyone would have been a better choice than Favorite Trick. Formal Gold, Skip Away, Will's Way, and Gentlemen were light years better than him. So were Free House, Silver Charm, Touch Gold, and Captain Bodgit. It's often said that HOY usually goes to the outstanding older male. If there isn't one but there is an outstanding 3yo male, he gets it. That year, you had a strong crop in both of those divisions and yet Favorite Trick got HOY. Zenyatta getting it this year discourages top horses facing each other for 1997 was even worse.

I don't think Zenyatta winning it discourages any future runners. It certainly was discouraging to the connections of the horse that beat her but they didn't set out a campaign that set the world on fire.
Kay Sara as far as I'm concerned.

:rolleyes:

:rolleyes:

Please, let's not start awarding horses HOTY with one start. Let's not give any of the modern super-trainers any ideas.

I'd prefer that they make a rule that says a horse has to have started a minimum of six times and the majority of his/her races have to be in the United States. But until they do, I would continue to pick according to the established rules and that is that you only need one start in North America. Nowhere in any rules does it say that one start has to be the BC. If Goldikova, Miesque, High Chaparral, etc, can be voted as the best grass horse off of one start, I think Ghostzapper can be voted as the best older male off of one start also and I thought he was better than Saint Liam.

I figured that this one that most people would think was the oddest.

I just didn't think Curlin was much good as a 4yo. He won a few big races but he appeared to me to be worse than he was as a 3yo, save for Dubai. Once he came back, he was pretty ordinary for a supposed HOY, with some pretty hard fought wins over really weak competition. Then he didn't help his case in the BC. I know that it was on a new surface he had never been on and for that, a lot of people gave him a pass. I didn't. I thought he ran the same race in the BC that he had ran in his last couple prior to it but that better competition made the difference. Also, I remember years ago, Karl Malone gave an interview and was talking about injuries. He said "if you can't play, don't.......but once you put the shoes on and step on the court, there's no excuses." I think had Curlin ended his season before the fall, he would have had a better case, sort of like Mineshaft and Charismatic and Criminal Type. For 2009, I wasn't impressed by the fact that Rachel beat the boys. I care more about the quality of the competition rather than the name of the race or the age/sex of the competition. For example, it would have meant more to me to see Zenyatta beat a 3yo filly in 2009 than it did to see her beat older males.

He was better then St Liam, thats not even a real question.

He blew his load in Dubai. Not the first time its happened.