Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunder Gulch
Hopefully it won't set the precedent for how to win the award in the future by ducking competition until the end, but there would be no way to deny her if it's won on this track.
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I think this is where we sometimes can get into a bit of a double standard.
I 100% agree that her 2010 campaign has been weak for a HOTY candidate because typically HOTY goes to a horse that competed in either the Triple Crown races and/or a series of Grade 1 races open to older males. It's rare that a mare is even in the conversation.
Right or wrong, she's part of the conversation partly because of her overall record and partly because of her win in the Classic last year.
The thing is, no one required mares like Personal Ensign, Bayakoa, Go for Wand, etc... to compete in Grade 1 races open to males all year long before getting any respect and none of those all time greats even considered running in the Classic. So they more or less took themselves out of consideration for HOTY unless all the males sucked. Zenyatta is taking a shot.
I think the Classic is one part of the overall picture and should probably be weighed the strongest because other than the Derby (restricted to 3YOs) it's the only race where all the best horses around the world get together. So it's typically by far the highest quality race of the year.
How you weigh it vs. other accomplishments is open to debate, but I don't think a mare should be punished for doing as much or more than some of the other great mares before her. They all primarily run against their own sex and take a selective shot here or there against top males and it's usually a weak field. Some don't even go that far. Only Azeri tried the Classic. I don't think the standard should be that any mare that wants consideration should have to compete against Grade 1 males all year long. It's not going to happen when there are easier pickings and lower demands on the horses staying with their own sex most of the season.
The few exceptions are 3YO fillies that compete in Triple Crown preps and the actual Triple Crown races against other 3YOs. The reason that happens more often is that fillies tend to develop sooner than colts and are often competitive with 3YO colts UNTIL later in the season when the colts develop further and move past them.