Quote:
Originally Posted by Dahoss
Seriously, who cares how many tracks someone has been to? What does it have to do with the discussion or the obvious error in the post? but he's right, Blame's year wasn't all that special. Neither was Zenyatta's if you look at the races, who she faced and what they ended up doing. There is no way someone can be honest and say Zenyatta faced better competition than Blame did in 2010. There is no way someone can say Zenyatta beat better competition than Blame did. It's just not possible. The only arguement we hear is she did more for the game. That's a chickenshit cop out. I have yet to see someone put forth an arguement that what Zenyatta did on track was better than Blame...because you can't.
I think awarding Zenyatta HOY sets a bad precedent. Her connections knew that by running in the campaign they chose, they needed to win the Classic in order to be deserving of HOY. She didn't. She ran well, but in a game where inches separates millions of dollars, she fell inches short, to a horse that had a better year on track than she did. i don't like seeing the sport turn into a popularity contest. It isn't American Idol. it's better than that and we should expect better than that. It's not about who has more fans on Facebook. It's about what you do on the track.
She didn't have to travel or beat males every race. But there were races in her backyard that she was eligible for, that would have tested her and they avoided them. The funny thing is I'm almost positive she would have won them. But they didn't try. They avoided top competition to protect a streak and were rewarded for it. Had she just ran in one of those races against males during the year, I would think she is deserving. but she didn't.
If people think that she had was deserving of HOY based on what she did on track this year, fine. But I urge you to go through the history of the award and tell me how her year stacks up with other winners. I'll save you the time....it doesn't stack up well. She was a fantastic horse. She was an amazingly consistent horse. Her run in the BC this year was exciting and made for a great race. But she didn't deserve HOY. The horse that beat her...that beat better, that faced better deserved the award.
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I agree with a lot of what you said here, and yet I'm still glad Zenyatta got HOY. I don't feel it's either sad or terrible to take "body of work" into consideration. There's plenty to NOT like about Zenyatta's 2010 campaign. But, Zenyatta's connections DID bring her back and they DID run in the Apple Blossom, announcing it early enough for any mare in the country to challenge her. They DID run in the BC Classic, finishing a close enough second to take nearly everyone's breath away who watched the race.
If Blame had run more than 5 races, I might feel differently. But his campaign did not not blow me away.
All this lamenting the future meaning of the awards is an over-reaction, IMO. The award was given to a charismatic 19-1 mare with a 1st and a (close) 2nd in successive BC Classics, I don't think we will have to face a similar situation again in our lifetime.
--Dunbar