Horse of the Year?

[Stickhorse]

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!

[Danzig]

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.

[joeydb]

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.

[Stickhorse]

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.

[GPK]

Maram

[2Hot4TV]

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.

[letswastemoney]

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

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by Cardus

I have never had a fan's rooting interest in Curlin, but to give the Horse-of-the-Year award to a horse other than he who won the Dubai World Cup, Jockey Club Gold Cup, Woodward Stakes, and the Steven Foster Handicap in one racing season, I'd have to see more than what Zenyatta provided.

Agree.

Too bad Zenyatta didn't run against the boys...