BEYER: Mucho Man Man an unconvential Horse of Year

[Kasept]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports...6a3_story.html

Beyer makes case for Mucho Macho Man (and substantively against Wise Dan) as Horse of the Year..

[freddymo]

I would vote for Princess of Sylmar before MMM.

[OldDog]

Originally Posted by Kasept

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports...6a3_story.html

Beyer makes case for Mucho Macho Man (and substantively against Wise Dan) as Horse of the Year..

Beyer: "People with an appreciation of racing history know that horses with his (Wise Dan's) specialty should not be an American champion."

Perhaps this idea is changing, with higher purses and more competitive turf races.

"And fans should not want to honor a horse whose owner and trainer ducked tough challenges all year."

What modern trainer doesn't pick and choose his already-proven horse's campaign carefully? And as for his competition, how much of this was simply that other trainers/owners were afraid of him? Wise Dan showed the best, most consistent form of any horse in the entire year. 7-6-1-0 in Grade I and II races. If I had a vote, it would go to Wise Dan.

[Danzig]

wait...so grass specialty means no. two wins on dirt, also a 'specialty' means yes?

i disagree completely.

i tire of the bias to classic distance dirt horses. putting those horses on a pedestal renders all other classes of horse inferior.
they aren't inferior, they're different.

sorry, winning the bcc shouldn't be the be all, end all. it's called 'championships' but it's not a championship-you get a trophy for the race.

[blackthroatedwind]

I agree with Beyer on this one. I have no argument that Mucho Macho Man is hardly an ideal choice, but he is a better one than Wise Dan, whose on track performances this year, overall, are significantly worse than his races in 2012.

Wise Dan was campaigned like a champion boxer that tried to bob and weave his way through a title defense. At the very least, he could not afford even a single blip, and that ended up not being the case.

[freddymo]

While I applaud Stanco and Pletcher for trying her in BC it did cost her a chance of HoY and that makes what Stanco did all the more sporting

[Calzone Lord]

My take on Horse of the Year:

Horse of the Year:

Even though we must again note that his 2013 campaign lacked adventure, Wise Dan is, objectively, a clear-cut winner of this category.

Wise Dan won six different North American Graded Stakes races this year: an accomplishment that hasn't been equaled or bettered by any male horse since Kitten's Joy won six Graded Stakes in his three-year-old season of 2004. Sure, Kitten's Joy wasn't even close in the voting for the three-year-old championship or Horse of the Year honors that season. But that was because the three-year-old division had a horse named Smarty Jones, and the older male division had a horse named Ghostzapper.

Wise Dan demonstrated the best form of any horse over the entirety of the 2013 season. He is the Horse of the Year.

What if Will Take Charge doesn't get stopped cold in the Derby? What if Will Take Charge didn't perform so miserably in the Preakness or Belmont? What if Mucho Macho Man never caught a wet race track? What if Game On Dude was able to keep his top form for an entire season and perform on the biggest day?

Those are all interesting questions, but in the end, Wise Dan had the best 2013 season of any horse in North America.

http://www.horseracingnation.com/blo...ns_of_2013_123

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

My take on Horse of the Year:




http://www.horseracingnation.com/blo...ns_of_2013_123

[FATPIANO]

Originally Posted by Danzig

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

I agree with Beyer on this one. I have no argument that Mucho Macho Man is hardly an ideal choice, but he is a better one than Wise Dan, whose on track performances this year, overall, are significantly worse than his races in 2012.

Wise Dan was campaigned like a champion boxer that tried to bob and weave his way through a title defense. At the very least, he could not afford even a single blip, and that ended up not being the case.

altho wise dan may not be as good an HOY as past winners, i just can't see that a horse with two wins has an argument or can be considered a better choice. wise dan won more races this year than MMM made starts.

how many graded races did each win this year?

[cmorioles]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

I agree with Beyer on this one. I have no argument that Mucho Macho Man is hardly an ideal choice, but he is a better one than Wise Dan, whose on track performances this year, overall, are significantly worse than his races in 2012.

Wise Dan was campaigned like a champion boxer that tried to bob and weave his way through a title defense. At the very least, he could not afford even a single blip, and that ended up not being the case.

I don't love Wise Dan, but I can't pick a horse that was 2 for 5 with 2 losses in races that weren't even graded. I'd take Will Take Charge before I took Mucho Macho Man.

[randallscott35]

Wise Dan. Not even close.

[FATPIANO]

Originally Posted by randallscott35

Wise Dan. Not even close.

DITTO

[freddymo]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

I don't love Wise Dan, but I can't pick a horse that was 2 for 5 with 2 losses in races that weren't even graded. I'd take Will Take Charge before I took Mucho Macho Man.

Was the BCC in the top 5 of 10f figs for 2013?

[cmorioles]

Originally Posted by freddymo

Was the BCC in the top 5 of 10f figs for 2013?

I'm not sure off the top of my head, but big competitive fields rarely lead to big figures these days.

[freddymo]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

I'm not sure off the top of my head, but big competitive fields rarely lead to big figures these days.

my point is...Shouldnt HoY be a fast horse? Especially considering he won all of 2 races in a 5 race campaign. There is an augment to be made that the BCC is the championship race and if the Championship is not awarded to the victory then is it s genuine Championship