Privman: Let the Horse of the Year Debate Begin

[philcski]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

Obviously - you're 100% right.

However, that doesn't mean the voters for the year end awards need to reward horses who are campaigned in this fashion solely because of how they performed in the Classic.

Go back to Awesome Again's perfect season in 1998 where he beat the toughest field ever assembled in BC Classic history and failed to win Horse of the Year - he was campaigned similarly to Blame.



He had the entrie winter off - came back against complete dogs in an easy race - stepped it up in solid editions of the Foster and Whitney for his next two. He won with the comment "hand ride" in every race that year but the Foster and BC Classic.

Even though it was the best field of horses ever assembled for a BC Classic - a lot of those big horses had very tough seasons and ran like they were over-the-top in that race.

Gentlemen put in a race similar to Life At Ten's performance Saturday. Skip Away struggled mightily. Silver Charm ran three times in the Strub Series, shipped to Dubai and won the World Cup - and made something like 3 or 4 different cross-country ships for races that year after he came back from Dubai. You don't see many horses do what Victory Gallop did anymore as far as running in all three triple crown races, the Haskell, the Travers, and BC Classic as a 3yo. Coronado's Quest made his 10th of 11 starts that season in the BC Classic. Running Stag was a machine, he ran in France, Germany, England, Dubai, Hong Kong, and America.

Blame's own sire Arch was in that race - he only managed to beat a single horse... the DNF Gentlemen.

I realize that HOY voters don't have other optins like they had in 1998 - but Blame is no Awesome Again either. Awesome Again was an extremely handy and tactical horse. When Tale of the Cat stole a 25 flat first quarter on the lead in the Whitney - Day just let him out a little and he shot right past ToftheC like nothing and outsprinted him down the backstretch. When the pace was strong in the Classic - he could take back and finsh strong.

Awesome Again is among my 3-4 favorite horses of all time, and his '98 campaign was amazing- but to use his loss as a reason Blame shouldn't win HOY is folly. You're then discrediting Skip Away, who only won the Donn, GPH, Pimlico Special, Mass Cap, Hollywood Gold Cup, Iselin, and Woodward- before going off form the last two races. Like any horse in 2010 would have a campaign even close to that.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by philcski

Awesome Again is among my 3-4 favorite horses of all time, and his '98 campaign was amazing- but to use his loss as a reason Blame shouldn't win HOY is folly.

I did nothing of the sort Phillip.

I also never even said Blame shouldn't win HOY - I have just argued that if I had a vote - I wouldn't vote for him.

Blame's campaign was similar to Awesome Again - but in my opinion - the quality of most of his performances and quality of his competition certainly were not.