BEYER: Mucho Man Man an unconvential Horse of Year

[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.