No sooner had the synthetic dust settled in the wake of Zenyatta’s dominating performance in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita then the flame igniting the “Horse of the Year” debate was rekindled anew. At question is how to properly award the top honor in U.S. racing when considering the miraculous campaigns of both Zenyatta and the 3-year-old filly sensation Rachel Alexandra.
At this point in time, It’s become a question I’d really rather not address at all if it were not on the lips of nearly all I’ve spoken with these past few days. My personal feeling being that this is still Zenyatta’s moment and that at least one full week should pass before we begin doing what horseplayers do – arguing incessantly with one another over our respective levels of insanity. One can barely get so much as a word in about the Classic right now though without the issue coming up rather directly. Emotions seem to be running high on both sides of the isle as the immediacy of a supreme moment still actively courses through the furiously beating hearts of racing fans the world over.
In many ways, the pendulum seems to have swung almost completely. Where once Rachel was considered (including by yours truly) a mortal lock to have already captured the honor as Horse of the Year by virtue of (most notably) her Preakness, Haskell, and Woodward victories, a new wind has begun to blow. The much whispered “backlash” against team Rachel for having not attended the Breeders’ Cup had been one element of this change. The true spark, however, is a bit more noble in nature and seems to stem from a desire to ensure that Zenyatta is properly awarded for the undefeated career she has blessed us with.
As early as Saturday night, the battle lines were already being drawn. Attending a post-Classic dinner with folks from the TVG Community (the organizers for which I owe a great deal of thanks to for a wonderful weekend, along with those at both the NTRA and the Breeders’ Cup), I was asked for my opinion, and admittedly I balked a bit – attempting to play the classical Switzerland “neutrality defense.” Like many a smaller European nation state in the opening half the 20th century, I ultimately found myself being drawn, however unwittingly, into the great conflagration.
Not to be confused with the famous "French defense" in chess, the "Switzerland neutrality posture" in the great 2009 Horse of the Year debate is ultimately indefensible.
At the end of the day, I suppose someone does have to win the award, right?
So whom do we chose?
As much as I’ve tried to play the Switzerland defense, it’s probably rightly noted that I’m an ever-so-slightly bigger fan of Rachel Alexandra than I am of Zenyatta. I think that’s a fair assessment of my own emotional makeup. That’s not to say I don’t love Zenyatta with all my heart – always have and always will – but my record of pro-Rachel Alexandra coverage is something I cannot deny being consciously aware of.
That being said, I’ve loved Zenyatta since I spotted her profile prior to her maiden debut, noting “hey, that’s the same connections as Giacomo – I might take a shot with this girl!” In time she became my “slow cheetah” – a name and a song that will forever have a special meaning to me.
I care about these two fillies so deeply that I consider it the honor of a lifetime to have been there for the finer moments of each one’s 2009 campaign; Rachel in the Preakness and the Haskell, and Zenyatta in the Classic.
Much like I had been calling for a dead heat had the two ever locked horns on the track, I find myself utterly divided over who I would select as Horse of the Year. I suppose to extract a full answer from me, one might have to subject me to brutal interrogation, straight out of the famed Russian Roulette scene in The Deer Hunter. Tying me to a chair, constantly slapping my face whilst shouting “Mao!” and demanding that I make a selection. I believe what follows is what my ultimate decision would be under such duress (apart from arising from said chair and declaring “3 bullets!!! We play with 3 bullets!” in classical De Niro fashion):
- Rachel Alexandra for 3-year-old filly champion
- Zenyatta for Horse of the Year
Mao! Robert De Niro in the famous Russian Roulette scene from The Deer Hunter
Truth be told, I actually do believe that Rachel Alexandra had the superior overall year (with “overall” being the operative term), however Zenyatta clearly won the superior race.
Rachel’s year had more than one signature moment. She was the first filly in 85 years to win the Preakness. She was the 2nd filly in 42 years to win the Haskell. She nearly broke the track record in the Mother Goose, coming close to the exploits of Secretariat at the same distance. Then, of course, she became the first 3-year-old filly to defeat older males in a stakes race of more than a mile on dirt since the inception of graded stakes in the U.S.
Zenyatta’s overall campaign for 2009 was a bit less heralded – until her triumph in the Classic that is. I doubt strongly that anyone will think back to her earlier races in the year and point to them as having been signature – but she did remain undefeated, even when carrying ridiculous amounts of weight and when it seemed to all observing that her undefeated record was in it’s greatest peril at the hands of Anaaba’s Creation. Somehow, someway, she ALWAYS found a way to win.
So if Rachel’s campaign is the one I believe to be more accomplished, why make Zenyatta Horse of the Year?
Because at some level, even if it has not historically been the case, the Breeders’ Cup Classic should be the deciding moment. The quintessential test of an overall champion. Moreover, the career that Zenyatta rewarded us with is one that is deserving of top honors. And it’s not like she didn’t race in 2009. She just didn’t race a whole heckuva a lot of times, nor did she put herself in tremendously challenging positions where victory was assumed to be anything other than a foregone conclusion until her date with destiny in the Classic.
I know that technically it isn’t right to attach emotional sentiment to that which she accomplished in 2008 and then factor that into the equation, but how can one not help but do so? In all likelihood she left us with her career defining performance on the sports biggest stage (at least the biggest stage for true fans of racing, as opposed to the Warhol-esque 2 minutes of national attention associated with the annual running of the Kentucky Derby) – a perfect story book ending to a career that will from henceforth be the measuring stick for all older fillies and mares that attempt to follow in her hoofsteps.
Likewise, Rachel Alexandra will go down as the new barometer by which all subsequent 3-year-old fillies will be compared. Make no mistake about it, we’ll still invoke memories of Ruffian as well, who will continue to be the greatest of the great fillies, but my sense of things is that Rachel’s ability to both win a 3-year-old Classic (the Preakness) and then follow that up with repeat performances over 3-year-old males in the Haskell and then older males in the Woodward will cement her legacy for years (if not decades) to come.
The mere fact that Rachel is sometimes mentioned in the same breath as Ruffian speaks volumes for how lofty her star has risen. Just a year ago you probably would’ve been diagnosed as certifiably mad if you dared to publicly compare any filly to Ruffian. Now people do so without batting an eye. I’ve refrained from making any direct comparisons myself, as I think it wise to the let the historical greats stand alone, and if nothing else become larger than the legends they were in their own time rather than replaced by newcomers and diminished in legend, but certainly folks reading this have at least heard those comparisons elsewhere and know what I’m referring to. The point being not whether they are warranted or not, but merely an acknowledgement that such comparisons do exist.
For Rachel, there will be a 2010, and a chance to show she is capable of winning a Breeders’ Cup Classic of her own. For Zenyatta, the Classic was in all likelihood her swan song.
What better way to send off a legend than to allow their final chapter to be an ultimate achievement? It just feels like the right thing to do.
As much as I love them both and am torn asunder in attempting to make a definitive statement one way or the other – I think the right thing to do is to send Zenyatta off to retirement as the 2009 Horse of the Year. After all, she started the year as the top older female in racing, and nobody was able to defeat her. Looking at things that way, and reducing the equation to it’s most simplistic component, it’s a bit hard to justify knocking her from her lofty perch – doubly so in the immediate aftermath of her finest hour.
And you know what? At the end of the day it’s really just a silly award. What these two ladies accomplished on the track will be remembered for years regardless of whether an additional trophy is added to their respective cases.
Respect for each of them has been EARNED on the track, not GIVEN at some awards ceremony.
That’s how I see things at least. What say you? Who do you think ought to receive the Eclipse Award for 2009 Horse of the Year?
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