By: Elizabeth Rancani

Steve Haskin wrote his thoughts this week on Horse of the Year. He feels Big Brown should still be in the mix. I haven’t been the horse’s biggest fan this year, but I normally agree with Haskin. This time, however I feel he is way off the mark.

The vote for Horse of the Year is between two candidates: Zenyatta and Curlin. If Silver Charm couldn’t win the title off his Derby, Preakness and Strub and War Emblem couldn’t come close after following a similiar Big Brown schedule and only having Azeri to fend off, Big Brown can do no better than a distant third place finish. Yes, his Florida Derby, Kentucky Derby and Preakness were something special. His fall campaign was not. Yes, Big Brown was probably more talented than War Emblem, but the races they won are very similiar. War Emblem also won the Derby, Preakness and Haskell. We will never know how good Big Brown was. He was trained after the Triple Crown for the Classic, and that is sad. It used to be horses were trained for a career, not just one race.  After the Triple Crown, Big Brown’s camp wanted him to win the Classic, period. His prep races were designed specifically to get him to the Classic without anymore losses. Taking the easy road cut him out of the top title this year. You have to show up to win, and if he had shown up in any race other than the weak Haskell and the glorified allowance race at Monmouth, even with the injury prior to the Classic, we may not be left with comparisions to War Emblem and the what if feeling? If he had defeated Curlin in either the Woodward or the Jockey Club, he would be up against Zenyatta, not Curlin. He was healthy for those two races, and his feet were solid, so the reason for not taking a shot, illustrates a main problem with the sport today.

Before the Breeders Cup began, horses had to pick spots where they would face the most competition, sometimes on numerous occasions. Today they are raced sparingly in the hope that they will get to the Cup in one piece and pull off a win there. Champions are crowned there.

The first Horse of the Year was Granville. He ran eleven times and won seven times, including the Belmont, Travers and Lawrence Realization. His only off the board finish came when he dumped his rider at the Derby.

The award belongs to horses like Citation, Native Dancer, War Admiral, Seabiscuit, Kelso (five times), Dr. Fager, Damascus, and Arts and Letters. Some were Triple Crown winners. Some won a lot of races. Arts and Letters won the Metropolitian, Belmont, Jim Dandy, Travers, Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup his year, and his schedule was the norm, not the exception. 

The seventies saw horses like Affirmed, Seattle Slew, Forego, Secretariat take top honors. Four year old Affirmed wrested the title from Spectacular Bid in 79 after winning seven times, including the Strub, Hollywood Gold Cup, Woodward, and Jockey Club Gold Cup. He defeated Spectacular Bid in the Jockey Club in what surely was the award winning race, since the youngster had ten wins to his credit that year, and a grueling Triple Crown campaign.

The eighties saw the award go to Ferdinand, Conquistador Cielo, Sunday Silence, and John Henry twice. It also went to the fillies All Along and Lady’s Secret. Lady’s Secret won 8 Grade Is that year, and faced males four times, wining the Whitney and finishing in the money in all of her other starts against males. Turkoman lost to her even though he took the Marlboro, and Widener and narrowly missed winning the Jockey Club and the Classic. Lady’s Secret had wins in the Beldame, Ruffian and Distaff to go along with her gallant tries against males where in one instance she finished ahead of Turkoman.

Alysheba won in 1988, when his main competition was the undefeated filly, Personal Ensign. He had six Grade Is that year, just like her, but he was given top prize. She even had a successful run against males in the Grade I Whitney, but still couldn’t topple Alysheba.

The  nineties saw many horses that didn’t seem all that durable or all that flashy walk away with the award. Two year old Favorite Trick won in 1997 after winning  just two Grade Is. Charismatic won in 1999 after winning just three races, and AP Indy was no Iron Horse in 1992 but still took the prize, winning three Grade Is. Luckily Skip Away, Cigar and Holy Bull belong to the nineties thus saving that decade from total failure.

Tiznow won Horse of the Year in 2000 after winning only two Grade I events. One was the Classic, and competition that year was scarce, so he took the award.

Point Given won after winning the Santa Anita Derby, Preakness, Belmont, Haskell and Travers.

Azeri won without having to face males at all, but her competition that year included War Emblem and Left Bank (one Grade 1 in the Whitney).

Mineshaft won seven times, with wins in the Jockey Club, Woodward and Suburban. He was retired due to injury prior to the Breeders Cup.

Ghostzapper had four wins his year, including the Classic, only his second Grade I win all year. 

St. Liam won four Grade Is including the Classic in 2005, and finished ahead of Afleet Alex in the voting. Afleet Alex was dazzling during the Triple Crown, but St. Liam was able to make voters forget him with his win in the Classic.

Invasor proved much the best in 2006 after defeating Bernardini in a heart pounding Classic. He also won the Pimlico, Suburban, and Whitney that year, all Grade I events.

Then came Curlin. Last year he raced nine times, and by modern standards proved as durable as they come. He faced, possibly the classiest group of three year olds, and finished in the money in all of his starts. He defeated older horses in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and then earned his award in the slop at Monmouth. Last year Street Sense, Hard Spun, Lawyer Ron and Curlin all would have made deserving Horse of the Years’ but it was Curlin’s win when they were all together that gave him the award.

And now we have two deserving candidates. Forget Big Brown. His connections gave up any chance he had when choosing an allowance slot as his final prep for the Classic. We have the undefeated, super filly in one corner, and the reigning Horse of the Year in the other.

History has taught us that not facing males is problematic unless you are facing horses like Left Bank and War Emblem. Personal Ensign lost to Alysheba, even though she, unlike he, was perfect. Only five fillies in history have won Horse of the Year outright. All but Azeri faced males. The list includes Busher and Twilight Tear who defeated the great Devil Diver by six lengths in the Pimlico Special. All Along won four Grade Is including the Arc, and romped in the 1983 Turf Classic. Her competition that year was Slew o’ Gold, and he was somewhat inconsistent as a three year old. 

Zenyatta has four Grade I wins. So does Curlin. Zenyatta is perfect. Curlin is not. Curlin’s connections this year had a bigger idea in mind for Curlin. They didn’t want an undefeated record, a monetary one, higher stud fees, or the best dirt horse in all of America. They wanted him to be a world beater, on any surface. He failed on turf, although still ran second in a Grade I race. He failed on pro-ride, though still ran the fastest mile and a quarter of his life. He won the Dubai World Cup, Stephen Foster, Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup; enough to win the Eclipse award in almost every year of the past two decades. He is still the top dirt horse in the world, and should be voted America’s Horse of the Year.