ZENNNNNN-SATIONAL!!!!! 128 to 102 in the voting…..someone didn’t vote (?)
HOORAY!! ZENYATTA IS HORSE OF THE YEAR and all is right with the racing world! Not sure how so many guys could write that Blame should win but thank goodness the votes went the right way….
OMAR WINS! Canadian jock…”this is the happiest moment of my life”, said the choked up youngster who began his career in Alberta through the Olds College riding school and then galloped to many wins at WOODBINE!
ZENYATTA WINS OLDER MARE, BLAME WINS OLDER MALE…2 MORE AWARDS TILL THE H.O.Y ANNOUNCEMENT!
TODD PLETCHER WIN 5TH TRAINER’S TITLE, ONLY 15 YEARS TRAINING..
WINNERS SO FAR INCLUDE GIO PONTI, UNCLE MO, ADENA SPRINGS, congrats to the Stronach family, AWESOME FEATHER, too bad she’s hurt, BLIND LUCK, BIG DRAMA…
MONDAY MORNING BITS – ECLIPSE AWARDS TONIGHT, PAYSON PARK TRAINING PICS!
TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT…IT’S GONNA BE ALL RIGHT
(if Zenyatta wins!)
“If Blame is announced Horse of the Year,” said his trainer, Al Stall Jr., “on the Internet … there will be a lot of rage.” – Al Stall, trainer of Blame, in the Washington Post
Between 9:30 and 10 tonight in downtown Miami the envelope will be opened and the Horse of the Year’s name will be, likely, yelled out.
It is easily the most anticipated Horse of the Year announcement in decades and, to at least this writer, a bit surprising since I thought Zenyatta being the winner by votes was a no-brainer.
I thought wrong. The forums have been jam packed with arguments and publications such as DAILY RACING FORM have had its columnists, most hard-nosed men, stake their reasons that Blame, the only horse to beat Zenyatta should be the winner.
If you can find a way to watch it, hear it, maybe watch some tweets or blogs for the announcement, it should be wild!
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Zenyatta vs. Blame for Horse of the Year
By STEVEN WINE
The Associated Press
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — A race along the beach would be one way to decide the debate, with Zenyatta and Blame side by side as they kick up sand like a couple of half-ton bullies.
Instead, the question will be settled by a vote – less dramatic, more democratic – with the result announced Monday night in an oceanfront hotel ballroom.
Who’s the Horse of the Year? Beloved Zenyatta, the sport’s leading lady? Or Blame, the only horse to beat her?
For this showdown, the two thoroughbreds won’t even be in the same zip code. Both were retired after Blame held off a hard-charging Zenyatta by a head in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/16/AR2011011602765.html
EDDIE’S TASKS GET A WHOLE LOT TOUGHER
Square Eddie Reported Possible for Donn Handicap
Three years ago trainer Doug O’Neill shipped J. Paul Reddam and WinStar Farm’s Spring At Last from California to Gulfstream Park to win the $500,000 Donn Handicap (G1) with jockey Eibar Coa aboard, and the trainer recently told Daily Racing Form that he is seriously considering sending Reddam’s 5-year-old Square Eddie for this year’s renewal of the Donn to be run on Sat., Feb. 5.
Square Eddie recently returned from a more than one-year layoff to win a 6 1/2-furlong allowance race at Santa Anita on Jan. 14 by 3 ¼ lengths in track record time of 1:13 in his first start since finishing sixth in the Malibu Stakes (G1) there in late 2009. The son of Smart Strike stood stud for a time last spring.
A son of Silver Deputy, Spring At Last had won the $1 million Godolphin Mile (G2) on Dubai World Cup day in March of 2007 and O’Neill indicated that Square Eddie could be bound for Dubai after the Donn for a start in either the Godolphin Mile or $10 million Dubai World Cup (G1) on Mar. 26 this year.
Square Eddie began his racing career in England in 2008 until purchased privately by Reddam and won the Breeders’ Futurity (G2)
at Keeneland in his U.S. debut and came back to finish second behind Midshipman in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at Santa Anita that fall. The Canadian-bred failed to win in six starts as a 3-year-old in 2009, although placing in several Graded stakes.
MO SIGHTING!!
JANIS MAINE spo
tted Kentucky Derby Favourite UNCLE MO training at Palm Meadows this weekend. Have you visited Mo’s Facebook page? he talks to fans who write in!
Mo is expected to be named champion 2yo colt tonight at the Eclipse Awards.
WINTER TRAINING AT PAYSON PARK
Photos courtesy of Janet Black
a Payson morning
Ian Black stable at Payson Park
Trainer Ian Black with his trainee FIFTY PROOF and pony Red Sea, with Robert Landry on board
Top 3yo of 2010, Stormy Lord, looking healthy and shaved!
SOUTHDALE is recovered from injury and ready to prepare for racing in 2011!
SANTA ANITA TO TINKER WITH TRACK
Art Wilson writes on Inside Horse Racing…
I hear Santa Anita is expected to announce Monday it will be performing some maintenance on its new dirt main track Tuesday in an effort to tone it down so it’s not quite so fast.
Three track records have been broken during the meet’s first 15 days, including new marks for 6 furlongs, 6 1/2 furlongs and 7 furlongs.
READ MORE…http://www.insidesocal.com/horseracing/2011/01/santa-anita-will-perform-work.html
