Horse Of The Year Award Up For Debate

College football just announced their BCS Championship game to be played in January. Many people detest the BCS system because it leaves teams out that could possibly be playing for a championship.

Six teams finished undefeated this year in college football, but just two of those teams earned the right to play for a title. Only college football employs such an antiquated system, but for this year it appears so will horse racing.

In a sport that is often decided on the track, the horse of the year award is still up in the air and is a cause for debate in each horses, who is considered up for the honor, camp.

The two horses are the ones who dominated the horse racing year with Rachel Alexandra starting the year with much fanfare, followed by fellow filly Zenyatta. It was the year of the girl in horse racing indeed, but just one can win Horse of the Year.

It is easy to forget the effect Rachel Alexandra had on the racing community during the Triple Crown season. She was building steam even before she blew away other gals in the Kentucky Oaks, one day before the Kentucky Derby.

That performance caused her connections to realize they had a special horse and decided to enter her in the next Triple Crown race, the Preakness Stakes, which she won, edging out the Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird.

Fans clamored for her to race in the Belmont, but she declined and won a couple more races in stoic fashion before calling it a year and deciding to forgo the Breeders Cup.

So, with Rachel Alexandra on the sidelines, the second half of the year belonged to Zenyatta. She was able to end her year in style by defeating 11 boys in the premier event at the Breeders Cup, the Classic. The win gave her 14 wins in 14 career starts.

Many racing agencies tried to get the dream match going, whether it would be a match race between Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra or getting both into the same race against other horses. They tried it in New York, offering a huge purse on an existing race and the officials at Santa Anita tried to lure Rachel Alexandra to the Breeders Cup, but her connections decided to keep her off the synthetic surface.

So alas the award will not be decided on the track, but rather by debating and voting.

The winner will be announced in January.

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