Top two horses should be celebrated equally
My Eclipse Award ballot finally arrived this week. I did what I said I would do after the Breeders’ Cup: I split my Horse of the Year vote between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta. Because the National Turf Writers Association rejected this common-sense approach, my HOY vote will be disqualified.
If they penalize me further, I’ll let you know. Basically, common sense lost out to the axiom in horse racing of “that’s the way it’s always been done.” That kind of thinking continues to hurt horse racing on so many levels.
The claim is, no special consideration should be given to Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta because close HOY votes have occurred in the past and will again in the future. I disagree. I have been an Eclipse Award voter for more than 20 years, and I don’t recall two such worthy candidates who enjoyed unbeaten seasons. I have never considered hedging my vote before, so this isn’t some fit of indecision on my part.
Other major sports (baseball, 1979, Keith Hernandez and Willie Stargell; NFL, 2003, Peyton Manning and Steve McNair) have shared their Most Valuable Player honor. Granted, their voting bloc is much smaller, typically two media voters per team. In horse racing, there are more than 200 voters among the NTWA, Daily Racing Form and National Thoroughbred Racing Association. A tie is almost mathematically impossible.
Another basis for my stance is the Eclipse Awards are mainly a marketing and promotional tool. Thus, there is no good reason for not fully honoring your top two stars. Celebrate equally the accomplishments of Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta. Don’t make one a winner and one a loser on awards night.
I believe Rachel Alexandra did as much, if not more, to ignite racing interest the first nine months of the year as Zenyatta did at the Breeders’ Cup. The fact that the fillies finished in the top seven for Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year proves they did their job and did it well.
Because the two won’t ever meet in competition, I think they should dead heat on their way to the breeding shed. On the racetrack, we won’t know which one was better, so that is why my split vote is a more decisive act than splitting hairs between them with a coin flip.
Some of my other Eclipse picks: Ramon Dominguez, top jockey; John Shirreffs, top trainer; Jerry Moss, top owner; Lookin at Lucky, top juvenile; She Be Wild, top juvenile filly.
Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com.