Zenyatta

She showed up, no excuses, and beat the best field assembled in NA this year, handily.

From one of the comments in the link re: the NYT
",,,
I’m a statistics girl at heart. Other fans on a message board I frequent have been having this debate for months, and one poster in particular keeps talking about Zenyatta’s lack of competition. In their encounters with the boys, Rachel faced 2 Timeform ranked horses. Zenyatta faced 5. Rachel’s ranked opponents averaged out at 121. Zenyatta’s ranked opponents averaged to 126. Zenyatta faced the tougher males—Zenyatta wins my vote.
— Kim
http://therail.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/horse-of-the-year-rachel-or-zenyatta/?apage=2#comment-84609

I don't believe in a dual award. Zenyatta should get it.
As I said on a previous post, I'd love to see a match race of 1 1/2m on dirt.
If for no other reason to watch the pace set between these two.
( I can't fathom the strategy involved in that with these two)

I like what G said. Not knowing a lot about horse racing my opinion does not amount to much but I will go for Zenyatta and hope for a grudge match.

Any idea who the finalists are for the Horses Ass of the Year are? Dion, Iffy, Coderre???

'biff, don't forget Layton. No doubt one of them will beat the other three by a nose.

i reckon the losing horse will be moping about with a long face...i hate thinking on that..

wouldn't it be nice if they could BOTH win ?

'biff: "Any idea who the finalists are for the Horses Ass of the Year are?"

How about Bob Rae? He is a horse's ass AND a horse's ass in waiting.

'Beautiful horses, BTW.

Zenyatta should win by at least a length.
To bad Rachel Alexander was kept out of the classic,otherwise we would not be having this discussion.

sweeney?

i'll give you 6/5 for on zenyatta for 500 dollars..you on?

kate holds the bag ...'kay ?

AND OF COURSE MY WORD IS MY BOND...

As I feel Zenyatta is older and won The Classic at the Breeder's Cup last week, she should get the award. She is not only 14 for 14 but may retire (I haven't heard word either way) and would like to see her win it before she does. Rachel is a great filly but she has time yet to be crowned horse of the year.

Bring on the dancing horses!

Zenyatta came off a whopping 211 day rest to start her campaign this year, Rachel had 78 days. In the span of roughly 170 days, Zenyatta won 5 races and Rachel 8. Zenyatta's win in the BCC is the single biggest achievement of both horses, however all her races were on her home turf. Rachel's races and achievements stacked up against Zenyatta's is the more impressive. Rachel should be HOY.

Sorry Nancy, bring some relevant factors to the discussion. Days rest, number of races won don't mean a thing for HOY. Otherwise Pepper Pride would have won a couple of years ago. Zenyatta simply won the BCC, which was the toughest field assembled in NA this year and won going away. The race was not restricted to 3 year olds, was not restricted to fillies, was not a prep race. It was the race that was being pointed for by the entrants. Based on her talent, her record of achievement and her dominance in the BCC she is the horse of the year and one of the best horses of all time.