Cast your ballots: Curlin or Zenyatta
The biggest question to come from Breeders’ Cup weekend was did Zenyatta do enough to beat out Curlin as Horse of the Year? The undefeated filly was the shortest-priced winner of a Breeders’ Cup stakes at 1-2 odds in the Ladies Classic.
Curlin faced a stiffer test against some top European horses in the Classic and succumbed to two of them — Raven’s Pass and Henrythenavigator. The fact that Tiago edged Curlin for third added further insult to injury.
The opinions I’ve been seeing in support of both horses show more emotion than anything else. I have time before casting my Eclipse Award ballot.
In fact, why don’t you send me an e-mail this week and vote for either Curlin or Zenyatta? Give your reasons, too. I’ll dedicate a column announcing the unofficial tally and selected comments.
Meanwhile, some stories and observations went under the radar in the Breeders’ Cup post mortem.
Bob McNair sold his Stonerside Farm in August to focus solely on the NFL team he owns, the Houston Texans. He watched with great pride as two horses that he bred and used to own — Midshipman and Raven’s Pass — won the Juvenile and Classic. He better hope that the Texans make the playoffs because if Midshipman goes on to win the Kentucky Derby, he will have seller’s remorse.
For those who came to my Breeders’ Cup seminar at the Plaza, I hope you used Muhannak ($26.80) in the Marathon. I spent five minutes explaining why he was my long-shot play of the day. In last week’s column, I reported that trainer Ralph Beckett told the London Telegraph that “the Marathon is absolutely made for Muhannak.”
If you want a couple of bet-back horses, try Consequence out of the Juvenile Fillies Turf and Go Between from the Classic. Both horses had similar, and spectacularly bad, trips. Both horses saved ground on the rail sitting in mid-pack. At the top of the stretch, both horses searched for racing room and got blocked and checked repeatedly. Other horses had bad trips, but those two could be read in Braille.
I counted 30 European horses in this year’s Breeders’ Cup and five winners. Expect those numbers to rise in 2009. The event will return to Santa Anita and its Euro friendly Pro-Ride surface.
Finally, U.S. trainers might need to retool their Breeders’ Cup preparation. It might be better to get race experience over a synthetic surface than just to train over it. I thought two horses in particular — Curlin and Sky Diva (Juvenile Fillies) — were compromised by the new surface.
Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com.