Horse Racing Fantasy Community

It's quite an exciting time for horse racing fans because the Eclipse Awards are coming up, and we'll get to find out which horse has won the most coveted award in horse racing: Horse of the Year. This year, it really comes down to one of two horses, and for the first time in history the only two realistic candidates for Horse of the Year are females, Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra.
Zenyatta was 5-0 in 2009. There were many fans that had hoped she would race more frequently, and against males more often. Her first four starts were all against other mares, and aside from one close call because of a slow early pace, she showed conclusively that she had no peer whatsoever among other mares. As the 2009 Breeders' Cup approached, many were waiting to see whether or not the great mare, 13-0 heading into the Breeders' Cup, would attempt a repeat in the Ladies' Classic, or if her braintrust thought she was at last ready to take on the boys and make history in the Breeders' Cup Classic. Entering the 2009 Classic, no female had ever finished better than third in arguably the most prestigious race in the world, but she was made the solid favorite to win, the first time ever that a female was favored to do so. Because of Zenyatta's only other competition for Horse of the Year, that of course being Rachel Alexandra, a loss in the Classic would have eliminated her from consideration for Horse of the Year. Instead, she made history!

With that thrilling win, Zenyatta finished the last race of her career a winner, and became the only female in the 26 year history of the Classic to win. Interestingly, it is only because of the absence of Zenyatta's only competition from the Breeders' Cup that Horse of the Year remains a question.
Even with Zenyatta's amazing win, 3 year-old filly Rachel Alexandra has strong support for Horse of the Year because she had a truly historic season. She won all 8 of her starts in 2009. That in and of itself is impressive, but consider what she accomplished in winning those 8 starts:
- She absolutely destroyed other fillies five times, establishing a Kentucky Oaks record for margin of victory at well over 20 lengths.
- She became the first filly in over 70 years to win the Preakness Stakes, defeating Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird by a length.
- She beat Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird in the Haskell.
- She defeated a field of older males as well, becoming the first female in racing history to win the Woodward
- Perhaps most amazing, she became the first filly ever to defeat males three times in the same year.
Rachel Alexandra completed all of her conquests on dirt, which is the reason that she was held out of the Breeders' Cup (her trainer didn't want her running on Santa Anita's synthetic Pro-Ride surface). It's really a pity that she didn't face Zenyatta, because these two great female horses were clearly the best two thoroughbreds in training in 2009.
So who should win Horse of the Year? I don't know, tell us what you think. If you want, you can pit these two great horses against each other in our virtual online racing game. Maybe running a few races with these two in the same field could help you make up your mind!