Yes, I know that I'm probably the only person who reads this blog who's interested in thoroughbred racing, but on the off chance someone else cares ...
I was just looking at Bill Finley's column on the race for Horse of the Year over on Espn.com. Finley is appalled that the consensus he observes is that Smarty Jones is likely to win the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year. How on Earth can that be true? Well, it would presumably be a popular pick after Smarty Jones' widely-supported Triple Crown bid early this summer (which came to a halt when Birdstone win the Belmont), and voters are supposedly troubled that Ghostzapper only ran four races this year. That's ridiculous. Yes, he only ran for races - but they included major races, he posted blazingly fast speed numbers, and on Saturday he beat the toughest field of the year in the Breeders Cup Classic (including 2002 Horse of the Year Azeri, defending Classic champ Pleasantly Perfect, Whitney Hanidcap winner Roses in May who was undefeated in 2004 before Saturday, former Triple Crown favorite Funny Cide, and Belmont winner Birdstone). To me, Ghostzapper is the clear choice for the title. Finley hopes he races once more this year to assuage the concerns of those who complain he hasn't competed enough to merit the award. I'd like to see that too. But I'd like to see it because he's a great race horse. Eclipse award voters should already have seen enough to know his talent.
Posted by armand at November 2, 2004 03:56 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Sports