Posts Tagged ‘horse of the year’

Kate Hunter wins the prize for traveling the farthest to see Rachel Alexandra at Fair Grounds in New Orleans on Saturday, coming all the way from Tokyo, Japan. Actually, Hunter, a native of Nashville, Tenn., is an English teacher in Tokyo who was back home on a school break but decided to go forego family and hop in a car for the drive to Louisiana.

Paulick Report asked if she would mind sending us a brief account of her experience at the Fair Grounds, whether Rachel Alexandra won or lost.

Hunter writes her own blog on Japanese racing at www.keiblog.net and takes racing photos in Japan for Bloodhorse.com. Following is her recap of the mood at the Fair Grounds after the reigning Horse of the Year suffered her first loss in more than 15 months. –Ray Paulick
 

By Kate Hunter
You wouldn’t have known that Rachel Alexandra had lost her 2010 debut by listening to the reaction of the crowd as she made her way back toward the grandstand to be unsaddled. The cheers and applause were just as loud after the race as they had been during the post parade.

People of all ages and from far away places were there to see the 2009 Horse of the Year in action and to cheer her on, no matter what the results were. Racing fans from all around the United States came to the Fair Grounds on March 13tto see the inaugural New Orleans Ladies Stakes and their favorite racehorse. New York, California, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, and of course Louisiana were there to lend their support.

Between all of the hats, signs, shirts, hoots and hollers, it felt more like a rock concert than a horse race. Track officials hoped for about 10,000 people to visit their dear Fair Grounds, and they might have gotten close. There were so many people in attendance that late comers had to park in the stable area. This ended up delaying Rachel’s return to her stall by almost an hour, since hundreds of race fans found themselves trying to navigate their way to an exit, through the racetracks vast stables.
 
Even after hearing about Zenyatta’s victory, Rachel’s fans held to their beliefs that their girl would win when she finally does meet trainer John Sherriffs’ other mare whose name also starts with Z. They justify their belief by the 11-plus lengths between second place Rachel  Alexandra and third place Unforgotten, and the fact she fought back so hard down the stretch. "Rachel Mania" won’t let a second  place finish rain on their parade.

By Ray Paulick
A potential April 3 matchup at Oaklawn Park between Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and unbeaten, two-time champion Zenyatta may be the best news racing fans have heard in a long time. Oaklawn Park owner Charles Cella announced the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap would have its purse bumped from $500,000 to $5 million if both horses run, and the race would be lengthened from 1 1/16 miles to nine furlongs. It would change from a handicap to an invitational if both participated. If either fails to enter, the Apple Blossom would revert back to a $500,000 race.

Left unaddressed in the press release from Oaklawn Park was whether any network television plans for the race have been formulated beyond TVG and HRTV. April 3 is a busy day on the racing and sports calendar.

NBC will be televising two important races for 3-year-olds late that afternoon, the Wood Memorial from Aqueduct and Santa Anita Derby from Santa Anita Park in Southern California. Would NBC try to squeeze the Apple Blossom into the same broadcast, and would Oaklawn Park agree to share such a marquee event with two prep races for the Kentucky Derby?

The NBC deal was done with Churchill Downs, not the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, which formerly was responsible for much of the horse racing industry’s television exposure, primarily on the ESPN family of networks. The NTRA, while no longer in the television business and Oaklawn Park no longer a member of the NTRA, have assured the Paulick Report they will aggressively work with all parties to promote this event. According to Keith Chamblin, “The NTRA has and will continue to do everything it possibly can to maximize the promotion and television exposure of a showdown between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta.”

Post time for the Apple Blossom could be a tricky decision, too. If the race is run after 6 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time (Arkansas is in the Central time zone), it could go head to head with the first of two Final Four games in the men’s NCAA basketball tournament from Indianaapolis, which will be televised on CBS that evening. If it is run between 4:30-5:30 p.m. Eastern, it could butt heads with the Wood Memorial and Santa Anita Derby.

Needless to say, with the Final Four games scheduled that night, horse racing will have a difficult time getting much coverage in the mainstream press around the country. But if Oaklawn Park can pull it off, it will be a huge day for the Arkansas racetrack, and existing fans of the sport will have got what they wanted.

Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report

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Edited Press Release

The 2010 stud fee for two-time Horse of the Year CURLIN, who stands at Mr. and Mrs. William S. Farish’s Lane’s End Farm near Versailles, Kentucky, has been reduced to $40,000 stands and nurses.

In a statement released today, majority owner Jess Jackson discussed the decision:

“We are delighted with the three CURLIN foals that we’ve seen so far, and are eagerly awaiting our home bred CURLIN babies.

We also know that times are tough for our friends in the breeding business. To continue to attract the best book of mares for CURLIN and further help our breeders, we have decided to lower CURLIN’s fee for the 2010 breeding season to $40,000.”

A classic winner of seven Grade 1 events, CURLIN is North America’s richest racehorse with earnings of $10,501,800. CURLIN, who entered stud last year, is by Lane’s End’s two-time leading sire Smart Strike.

As you may know, our intern, Natalie Voss of the University of Kentucky Equine Program, submitted a piece a few weeks back throwing her hat in the ring for Rachel Alexandra as Horse of the Year. It was a strong piece and one of hundreds that have or will be written on the subject. But when I read the following piece about her perception of the media wars between the two camps, I was impressed by her analysis of a subsection of this larger argument. I don’t necessarily agree with her, but of course that’s not the point.

On a side note, this was submitted to us last week but because of the shorthanded nature of the Paulick Report, I regrettably didn’t have time to look at it until yesterday. I bring this up to give her credit for noticing the potential return of Zenyatta before others in the mainstream press.

- Bradford Cummings

By Natalie Voss
As 2009 comes to a close, the Eclipse Award ballots are finding their way to voters and once again the Rachel vs. Zenyatta Horse of the Year debate is lighting up blogs and message boards in the Thoroughbred world. I’ve already voiced my opinion on which filly I would like to see win the award although I believe both are deserving of the honor. However, the more interesting part of reading the headlines is not the same old debate but instead the media campaigns both horses’ supporters and connections have been running post-Breeder’s Cup.

Outside of my opinion of her qualifications as Horse of the Year, I think Zenyatta’s camp has been more guilty of electioneering than Rachel’s (although they eventually picked up on the concept also). While it’s reasonable that California should honor a champion who has brought them extra attendance and handle with a retirement ceremony attended by Gov. Schwarzenegger at Hollywood Park, the subsequent announcement that the Lady’s Secret Stakes would be re-named for her rubbed many the wrong way. Stripping Lady’s Secret of that honor in order to make more headlines was completely unnecessary.

Also reasonable is the assertion that her official workout several weeks later was done just “to take the edge off”. (We’ll ignore the fact that there was no cause to have a supposedly casual work officially timed and published.) 



Things really started getting ridiculous when it was announced around the same time that Zenyatta would parade yet again, on the opening day of Santa Anita despite her retirement. Sure, it was a great opportunity for fans to see her again, but what motive did her owners have for delaying her trip to Kentucky for a repeat her ceremony at Hollywood?

She also made news with the auction of Moneighs to benefit retired racehorses (a great cause but awfully convenient timing). Because of all these photo opps and press releases, Zenyatta’s connections received the Big Sport of Turfdom Award for “their efforts to work with media and track publicists”. And indeed they did make an effort.

Rachel’s group was slower on the uptake; although she made news for her workout and shipping schedule, as an active racehorse this would have been carefully tracked regardless of the approaching Eclipse ballots. Jess Jackson did come forward to the press in early December about his attempts to set up a match race with Zenyatta (which put a lid on the Mosses’ attempts to publicly compare the two fillies). The Fair Grounds stepped up soon after, hinting that such an opportunity could come again in early 2010 in the New Oreleans Ladies. Rachel also got her name in the papers for charity with an announcement that $20,000 was donated to the V Foundation for Cancer in her name.

In my opinion, such obvious campaigning on the part of each filly’s connections and the California tracks cheapens their accomplishments. It will demean the accomplishments of whichever horse wins the Horse of the Year title. Perhaps worse, it will make it easy for outsiders to look at the highest honor in our sport and say that like so many other things in the horse world, it was all about politics. 



Yet, the Mosses and Jackson are perhaps demonstrating that it is possible to use the national media for good rather than further bloodying the evil face it has given the sport. This may not have been their intent as each campaign their champion filly, but I can only hope that somewhere Alex Waldrop and all NTRA employees, the self-declared marketing gateway of the Thoroughbred industry, are taking notes.

It is about time that someone among the horse racing higher-ups recognized the enormous marketing potential that lies in all our equine and human atheletes’ accomplishments year after year. After all, how many of us didn’t grow up in a training barn but became immersed in racing when we saw a horse like Zenyatta parade at Hollywood, or Rachel jogging in the fog at the Fair Grounds? If you build the energy, the stories, the excitement after a year like this one, the fans will come.



Sounds like good material for the NTRA’s New Year’s Resolution, doesn’t it?

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Due to three recorded workouts in the last six weeks, there is speculation that Breeders’ Cup Classic champion and Horse of the Year finalist Zenyatta may not be retiring after all. Asked for an answer as to why she is still working out in trainer John Shirreffs barn, Shirreffs told the Daily Racing Form, "That decision is Mr. Moss’s and he hasn’t said anything other than what he said after the Breeders’ Cup."

I don’t know Mr. Shirreffs but from my years in politics, this sounds like a classic non-denial to me. Not saying that Zenyatta is coming back, but I also wouldn’t rule it out.

Click here for the Daily Racing Form article

Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think.

- Bradford Cummings

Now that guest writer Jeff Shapes has convinced Paulick Report readers that Zenyatta deserves not just Horse of the Year but Horse of the Decade honors, we thought we would interject another voice on the Horse of the Year debate. This one is from Aron Wellman, a 32-year-old California attorney who joined Barry Irwin’s crew at Team Valor International after enjoying success in forming his own racing partnerships. Wellman doesn’t take a position on the Rachel Alexandra vs. Zenyatta debate, but agrees with the recent decision of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and National Turf Writers Association to disallow co-Horse of the Year votes, a move endorsed by Daily Racing Form publisher Steve Crist and many fans.

Take our poll in the left-hand column of the Paulick Report home page and let us know whether you think there should be one Horse of the Year or co-recipients for 2009.

Incidentally, Ray has returned from Japan, but the slacker insisted on taking part of today off to “recover” from the trip. My question: does Santa Claus need time off when he travels around the world on Christmas Eve? I don’t think so. Not that I’m comparing him with Mr. Claus.

Ray promises (threatens?) to write one more piece about his Japanese adventure when he wakes up from his slumber. - Bradford Cummings
 

By Aron Wellman
The Horse of the Year debate is in full force.

There are those who stand in Zenyatta’s corner and there are those who are in Rachel Alexandra’s corner.

And then, there are those who believe that the honor should be shared between Zenyatta and Rachel.
 
Who I think should be awarded the honor of distinction is irrelevant.  That’s not what this letter is about.
 
What I do think is relevant is the debate itself and how it relates to the current state of our industry.
 
At a time when our industry is faced with unprecedented challenges and the very real threat of extinction hovers over us, the temptation to sell out is fierce.  Staying true is hard to do.  Man-made racetracks, kinder whips, slot machine bailouts; these are all ideas people have come up with and instituted in an effort to redefine horse racing and make it a more acceptable sport to a public that has virtually ignored us for decades.
 
We all want our industry to survive.  But at what cost?  Haven’t we taken this P.C. thing a little too far?  Shouldn’t we be looking at ourselves in the mirror and ask ourselves whether we’ve gone too soft?
 
My father told me a long time ago, "This is not a game made for men who wear short pants."
 
Yet, it seems like every day I open up the trades, our industry is resculpting its very being to cater to people who wear short pants.
 
Without getting into the validity of whether synthetic racetracks are safer, or newly designed whips are gentler on a horse, or whether slot machines at a racetrack will save the day, I ask you this:
 
How many people do you know bought a horse, wagered on a race or attended the racetrack because of a shift to a synthetic surface or because jockeys were using softer whips?
 
How many people do you know who went to a racetrack intending to play slot machines and ended up betting on a horse race?
 
How, you ask, does this have anything to do with the Zenyatta versus Rachel debate?
 
The Zenyatta versus Rachel debate epitomizes the very essence of what the sport of thoroughbred horse racing is all about.  We are a different breed.  The debate is what separates us from other sports and what attracts people to our racetracks, the betting windows and inspires people to breed and race thoroughbreds.  Soft stances have not translated into progress.  They have only contributed to the downward cycle we find ourselves in.
 
Horse racing is not a game of luck where you pull a handle and hope the slots align.  It’s not black and white like a batting average, scoring average, passer rating or how fast a race is run or the height a person jumps.  The debate is why people gamble on horses in our country through a parimutuel system.  Everyone wants to be smarter than the next guy.
 
Awarding co-Horse of the Year to these two great fillies is a cop-out.  Furthermore, it would just be another instance whereby our industry sells-out in an effort to appease a public wearing short pants and who we hope will come to our racetracks, bet on our races and buy our horses.  Why else would we even consider awarding co-Horses of the Year? 
 
Co-Horse of the Year?  That’s like saying we should go back and alter the finish line for any great race that ever took place.  Let’s extinguish great rivalries like Affirmed and Alydar, Sunday Silence and Easy Goer, Ferdinand and Alysheba, Personal Ensign and Winning Colors and call all the tremendous battles those horses ever fought dead-heats because it would just be so much better if neither of those horses had to "lose."
 
The saying, "That horse ran too good to lose," echoes throughout grandstands and backstretches frequently.  The saying would be applicable no matter what the result of the race for Horse of the Year.  Despite its’ veracity, it remains a figure of speech and our sport accepts the notion.  Those who can’t, wilt under the pressure that our sport’s participants are faced with every second of every day.
 
I cannot imagine anybody in the thoroughbred horse racing industry being keen on their child participating in a youth sports league that doesn’t keep score, a new phenomenon penetrating society in an effort to avoid hurting a young, impressionable child’s feelings.  By awarding co-Horses of the Year, we are basically throwing away the scorecard and abandoning the very mystique that attracts people to our sport.  We keep score, technically, on paper, and perhaps more importantly, in the hearts and minds of our faithful, which only contributes to the intrigue of a debate like the one our industry is experiencing now between Zenyatta and Rachel.
 
Softening up policy is causing us to lose more patrons, fans and owners, not attract them.  This theory that there should be no loser contradicts the very principal upon which horse racing was founded.  Those who succeed in our sport, love our sport and support our sport focus on winning, not the fear of losing.  The type of person who is drawn to racing is not the type of person who would lobby for co-Horses of the Year.  The type of person drawn to our sport has thick enough skin to accept the fact that one of these fillies will be crowned over the other and invite the debate to persist from now until eternity.  That’s what our sport is all about.
 
Enough is enough with our sport conforming to the desires of individuals who do not possess the make-up to withstand the rigors of our tough game.  The time has come for us to stick to our guns and stay true.  Finding our backbone again will resuscitate supporters we have lost along the way and it will attract the kind of person we’re looking for.
 
So, I argue, take a side.  Choose a corner.  Let the best woman prevail.  The sport will be the biggest winner.

While Ray is traveling back from Osaka (hopefully we won’t have to hear too much about jet lag once he returns to the United States), he wanted to reignite the debate over Horse of the Year. The following piece was submitted by Jeff Shapes, a marketing communications consultant, freelance writer and horse racing enthusiast, not necessarily in that order.

By Jeff Shapes
There’s one overriding reason Zenyatta should win the Eclipse Award as Horse of the Year over Rachel Alexandra, and it has nothing to do with their comparative records on the racetrack. No, Zenyatta has earned the honor because her electrifying performance in the Breeders’ Cup Classic flew in the face of the general negative assessment of her chances to win the event, while at the same time capping off a brilliant, undefeated career that put her into the discussion of who is history’s greatest female race horse. Now, if that doesn’t make her Horse of the Year, they might as well retire the award.
 
Yes there had been speculation that if Zenyatta ran in the Classic and won, there’d be a Horse of the Year debate. But in their heart of hearts, not to mention their racing opinions, those speculators, whether in public or not, didn’t believe Zenyatta had what it took to beat the “big” boys in the big race. Indeed, there were some who said she shouldn’t even run in the Classic, since there wasn’t really anything to gain. Better to protect her legacy as an undefeated champion with another romp in the Ladies’ Classic, than to go out with a loss chasing an unattainable goal.
 
Need some proof of how little regard the experts had for Zenyatta in the run up to the Classic? Despite being tabbed the pre-race wagering favorite, not one of the 11 media members whose selections were published by USA Today in its Breeders’ Cup preview picked Zenyatta to win. And east coast bias wasn’t in play. Joining writers from the New York Daily News, New York Post, Lexington Herald-Leader and Albany Times-Union in giving Zenyatta the thumbs down were the national correspondent of the Daily Racing Form, horse racing writers from the Associated Press and USA Today, an editor of the Thoroughbred Times, an on-air personality from HRTV and racing writers from the Los Angeles Daily News and San Diego Union-Tribune, in whose backyard Zenyatta ran all except one of her career races.
 
Want to bring in some more exulted names? Joe Drape of the New York Times did not pick Zenyatta, and neither did Steven Crist of the Daily Racing Form. The Washington Post’s Andy Beyer, inventor of the Beyer Speed Figure, the acknowledged statistical method for comparing racetrack performances under different race conditions? He labeled Zenyatta a throw out.

Luckily, Zenyatta’s connections had much greater faith in their magnificent mare than the experts.  Questioned for not shipping Zenyatta to a traditional dirt track to take on Rachel Alexandra head-to-head, team Zenyatta stuck to their guns of getting her ready for the Breeders’ Cup the best way they thought how. If that meant staying in Southern California and competing exclusively on synthetic surfaces, well that’s how it would be done. And though they never stated it, the guess here is that winning the Classic as a finishing touch on a Hall of Fame career, not to mention the historical achievement such a win would represent, was probably the long-range goal of those who guided Zenyatta’s career.
 
Of course, Rachel Alexandra’s connections, like most others in the racing world, assumed their filly had a stranglehold on Horse of the Year when she concluded her 2009 season with a win in the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga in early September. It was Rachel’s eighth victory in eight races, accomplished at seven racetracks in six states, with three coming over male competitors. Her campaign encompassed eye popping performances in such keystone events as the Kentucky Oaks, Preakness Stakes, Mother Goose Stakes, Haskell Invitational and the aforementioned Woodward, and was highlighted by either record breaking victory margins or historical firsts just about every time she left the starting gate.
 
With such a resumé, who could blame Jess Jackson for putting Rachel away for the winter, especially since she probably needed a rest after an exhausting year (visible in the Woodward). But, had the Breeders’ Cup Classic not been held on a synthetic surface, there’s little doubt Rachel would have continued her season and run at least one more race to conclude a campaign for the ages. After all, it was Jackson himself who announced his intention to run Rachel in next year’s Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs at the same time he said he would not run her this year on Santa Anita’s Pro-Ride because of his distaste for synthetic surfaces (or plastic as he labeled them).
 
Can we know how a Zenyatta-Rachel Alexandra showdown in the Breeders’ Cup Classic would have played out? Is there a certainty that had Rachel been entered in the race, Team Zenyatta would have taken her on? Would Rachel have performed as poorly on the synthetics as last year’s Horse of the Year, Curlin, and as other “dirt” horses seem to? These questions can never be answered. But what is fact is that Zenyatta showed up on Championship Saturday and won the most important North American race that’s open to all Thoroughbreds regardless of age or sex. This was no Raven’s Pass swooping in and leaving nothing behind but a few footprints.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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A Franklin County, Kentucky, Circuit Court judge has ruled against a proposed sale of a 20% interest in Horse of the Year Curlin to majority owner Jess Jackson for $4 million. The ruling by Judge Roger Crittenden came in a hearing on Monday involving the 20% owned by disbarred attorneys Shirley Cunningham and William Gallion, who have been hit with a $42-million judgment in a civil lawsuit involving the fees they charged clients in a class-action lawsuit against  the manufacturer of a diet drug. Cunningham and Gallion also face criminal charges stemming from the case. The ruling against the sale was not based on the judge’s disapproval of the $4-million appraisal on the 20% interest, but because two parties objected to the sale: Gallion and Cunningham’s attorney, Andre Regard; and the attorney for the class-action plaintiffs, Angela Ford. The judge’s decision effectively ends a lengthy legal battle involving Jackson’s Stonestreet Farm’s and Cunningham and Gallion’s Midnight Cry Stable (also doing business as Tandy LLC). Midnight Cry originally owned 100% in Curlin and sold Jackson and two other partners an 80% interest after the son of Smart Strike broke his maiden early in 2007. Jackson eventually bought out the other two partners, Satish Sanan and George Bolton. Regard said his clients were looking forward to being partners in Curlin as he enters his new career at stud at Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Ky., where he will stand for a first-year stud fee of $75,000, payable when the foal stands and nurses. "He’s going to be a very popular horse," Regard said.

In the end, Crittenden sustained the objections of Ford and Regard to not go forward with the sale of the 20% in Curlin. "If both parties object, then this court does not intend to rule that the receiver accept the offer," Crittenden said. He ruled that the court-ordered receiver will wrap up its role, but be available in the event of any further offers. Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report Visit the Paulick Report for all the latest news throughout the racing world.  Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary from Ray Paulick

By Ray Paulick

Lane’s End Farm is expected to announce that reigning Horse of the Year Curlin will enter stud at the Versailles, Ky., farm in 2009 for a live foal stud fee of $75,000, the Paulick Report has learned. Lane’s End is owned by William S. Farish, vice chairman of the Jockey Club and former ambassador to Great Britain for President George W. Bush.

“Curlin has proven himself across two continents with 16 starts, the honor of 2007 Horse of the Year and the greatest North American money-earner in racing history,” Jackson said in the Nov. 15 announcement that Curlin would enter stud in 2009. “He always gave it his all and has done everything we have asked of him. I am proud to announce that he will start a new career in 2009 and contribute his soundness, stamina, durability and athleticism to the breed. I am looking forward to seeing his foals compete and possibly exceed his unequaled racing record.”

Curlin, who began his career under the care of Helen Pitts and was transferred to trainer Steve Asmussen after breaking his maiden at Gulfstream Park early in 2007, retires with record earnings of $10,501,800. He won 11 of 16 starts, with two seconds and two thirds. He won seven Grade 1 races: the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Dubai World Cup, consecutive runnings of the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Woodward, Preakness and Stephen Foster Handicap. Bred in Kentucky by Fares Farm, he sold for $57,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale. Jackson, Satish Sanan and George Bolton bought at 80% interest in Curlin through bloodstock agent John Moynihan for about $3 million after the colt’s maiden win. Jackson eventually bought Sanan and Bolton’s interests.

Curlin’s sire, Smart Strike, stands at Lane’s End for $150,000. Also joining the 2009 roster at Lane’s End is War Pass, the 2007 2-year-old male champion and winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile who will stand for $30,000 live foal.

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By Ray Paulick

Curlin will be retired to stud in 2009 to a yet-to-be-determined farm and his racing career is over unless “an appropriate venue and purse are offered" for one more race in 2008, the reigning Horse of the Year’s majority owner Jess Jackson said.

All inquiries for breeding seasons to Curlin for qualified mares should be directed to Stonestreet Farms director Lesley Howard (e-mail address Lesley.Howard@stonestreetfarms.com, or by calling 859 244-2306).

Curlin, the richest North American-trained horse in history with earnings of $10,501,800, will be kept in training for one more potential race in 2008, though in a report in the New York Times Jackson ruled out a run in the Dec. 7 Japan Cup Dirt because of quarantine complications. He also told the Times he plans to breed at least 20 of his best mares from a total of over 100 that Stonestreet Farms maintains.

“If an appropriate venue and purse are offered, we would consider one more race in 2008 for Curlin,” Jackson said in a statement.

“Curlin has proven himself across two continents with 16 starts, the honor of 2007 Horse of the Year and the greatest North American money-earner in racing history,” he continued. “He always gave it his all and has done everything we have asked of him. I am proud to announce that he will start a new career in 2009 and contribute his soundness, stamina, durability and athleticism to the breed. I am looking forward to seeing his foals compete and possibly exceed his unequaled racing record.”

Curlin’s Accomplishments:

- 2007 Horse of the Year.

- Greatest North American money-earner in racing history with earnings of $10,501,800.00

Major wins:

2007 Preakness Stakes

2007 Jockey Club Gold Cup

2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic

2008 Dubai World Cup

2008 Jockey Club Gold Cup

Race Record:

2007       2008

Gulfstream Park Maiden Race — First

Rebel Stakes — First

Arkansas Derby - First

Kentucky Derby - Third

Preakness Stakes - First

Belmont Stakes - Second

Haskell Invitational - Third

Jockey Club Gold Cup - First

Breeders’ Cup Classic - First        

Jaguar Trophy Handicap - First

Dubai World Cup - First

Stephen Foster Handicap - First

Man o’ War Stakes (turf)- Second

Woodward Stakes - First

Jockey Club Gold Cup — First

Breeders’ Cup Classic (synthetic track) — Fourth

Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report

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