Awards Season

The Golden Globes are over and we know which movies will be the front runners for the big prize. Zenyatta finally takes the Eclipse. Now there is something new on the horizon.

Here is the text of the article direct from Santa Anita:

PENNY CHENERY ANNOUNCES CREATION OF SECRETARIAT VOX POPULI AWARD

Zenyatta to be Celebrated as Inaugural Winner in Feb. 5 Ceremony at Santa Anita Park

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Jan. 19, 2011) – From the covers of national magazines to more recently the silver screen, “America’s Horse” Secretariat captured the heart of a nation. Today, his celebrated owner, Penny Chenery, announced the creation of an award that will annually recognize a horse whose popularity and racing excellence best resounded with the American public and gained recognition for the sport during the past year. The award is the first of its kind in horse racing.

The inaugural Secretariat Vox Populi Award, or “Voice of the People,” will be awarded to Zenyatta, the brilliant mare whose only loss in her 20-race career was a nail-biting defeat in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last October. Owned by Ann and Jerry Moss, Zenyatta is also the recent winner of the 2010 Eclipse Horse of the Year Award and considered one of the most popular horses ever to have raced. Chenery is scheduled to present the custom-made Vox Populi trophy to the Mosses in a public ceremony at Santa Anita Park on Feb. 5.

“Horse racing already has established avenues to award outstanding accomplishments, and we certainly should honor superior performance,” Chenery said. “But achievement can be measured in many ways, and fans occasionally feel a disconnect when the horses who most impacted the public are not recognized through the traditional equine awards. The industry is long overdue in annually acknowledging the star horse who brings the most excitement and attention to the sport. It is my hope that the Secretariat Vox Populi Award will achieve that purpose.”

Although Chenery selected this year’s recipient, plans are in place for a committee of both distinguished racing personalities and industry representatives to choose the winner each year going forward in conjunction with a national online vote.

“I think racing fans will be just as excited about this award as I am, and we welcome everyone to come and share in the presentation festivities on Feb. 5,” Chenery said. “The award is sure to be an honor that reflects the heart and soul of this sport and will help build upon the devotion the public has for a horse they love.”

For more information about the Secretariat Vox Populi Award, visit www.Secretariat.com, the official website for the legendary Thoroughbred champion. Celebrating racing's past to enrich its future, Secretariat.com is a comprehensive online source for historical information, photography, merchandise, and memorabilia chronicling the enduring legacy of America's Horse.

Santa Anita Park

My prediction for next year's winner is Uncle Mo.

Why Is She Still Hanging Around?

She's retired. So why is she getting so much press while we should be looking to Uncle Mo and others to take over the spotlight? Why are we not talking about the Triple Crown trail? Sometimes it's just hard to let go of a hero.

Zenyatta, like Seabiscuit and Secretariat, showed up during hard times to take our minds off ourselves. One loss doesn't dim her heart stopping wins. How many did Seabiscuit and Secretariat lose? She gave racing a shot in the arm this year and made us realize what has been really plaguing this sport: lack of heroes to worship by the general public. Why? Because the sport is too busy bickering amongst itself in regional and local squabbles to forge a national identity that can be promoted by a good publicist.

In a world of sports heroes who have fallen because of infidelity and drugs we have one, and only one, who failed, only once, in honest competition. Casey was at bat. Casey was drug and sin free. Casey struck out honestly. Only in horse racing can you say that now days. Zenyatta was an honest hero. The only one out there.

What We Have Here Is A Failure To Promote

The racing industry whines about a lack of attendance at their tracks. They try to lure people in with slot machines and bright blinky lights. What they don't try to lure the public in with is the reason for having a track in the first place: the horse.

I live in the land of PR - that thirty mile zone called Hollywood - and any failure for something to get out and turn into a phenomenal success is a failure to promote. Owners, tracks and writers need to get the word out to the media that matters: mainstream media. It's why Sarah Palin is so big. She has great PR. Seabiscuit had a big mouth for an owner and got his little mug in the papers constantly. Not just the racing papers either. The animal beat out Hitler for print space. People across the country hung on his every tail swish.

Racing has been too hush hush. We have another possible great coming after Zenyatta: Uncle Mo. The only publicity he's getting is Facebook and DRF. The industry can't make the mistake with him that was made with the Queen. When Zenyatta won the 2009 BC I chided ABC for not even mentioning her on Good Morning America when they actually bring the winner of the Westminster Dog Show on set. ABC owns ESPN. Zenyatta wasn't important enough for them to bother with because no one promoted her or her sport. CBS had to do it finally. And they did it too late.

Face it, the racing industry has to get it's collective self together, stop being so regional, stop being so local, and hire a good PR firm to nationally promote racing. Not as an abstraction, but find a horse or two to hang out there and hype hype hype. Find a rivalry like the RA vs. Z we had going. Keep the hot shots in the paper. Keep the big winners up front and personal. We need to send out a release to Rupert Murdock personally when the animal sneezes. Market race horses as the only pure and honest athletes left in a world of 'roid enhanced, adulterers.

Listen, PR firms can turn the stuff you find on the stable floor into the latest must have. I'm certain they can do it with the animal that deposits it if the racing industry gets it's head out from under the horse's tail.

After Z

Without Zenyatta to wow us, who do we go to the track to see?

Ok, I am an Uncle Mo fan.  I want mo'e Mo!  I saw his past performance and did a double take.  There was no question who I tossed money on.  I was not disappointed.  It's great to see such a dominant horse.  No come from behind specialist who can get compromised, he's up where the game is.

The Derby is a crap shoot and that's why we haven't seen a good horse even come close to winning the Triple in decades.  The oversized field with horses that don't really belong is the issue.  The traffic is as hideous as an LA freeway at 6pm on a weekday during a rainstorm.  That race really needs to shave back to the top 12 or 13 winners and that's it.  Someone earns a buck more a day before the closing of the entries and you get knocked out, too bad.  With a smaller field we might get a decent horse race and a shot at finding a champion.  With interest in horse racing waning anyway, a Triple Crown win or even a possibility of one would go a long way to revitalizing the sport with the public.  Look what that one mare did for the handle and ratings at the Breeder's Cup.

Now what do I like about Uncle Mo?  He breaks well.  If he can get ahead of the traffic he has a shot in the Derby.  My prayer now?  That Uncle Mo is one of those old fashioned horses that can run young, run hard, run often and bounce back on legs of iron begging for more.

The Queen

In the 1930s, in the depths of the Great Depression we had Seabiscuit.  During the Arab Oil Crisis and deep recession of the 1970s we had Secretariat.  Today, during our jobless recovery and upside down houses, we have Zenyatta.

The first time I heard her name Chantal Sutherland was screaming her name on the television show "Jockeys."  So I came to her game late.  I watched her run starting in the fall of 2009 as she prepped for the Breeder's Cup.

Zenyatta was a mind blower and a thrill ride.  Looking at this big pushy mare in the walk ring I was awed. I was taught as a kid how to judge conformation and this mare had it all:  balance and symmetry with flowing grace battling with raw strength.  She was perfect.  Standing still she was a winner.  She would take a champion rosette in any halter class.  Her general look was more Warm Blood hunter than Thoroughbred racer.

Not that she stood still much.  This mare pushed her groom around.  She flexed her neck down and tucked her nose, but she was only giving a nod to his authority.  Zenyatta would stab her right foreleg out and paw impatiently.  She walked with a stiff impatient gate.  No spinning or kicking like Lethal Heat.  She never pulled her head up it's full height.  Good news for her groom.  This mare is 17 hands tall (that's 68 inches at the withers or 5'8").  She's big.  Humans are an afterthought for her, but she didn't seem to show any animosity or skittishness.  She just wanted to get to work.

Getting to work for Zenyatta was running.  Only this mare did it in a way I've never seen before or since.  She acted as if she were out for a morning work.  She broke slow and lazy.  She lagged behind.  She was so relaxed her ears flopped around.  At a point in the far turn she woke up and got serious.  Swinging wide she turned on the freight train charge.  Watching this mare's front end reach out, gather the track and shove it behind her was like watching a machine.  She chewed the track up.  It didn't stand a chance with those big shoulders.  The big engine in the back wasn't a V8, it was a V12.  The push off from her hind quarters was wide and perfect.

By the time she had finished teasing her competition and blowing their hopes of a win, she had me hooked.

I was fortunate enough to make it to her 2009 Breeder's Cup race.  I was a bit sceptical about her chances against the males.  She was facing all the best in the country.  Well, Mine That Bird was a glorified claimer even if he did win the Derby.  How would she do?  The public believed in her.  Zenyatta signs were everywhere.  I hadn't seen this much excitement for a horse since Secretariat.  This mare had everyone's heart.

Like she always did.  She brought her normal game.  Run last (whoops, forgot Mine That Bird was last), pick it up in the far turn, this time she wove through traffic and then do the big late charge.  She blew past us and took the oxygen with her.  Everyone was hugging everyone.  No other mare had ever done it: win the Classic.  She had won the Ladies' Classic the year before.  She had both titles.  Sports Illustrated put her as the second most influential female in sports.  Right behind one of tennis' Williams sisters.

Having both titles didn't mean anything for Horse of the Year.  Being unbeaten didn't mean anything either.  A filly with a minor record who won the Preakness (something other females have done in the past) won it.  Rachel Alexandra was an east coast, dirt horse.  Zenyatta is a west coast, synthetic horse.  The voting for Horse of the Year tends to favor east coast horses and the voting is extremely subjective and political.  The criteria changes from year to year so you have no idea who will win.  You have a hint by region and surface.

Zenyatta was supposed to be retired with a perfect 14 and 0 record.  I went to her retirement ceremony at Hollywood Park.  I heard Governor Schwartenegger boo'd roundly.  Zenyatta appeared with her exercise rider up and the crowd erupted.  Zenyatta signs bobbed everywhere.  They put her jockey up for photos and she thought she was going racing.  She suddenly switched into race mode and became pushy and excited.

The owners decided to bring her back and race her for another year.  She was aiming for the Classic again.  The public called for a race between Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra.  The Mosses said their mare would go to Arkansas and race Rachel there.  The race's date was even pushed back and money added to attract Rachel.  She never showed up and Zenyatta had to run against a small field of nobodies. She looked bored.

I watched Zenyatta eat St. Trinians alive.  Poor St. Trinians dug in and wanted to win.  She ran her heart out.  St. Trinians wasn't the same horse after that.  Something went out of her after Zenyatta beat her.  Rinterval came up and tried.  She lost.  The next race I was laid up and had to watch from home but thought it was interesting that Rinterval couldn't take the crush of people and the smell of that mare that had beaten her so badly last time.  Rinterval flipped over, hurt herself and was scratched.  She wanted nothing to do with the circus called Zenyatta.  Switch tried to get a jump on the queen and she just couldn't do it.  Zenyatta was at win 19.  She tied Pepper's Pride for the record.

Now the real circus started.  The television show "60 Minutes" did a piece on her.  Oprah Winfrey put her in the list of influential women.  "W"magazine did an article on her.  There were Zenyatta bobbleheads.  I had one.  I sent it to someone living on the east coast because I thought she might never get a chance to see the mare run.  All eyes were on Zenyatta and all hearts wanted her to win.

Zenyatta was a perfect horse for the media.  She had her "dance moves."  She had her "stop and pose."  At Santa Anita in the spring the sun didn't come out until the Queen did.  She came out of the saddling barn, stopped, posed and the clouds parted.  I was there.  I swear to it.

Zenyatta drank Guinness after her workouts.  Guinness offered her a trip to Ireland.  Fitting.  Her sire, Street Cry, was Irish.  She's a half Irish girl.

Zenyatta was known for her gentleness when she wasn't fired for racing.  There was a saying that if you wanted to find Zenyatta just look for the stall where the horse was licking her groom to death.  Small children could feed her peppermints.

I had always had a weird feeling about this race.  I constantly said I didn't want to see it.  I was afraid to watch.  Fate was being tempted.  The gods like to punish hubris and this mare was cocky.  So were her human connections.  They could not conceive she wouldn't be perfect.  But I was seeing things that disturbed me.

In her training she would train to her strength: up from behind.  She liked having a target to chase.  But they were not making her catch the workmate before the wire.  I was seeing her catch the workmate after the wire.  This would play out later.  I was also in doubt of her running style in a large field on a track that horses either love or hate.  She had won on dirt before, but this is Churchill.  Many horses will fail on the surface and go on to win elsewhere.  When the track is dry or sealed some horses don't do their best.  I was wondering if her late run style with its lazy run-just-enough-to-win finish would be her undoing.

I didn't pay much attention to the 2010 Breeder's Cup races on Friday.  That day is historically a money pit for me.  I avoid it.  I put some money on Blind Luck and she had none that day.  She came in second and I cashed show money.

Saturday I bet all the races starting with the 4th.  Goldikova defended her title on the Mile for the second time with a classy win.  She's a plain, brown, little mare with tactical speed.  Uncle Mo showed us again why we should put him on the list to watch for the Triple Crown.  This colt who won his maiden by 14 and 1/4 and then won his next out by 4th did it again.  This time he was 4 1/4 ahead of Boys At Toscanova and it was 6 lengths back to the pack.

The big race came up and I started feeling ill.

Zenyatta broke slow as usual but something was wrong.  The field took off without her.  She was so far out of it I wondered if she had broken down.  She picked it up but not much.  The backstretch had two groups of horses and Zenyatta was behind them all.  She was asked to pick it up and she did but the backstretch was nearly over.  In the far turn she was still behind a bunch of traffic.  My heart sunk.  She wasn't going to do it.  At the top of the stretch she tried to get by traffic, got stopped by Quality Road, pulled to the outside, by this time Blame was halfway home.

This time Zenyatta had to really run.  For the first time in her life she had to run flat out.  This wasn't her usual Saturday canter around the track.  She charged at Blame.  She drove at him.  He dug in.  She stretched for it.  He was flying.

At the wire his nose was still out front.

Her running style, and her dislike of having Churchill's unique track surface flung in her face, did her in.

The Breeder's Cup had its largest handle ever and its largest attendance ever.  The year before had been a record and this year broke that.  Everyone was there to the the Queen.  She had drawn them in and then, like the Mighty Casey At Bat, she struck out.

Blame will get Horse of The Year.  He won some stakes races.  I can't name single one.  He's been defeated.  He's only 4 so he hasn't really done anything to put him on the map.  He will be like Upset who ruined Man O' War's record: The horse that beat the Big Horse.  His owners retired him right after the race and put his stud fee at $35,000.  The horse will never prove whether he's great or not. Can't do that in the pasture.  Or even in the breeding shed.  When was the last time we turned on the evening news and heard what a breeding stallion did?  Maybe when Secretariat died he got a mention.  Blame is no Secretariat.  But Blame is an east coast horse who ran on the dirt.  Last year winning the Classic and doing something spectacular (like being the first female to do it) didn't matter.  Just as an undefeated record didn't matter.  This year an average record for the level of racing and a win in the Classic against a horse considered one of the greatest are the criteria.  This has made Horse of the Year, to outside eyes, a muddled and suspect mess.  What do you mean a mare that went 19-1 can lose the honor to a horse who has been beaten more than once and has never made history or never attracted a crowd on the strength of his name alone?  No one will take Horse of the Year seriously ever again.

The one thing that will never be taken from Zenyatta is the word "great."  She is one of the greats.  Horse of the Year 2009 Rachel Alexandra never ran well after she collected the trophy.  She had one good year in her, then she flattened out and ran like a claimer.  Blame retired on his win against the Big Mare.  We will never know if he was just a good horse or a great one.  Zenyatta will always have "great" attached to her name and said in the same breath.  She's still the Queen.  No one will forget her.  The others will be footnotes in history.  Zenyatta is history.

It's Been A While

Sometimes life and racing just get in the way of a good story.

Changes:  Got rid of the folio as too small and got a cheap $1.49 binder.  Easier to flip through my DRF printout.

Zenyatta:  She's given me yet another heart attack with win #17 in the Vanity at Hollywood Park.  I thought St. Trinians was going to out run her.  They really need to step that mare's game up for the Clement Hirsch.

Clement Hirsch:  I wonder if Zenyatta is even going to try for #18 there.  Should I call the paramedics to meet me just before post time?

Lessons Learned:  Just because it's the Derby/Preakness/Belmont do not lose your mind.  You will deplete your stash fast.  Those races may have great horses but they are crap shoots.  The Derby is the worst of the bunch.  You might as well use a dart board and darts to pick horses.  With 20 horses in the mix anything can happen.  The traffic jam is amazing.  The winner of the Derby is not necessarily the best horse, just the luckiest, and that makes the Preakness and Belmont an equal crap shoot.

Next Time: Doing Homework - Develop Your Own Handicapping Style

Overbetting (or I Know Enough To Kill My Wallet)

"I know what I'm doing.  After all, I did my homework."  That doesn't mean you're an expert.  The average high school student can do their homework too, but I wouldn't want them building nuclear reactors on that knowledge.  You, as a race track freshman, shouldn't be building Pick 6 part wheels either.

I got the part of my body normally used for sitting handed to me last weekend.  I got cocky with exotic bets.  In fact, over the last few trips to the track I got really cocky.  Oh yeah, the day after Christmas I came home with nearly $200 over my initial bets and missed the Pick 6 by one, which paid handsomely.  There's an old saying "God looks after fools and little children."  Since I am well out of childhood, guess which one I am.  (Something to remember: God has a lot of fools to look after so he can't keep an eye on you all the time.)

One foolish thing that happened was that I got trapped in the love of one horse who has been handing me money each time he put a hoof on the turf.  What happened this time?  He didn't put a hoof on the turf.  He was tiptoeing through that fluff called synthetic.  He tried gamely, but lost all form in the last  heartbreaking furlong, coming in dead last.  Lesson:  If a horse shows winning form on one surface, reconsider betting if they suddenly switch surfaces.  I knew this.  I also read the pros' comments on this.  I bet using my heart instead of my head hoping the horse would prove everyone wrong and run like a champion.  The Usual Q.T. is a great horse.  He was named the California Three Year Old Male Champion by the members of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, but he's still just a horse.  He's not a god.  He has his faults and preferences just like the rest of us.  He tried on the synthetic surface twice and just didn't like it.

Mistake number three was participating in a handicapping contest.  What the hell was I thinking?  First, I did it in a rushed manner and didn't really take the time to consider my choices wisely.  Second, I was going up against guys who do this all the time.  So what if it was a cheap game, I was way out of my league and way over budget with the $30 voucher and the $10 entry fee.  Until you are picking winners like a pro, stay away from these sucker bets.

I have learned a lesson.  Bet wisely and cooly.  Bet within my abilities.  Handicapping is not unlike a video game: you don't have a reset button.  I'm not ready for expensive exotic bets or wild speculations. I'm supposed to be keeping it cheap and fun here.

Ok, breathe.  My next set of races are coming up.  Time to start laying my plan.

I like my straight show bets.  I generally come home with my money plus a little more.  Last time I bet $XX and came home with $XX on the show bets.  Where I made my mistake was playing boxed exactas, the Pick 3 and Pick 6.

Here was my logic on the two Pick 3s:  The day after Christmas I had a Pick 6 that was one away from all six.  Had I layed down a pair of back up Pick 3s I would've come home with the pay from the Pick 3 and the pay from 5 of 6 from the Pick 6.  Sweet.  I would've come home with hundreds.  This time I came home with my butt in my hand.  I had only two horses actually come in.  One on one Pick 3 and the other on the other Pick 3. I was no where near sniffing range of the Pick 6.  Never let your next race day plan get screwed up by the Shoulda Sickness of the last race day.  Each day is a new day.

Not that I bet a huge amount of money on any one of those 3 bets.  I bet $2 on one Pick 3, $X on the other and $X on the Pick 6.  (This is the second twenty which I will discuss on a later date.  Right now we are discussing getting in over our heads.)  For now I will limit my exotic bets to the ten cent superfecta and the Pick All which I've had better luck at, cheaper.  (What are those two bets?  We'll discuss those on a later date too.)

As for the exactas, unless you are willing to spend more than they are really worth, they are not going to win all that often.  Again, it was a bad case of Fools and Little Children the two that I did have come in for me recently.

Exotics are fun and their pay for their price can make them seem justifyable, but they are a lot of hard work figuring out the future. The only one I see as a maybe is the Ten Cent Superfecta and the cheap fun of the Pick All, but we'll discuss that later.  Today it's all about keeping your head on your shoulders no matter what.  It's about staying within the set budget and within player abilities.  Today I wanted to give an example of what cocky pays.