Good Morning,
Last night, the 2011 Eclipse Award Winners were honored and recognized for their “Achievements in Racing” during an awards ceremony in Beverly Hills, California. Jeannine Edwards, who covers various sporting events for ESPN, hosted the ceremony. A HIGH HOOF to Jeannine on a job well done!
At this time, I would personally like to extend my sincere CONGRATULATIONS to each of the winners!
Numerous humans and horses performed at such a high level during the 2011 Racing Season. I’m sure it was a very difficult choice on so many levels in the various categories. At this time, I’d like to compliment each of the winners, nominees, and all others on a year of hard work, dedication, and achievement!
It is now 3 years in a row that the HORSE OF THE YEAR is a female. This is a very special and marvelous accomplishment:
2009—RACHEL ALEXANDRA,
2010—ME, ZENYATTA,
and in
2011 HAVRE de GRACE.
It is also the 6th time overall that a filly / mare has received this honor with the others being ALL ALONG, AZERI, and LADIES SECRET! What an impressive list this is! I am so proud to be a part of this elite group of honored athletes!
It is interesting to note that HAVRE de GRACE’S sire, Saint Liam, won the HOTY Award in 2005. He had just one crop of foals…and she is one of them. Another time a sire and one of his foals won this honor was A.P. INDY in 1992 and his ‘son’ MINESHAFT in 2003. Again, my deepest congratulations to everyone connected with HAVRE de GRACE. They must be SO VERY PROUD of her!
In reading over the list of winners, it seems this year having a name beginning with the letter “A” also seemed to be very lucky: ACCLAMATION, AMAZOMBIE, ANIMAL KINGDOM, My Miss “AURELIA”, and ADENA SPRINGS.
Again, a big HIGH HOOF to these humans / horses and all of the other winners of a 2011 ECLIPSE AWARD: HANSEN, ROYAL DELTA, MUSICAL ROMANCE, CAPE BLANCO, STACELITA, BLACK JACK BLUES, KEN AND SARAH RAMSEY, BILL MOTT, RAMON DOMINGUEZ, AND KYLE FREY.
This is truly an honor and achievement to take great PRIDE IN for a LIFETIME!
With Love,
Hugs to All~
Z
Linda Edwards in NJ
Hi Zenny: Congratulations to all the Eclipse Award winners!!! I am so happy for Havre de Grace and her trainer, Larry Jones. I am sorry I missed watching the ceremony this year. I will get my computer back today.
Zenny, it was so exciting last year with all of us tapping our toes just waiting for the HOTY to be announced. When they said HOTY, Zenyatta!! Well you can only imagine how excited and thrilled we were. It was so exciting. I shouted out being so thrilled.
I like National Treasure!
LauraJ (Cincinnati OH)
I love Blind Luck, but I don’t think she should have gotten Older Mare. If you think that BL was the best horse in her division, then you have to think that HdG did not deserve Horse of the Year. It would be wrong if the HotY was not also the best horse in his/her division, and I can’t imagine such a thing ever happening. BL has a slight edge head-to-head, but she didn’t run against the boys twice and beat them once. If head-to-head were the deciding factor, then you’d have to say also that Blame should have gotten HotY last year. I doubt anyone here thinks that.
Anyway, Blind Luck has her Eclipse Award. She was Champion 3-year-old filly last year. She has not been disrespected by the Eclipse voters.
Annie Kissel
Congrats to all the winners!
Doreen in CT
Nice little blog about A.P. Indy that has pictures of him as a foal and a yearling. He definitely is a sire of sires. He didn’t do too bad for a ridgling: http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/truenicks/archive/2012/01/17/looking-back-at-a-p-indy.aspx
dunie
Congratulations and love to the A’s, but nobody will ever equal Z.
HAIL TO THE QUEEN-FOREVER!
Trina Nagele in So Cal
Too Cute! High hoof, Dunie!
Candace
Well…my two cents…Zenyatta was deserving of and should have won HOTY in 2009. I like Rachel, she ran an incredible race in the Woodward, shes a great filly. But she was not ever the same caliber. Also, if Zenyatta had run in this years Breeders Cup, she would have destroyed the field if you look at the fractions. Just saying :)
Last year I made the restaurant at which we were eating dinner on awards night turn their television on so I could watch my Z and her team make history. For once I can say the turf writers did the right thing. I will never forget the build up to the Eclipse Awards last year, the look on Mrs. Moss’ face when they announced horse of the year and the class her entire team showed when receiving it. This is what horse racing and awards should be like ALL the time.
Im super proud of Rapid Redux too!! Him being honored was special because it proves to those outside of our industry that blue collar boys are just as important as Queens in making the sport a success.
There will never, ever, ever be another Zenyatta. I think all the time about how lucky I was to be alive when she reigned on the track.
Thanks for the update Dottie! Hope you guys are well. Give our girl a big kiss next time you see her from her loyal subjects :)
Candace
Paul
Zenyatta, as stated in the last post, I missed the Eclipse awards and feel bad about not seeing all these wonderful people and horses become honored and rewarded. It’s amazing that 3 female horses in a row have won horse of the year. I would have to agree, however, based on what I have heard, that this year’s Eclipse awards show was not as exciting as last year’s. In large part, Zenyatta, it’s because you were not involved in it. Congratulations to every human and every horse who won an eclipse award this past Monday. Keep up the good work!
Pattie in Pickens, SC
Congratulations to ALL of the Eclipse Award Winners!!
YES, GIRLS RULE :) LOL
I also would like to Congratulate, Drosselmeyer & WinStar for winning the NTRA Moment of the Year !!
Stay warm Momma Z , I Love You & your Baby BeZe.