Who Will Be #3 in HOTY Vote?

[OntheRail]

So when they announce the Top Three Picks For HOTY who will they be?

Now we are pretty sure that two will be RA and Zen... So who Summer Bird... MTB... Gio Ponti... ?

Would it not be something if allot voters put Z and RA on the card out of protest and neither won. :eek:

[Robert Fischer]

Gio Ponti, in spite of the love for 3yos

[Zippy Chippy]

Id say Gio Ponte. I'd love to see some votes for Summer Bird though

[Bobzilla]

Interesting question. My guess would be SB.

Another interesting question might be who would the voters select as HOY if RA and Z hadn't competed in 2009? A) Summer Bird, the first 3yo in twenty years to sweep the Belmont, Travers and JCGC; B) Gio Ponti, the best turf competitor in North America and Classic winner (sans Zenyatta) over an AWS; or C) Mine that Bird, the Kentucky Derby winner.

Of course it's tough to know for sure what the results would have been in such races like the Preakness, Haskell or Woodward without the participation of RA and how those results might have effected the voting. Summer Bird would have probably been able to add the Haskell to his resume. Would Mine that Bird have been able to win the Preakness or would Big Drama have gone gate to wire or would BD have been overtaken in the late stages by Musket Man who Eibar Coa may have had closer?

I think it would have come down between Summer Bird and Gio Ponti, and once again much of the debate would have come down to the degree of importance different people would want to assign to a BC Classic victory verses total body of work since 1/1/09. The question of the use of synthetics for America's important main track events would have been as much a cause of contention in the SB vs. GP debate as it has been for the RA vs. Z debate.