how horse racing overvalues the TC
 

Accelerate is a proper horse of the year. He won't win the award because of a horse who had a 5 month, 6 race career and never faced qn older horse.

Like it or hate it American racing revolves around the Triple Crown.

Doing things that are rare in the Triple Crown just is a pretty big trump card. I certainly respect the opinions on both sides. Accelerate has had an amazing career.

initial impression is that Justify would have romped in this race.

Well Justify was a pretty special horse, I wonder how good he would be at 5 or 6...not really relevant to discussion though.

I wonder if there is some "early" retirement protest type votes by some. It could be enough to tip a close scale.

Well, three horses here ran against Justify. Mendelssohn ran OK. Catholic Boy and Lone Sailor were up the track.

And no three year old male from Justify's crop has yet won a major race against older horses.

So I think the evidence of a Justify romp is rather thin. Accelerate's best Beyers beat his.

except that Justify is many many lengths better than those horses you just listed.

yea...

it's not '6 degrees of kevin bacon'

your eyes and your gut usually give a somewhat accurate opinion to size a horse up

It should be a tough vote. Haven't really thought about it, but I'd have a hard time making a decision.

Justify was dominant in his Triple Crown run. Dominant. He was an absolute monster.

Accelerate did everything that was asked of him and won the BC Classic from the 14 hole with everything against him. His campaign may not have been the greatest, but he won. A lot.

Problem is for most, is that the most recent sticks in the mind the most. I also think having a Triple Crown winner so close to American Pharoah has fanned some flames on just how difficult a task that is.

If I had a vote, I'd think about it a very long time.

maybe the Beyer and TimeformUS guys can compare figs?

I honestly have no idea what figures Justify ran vs. Accelerate, but I know the TimeformUS figures did very well this weekend with winners and some contenders.


my eyes and gut said Justify was a once-in-a-generation type of athlete. I could be dead wrong, and Accelerate could be better. :ThmbUp:

I agree 100%
Accelerate's figs at 10f towered over everyone this year.
He should be HOY

Something to seriously consider about Justify.

He nearly led every single call of the Triple Crown trail if not for the speedball Promises Fulfilled in the Kentucky Derby.

That is pretty effing amazing. Not even back to back Sprint Champ Roy H, or the entire BC Sprint field could keep Promises Fulfilled from leading that race.

Is HOTY about "What If" though? Justify wasn't in the Breeders' Cup Classic. As average or boring as Accelerate's win was, he showed up and won.

Justify may have romped, but who knows?

is the debate who the better horse was or who accomplished more in respect to horse racing within the season?

Its a close race, wonder how long it will be before we see a season like Justify's, versus a 6/7 season like Accelerate? How long has it been before a season like Accelerates, winning a bunch of grade 1's for older horses and then winning the Classic, has it happened much?

HOTY should be about who accomplished more, right?

Yes, Accelerate won 6 of 7, but his competition was Prime Attraction/Mubtahiij, Mubtahiij, Dr Dorr, Pavel, West Coast.

He lost to City of Light, who did dominate the Dirt Mile. Outside of the Classic, he really didn't beat much to be honest. I don't know. Still tough to win that many Graded Stakes races in the older male division. Never even came close to running even a B+ race all year. Brought his A game every time.

Tough call. Really tough call.