Excerpt:
Before we get deeper into this topic, I should reiterate my strong belief that despite Accelerate’s victory in the Classic and whatever else happened in this Breeders’ Cup, Horse of the Year honors and the 3-year-old male championship were settled on the afternoon of June 9, when Justify became just the 13th Triple Crown winner. I went into depth on this in my pre-Breeders’ Cup column.
Excerpt:
Some folks have said that if Accelerate wins the Breeders’ Cup Classic, he is their Horse of the Year. And some folks appeared to be itching to cast their Horse of the Year vote for Accelerate well before the Classic was even drawn. How can I say that? Because for the last 2 1/2 months, Accelerate has ranked No. 1 in the NTRA’s weekly top 10 poll, comfortably ahead of Justify. And most, if not all, of the people who participate in that poll also have Eclipse Award votes.
